What I appreciate most about the Notre Dame fan base, and what normally annoys anyone who doesn’t bleed Blue and Gold, is our unending devotion to the Irish and our blind support of the football team—including to the point of humiliation (see: 2007). If we sit around long enough and think about the team enough, […]

Spring cleaning…for anyone who isn’t a spitting image of Danny Tanner, this term evokes many feelings of disgust, hate, and loathing. At least, that’s what I feel when I think of spring cleaning. It’s a tedious task that usually takes up an entire Saturday–a Saturday that could be spent watching TV, playing video games, or […]

At times during the 2008 season the Irish offense looked like a passing juggernaut. Other times Notre Dame sputtered when faced with a short field, frequently failing to produce an effective rushing attack. This led to poor red zone and third down efficiency that cost the Irish more than one game. In fact, many of […]

As discussed before, three topics contributing to the success and demise of the 2008 Irish offense will be discussed this off-season. The first installment, Part 1, detailed the positives and negatives of head coach Charlie Weis’ offensive philosophy and play-calling approach. The second installment consists of three segments detailing Notre Dame’s struggles running the football. […]

A relatively young off-season has brought a host of changes to the Notre Dame football program. The Irish landed a solid, albeit not great, recruiting class and three new coaches were hired to replace offensive line coach John Latina, defensive line coach Jappy Oliver, and offensive coordinator and running backs coach Mike Haywood. A more […]

After two of the most prolific offensive seasons in Fighting Irish history, the Charlie Weis-led Notre Dame offense produced two inconsistent and wholly underwhelming campaigns in 2007 and 2008. The efficient, passing-centric offense led by quarterback Brady Quinn has been replaced by a one-dimensional vertical passing attack that struggles against relatively average defensive units. As […]

Signing day has come and gone, leaving a clearer picture of the 2009 recruiting class for the Fighting Irish. Head coach Charlie Weis and his staff reeled in the 20th ranked class according to Rivals, and 24th ranked class as judged by Scout. The writing staff here at Clashmore Mike weighs in on each recruit. […]

The off-season is here, and, save a few recruiting tidbits and coaching changes, there isn’t much for Irish fans to talk about. In light of this, I’ve decided to dissect some of the offensive woes for Notre Dame the past two seasons. Even though Notre Dame’s offense exploded to destroy Hawaii in their season finale, […]

On Saturday, I felt very empty. While the rest of the country was enjoying the first games of the 2008 College Football season, I was sitting at home watching the television, wishing I could root for one team or another, but I’ve never been able to root for a team that isn’t wearing the interlocking […]