Well our usual poster left us for the greener pastures of Pinehurst and decided to take the week off. Last line I saw was that this is a "pick 'em" game. Having watched the Tarheels give up 40 pts. in the 4th quarter against Appy State it's easy to label their defense as porous. Of course having watched the ND offense it's easy to say "poor us."
Thanks Mike, I've been busy since I got back! Car problems!!! Grrrrrrrrrrrrr. Oh well. I am certainly hoping that Drew Pyne is settled down and gets off to a good start. We really need this offense to put at least 25-30 points on the board. Diggs is back this week so we'll have 3 backs for this game and the OL showed some improvement last weekend but they need to continue that and play even better. Pyne isn't going to be running like Buchner does or even Ian Book. So more than ever we need the OL to give him the protection and for the running game to open it up for the passing game. UNC does have a good offense and a mobile hot shot QB in Drake Mayes so our defense better be ready to play 4 quarters of smart football. Even Freeman said we don't want to get into a shoot out with these guys. They have better skill talent, esp at QB and WR than we have, so defense needs to harass Mr. Mayes into turnovers and put him on the ground a few times.
We lost a commit today, an OL from Phoenix (Elijah Paige). Of course kids change their mind for a lot of reasons, but the fear I am seeing is that they are looking at the poor start and NIL. If our season ends up 6-6 or worse a lot think we'll see more defections by December.
Important to win vs UNC, just a win. But really we could use a win with some style points. Have a bye week before we go to Vegas for the Shamrock Series game with BYU. 1-3 would not be the way to go esp given BYU is a good team. 1-4 is disaster, and starting to look like 2007
Good article on our Harvard grad transfer punter Jon Sot. Despite larger crowds and more pressure, Sot has adjusted well as he's averaging 45.2 yards per punt this season. Sot's game doesn't stop there as he's also pinned opponents inside the 20 nine times and forced eight fair catches on 19 punts. Not a premium article on Mike Frank's Irish Sports Daily. Notre Dame Punter Jon Sot Winning On and Off the Field
Well one ND team went on the road to the Atlantic Coast and got a win so maybe the Football team can get one as well.
UNC bringing out the throwback for the Irish! The North Carolina Tar Heels will rock their 1990s throwback jerseys, Carolina blue lids and white pants against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. The jerseys also have "Carolina" printed on the shoulder stripes.
More than a little has been made of the exchange between Tommy Rees and Drew Pyne. Rees even acknowledged it during his Monday press conference. If you watch the video to the end you can't hear what Rees is saying but it doesn't take a lip reading expert to know what he's saying.
Of the 5 predictions from the staff of Irish Sports Dailey, 2 predicted a close Irish loss, the other 3 predicted a close Irish win. Close either way. In their Irish Intel article which is paywalled, they predict that Pyne will be like the Pyne who played the 2nd half where he completed 13 of his last 14 throws. I hope so we need him to be accurate and keep the drives going. Lots of long drives that keep Drake Maye on the bench and wear out the reportedly weak UNC defense and keep ours fresh for the 4th qtr.
Getting sloppy and chippy by UNC, long drive by the Irish to answer a quick score by UNC. For a minute there on the previous TD I thought Mack was going to be tossed. But he did have a reason that was a questionable pi call. Irish 45-20.
Crap great drive all run, with Estimine dominate and he fumbles going into the end zone! I hate it when they reach out in traffic, although I am not sure that was the case, he was going down and rotating... but damn he deserved that TD
4th and 21 and the Irish defense gives up the easy bomb. Jeez. I didn't know spinning the ball after you score is a penalty.