Christmas came early this year in South Bend. Notre Dame squeezed out a victory at the expense of the visiting Spartans Saturday, a game Michigan State had ample opportunity to win.

To be certain, the Irish did not win the game as much as Michigan State lost it.

All of the strategic coaching decisions favored head coach Mark Dantonio, and the Irish had no answer …

Notre Dame returns home Saturday to meet Michigan State for its third game of the season. Both teams enter the contest at 1-1 and coming off tough losses. Last week the Irish lost a heartbreaker in the Big House as freshman quarterback Tate Forcier exposed a porous Irish defense. The Spartans, on the other hand, suffered an uncharacteristic loss to Central Michigan. It will be …

Some great regional rivalries form some of the history and intensity that vibrates through college football, often determining conference champions: Texas – Texas A&M (115 years), Auburn – Georgia (112)—“The Oldest Rivalry in the Deep South”, Ohio State – Michigan (105), Texas – Oklahoma (103), Nebraska – Oklahoma (82), USC – UCLA (78), Auburn – Alabama (73), LSU – Arkansas (54).

Navy – Army (109) …

Now that the voting is over, it’s time to present the results.

First, thanks to all who participated. At the time of this analysis better than 200 people cast votes. For each game on Notre Dame’s 2009 schedule voters were asked to select their confidence in a win. Predicting the outcome of the 2009 season via the win confidence of each game is much more …

Tim Brown was to become a Pentecostal minister. His mother, Josephine, wanted him to play in the band rather than play football at Woodrow Wilson High in Dallas. SMU, which was close to home, nearly gained Brown’s commitment. While Tim Brown may still end up in Christian ministry, his football choices were all the right moves.

At Notre Dame, Tim became a football legend—an All-American …

Whether you saw the Blue-Gold game live or followed along with the reviews, the Irish have had a relatively eventful off-season. A solid recruiting class headlined by defensive stalwart Manti Te’o preceded three coaching changes. Rumors emerged from Spring practice sessions highlighting quarterback Jimmy Clausen’s continued development, defensive lineman Ethan Johnson domination of one-on-one drills and strong play from a deep secondary. Even the 2010 recruiting efforts …

Notre Dame has concluded their regular season, and a reflection on the Irish offense’s progress (or lack thereof) is warranted. The mid-year numbers are here, and this analysis was performed in similar fashion by benchmarking against the competition.

Facing the 73rd toughest AV Ranking strength of schedule, the Irish only managed to go 6-6. But more troubling than winning only half their games against a …

For the third time this season, and second at home, the Fighting Irish squandered a double-digit lead to lose the game. The first two times this occurred against average competition. Against Syracuse, Notre Dame’s implosion took place against an obviously less talented opponent at home on senior day.

Make no mistake about it, Syracuse isn’t even close to a mediocre football team, and the statistics …

With the offense out of the way, it’s time to move on to the defense.

For Notre Dame’s defense the story of 2007 was really the inept Irish offense. The offense didn’t control the ball, frequently turned it over, and often times failed to change the field position. This made playing four quarters of solid football a very difficult task for the Irish defense.

Despite …