It may be head coach Brian Kelly’s first year at the helm, but positive change is already tangible. While the 2008 and 2009 Irish squads finished 1-8 in November, this year’s unit went 3-0. It isn’t time to anoint Kelly the next Lou Holtz or Ara Parseghian, but Notre Dame played its best football down […]

Editor’s note: Special thanks to ESP and AVR co-creator Vincenzo Siciliano for his effort in the work outlined below. He did the analysis, I just made a few observations and wrote up this summary. Disclaimer #1: The following is not intended for betting purposes. Disclaimer #2: The following analysis does not include the Army—Navy game […]

The Irish stopped the Trojans eight-game win streak in dramatic fashion Saturday night. Robert Hughes five-yard touchdown run with 2:23 remaining capped off a physical, run-heavy drive that gave head coach Brian Kelly his second three-game win streak of the season. Looking back this could certainly be a season of what if’s. What if quarterback […]

After getting shellacked by Navy and losing a heartbreaker to Tulsa (with some questionable coaching decisions to boot), it was difficult to imagine the Irish becoming bowl eligible, let alone having a chance to win out. But Notre Dame has outscored their last two opponents by a combined 55-6 and heads to the West Coast […]

The contest against Utah wasn’t decided by production. For the most part, it wasn’t decided by efficiency either. The Irish won because they created opportunities and took advantage of them. Notre Dame was able to force two turnovers—one that turned into seven points on the next play—block a punt for a touchdown, and string together […]

A home loss to a non-BCS conference opponent is always tough. But off the heels of a blowout defeat at the hands of the Midshipmen, it hurts even worse. The 2010 Fighting Irish are beginning to look a lot like the previous two versions. Perhaps the most distinguishable characteristic of the past two teams has […]

It was game of superlatives. Unfortunately, they weren’t generated by Notre Dame. Navy posted the most rushing yards (367) in the 84-game series with the Irish. Backup fullback Alexander Teich ran for the most yards ever by a Midshipmen (210) against Notre Dame, and most ever by a Navy fullback in the program’s history. And […]

The game against Western Michigan provided the perfect opportunity for first-year head coach Brian Kelly’s squad to show something lacking in recent Irish teams—a killer instinct. Unfortunately, it didn’t surface , at least not in the first two quarters of play. The Broncos shrugged off an 80-yard touchdown strike from quarterback Dayne Crist to wide […]

Another week, another series of undefeated and highly ranked teams falling victim to the upset bug. Ohio State, downed by the Badgers in Madison. Nebraska, done in by a swarming Longhorn defense that allowed a long gain of 14 yards on the ground. South Carolina, outscored 21-0 in the second half by Kentucky after going […]

Another week, another opportunity to extend an early lead and come away with a decisive victory. Much like the season-opener against Purdue, Notre Dame had Pittsburgh on the ropes with a 20-7 lead early in the third quarter, only to let the Panthers back in the game. This team hasn’t learned how to close out […]