General team info

[Irishokie]

I loved Samardzija's attitude on the field! He might be my favorite player, I'll never forget the one handed catch against Purdue and the TD drive against UCLA.

 

[ScooterIrish]

Man, Oldie made great highlight videos.. Why'd he ever stop?

 

[PANDFAN]

Notre Dame Football: Game-by-Game Predictions for 2013 | AthlonSports.com

 

[STLDomer]

 

[NDPhilly]

If we get passed Michigan in week 2 I'm very confident we go into Stanford undefeated.

 

[NDWorld247]

If we get passed Michigan in week 2 I'm very confident we go into Stanford undefeated.

I think we go into Stanford undefeated, but I think our biggest challenge will be ASU in Dallas. That's the one I'm most concerned about.

 

[PANDFAN]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>According to Vivid Seats, <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23NotreDame&src=hash">#NotreDame</a> has the highest average ticket prices among college football teams in the secondary market at $387 ...</p>— Eric Hansen (@hansenNDInsider) <a href="https://twitter.com/hansenNDInsider/statuses/360464705967505408">July 25, 2013</a></blockquote>
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[PANDFAN]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p><a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23NotreDame&src=hash">#NotreDame</a> has 4 games in the top 10 highest-priced tickets. No one else has more than 2. Alabama-Texas A&M tops the list at $647.</p>— Eric Hansen (@hansenNDInsider) <a href="https://twitter.com/hansenNDInsider/statuses/360465475706167297">July 25, 2013</a></blockquote>
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[PANDFAN]

BUT ND ISN'T RELEVANT ???

BUT ND ISN'T RELEVANT ???

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p><a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23NotreDame&src=hash">#NotreDame</a>'s games are 2 Oklahoma $579. 3 USC $565, 7 at Michigan $439, 9 MSU $395. Other ND in top 25: Temple is 18th $284, Navy 23rd $266</p>— Eric Hansen (@hansenNDInsider) <a href="https://twitter.com/hansenNDInsider/statuses/360466070638833665">July 25, 2013</a></blockquote>
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[Whiskeyjack]

The Temple game scheduled for 2014 has been moved to 2015. Still need to cancel or reschedule one more game in 2014.

 

[GoldenIsThyFame]

@KeithArnoldNBC: Brian Kelly talks about wanting to play Georgia, with ND's connection to the Atlanta area. (From interview on @Sportsbeat960) #NDvsSEC

 

[STLDomer]

Just a FYI, the caller that asked about playing SEC teams was from Atlanta.

Kelly said it would be hard with the rivalries, the ACC deal and the schedule already being tough enough

 

[PANDFAN]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p><a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23NotreDame&src=hash">#NotreDame</a> & <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23Army&src=hash">#Army</a> working on another game at Yankee Stadium in 2016. <a href="http://t.co/noLiOMxNTa">http://t.co/noLiOMxNTa</a></p>— Irish Sports Daily (@ISDUpdate) <a href="https://twitter.com/ISDUpdate/statuses/366939168057720834">August 12, 2013</a></blockquote>
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[Buster Bluth]

That would no doubt be Shamrock game. Give us details on '14 and '15 though!

 

[PANDFAN]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>3 <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23NotreDame&src=hash">#NotreDame</a> FB players make <a href="http://t.co/lDWK0CDYgA">http://t.co/lDWK0CDYgA</a> analyst Gil Brandt's top 100 SENIORS to watch ... 26. Z Martin, 38. C Watt, 88 B Jackson</p>— Eric Hansen (@hansenNDInsider) <a href="https://twitter.com/hansenNDInsider/statuses/366990766691717120">August 12, 2013</a></blockquote>
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[PANDFAN]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>The Irish face 10 players in the top 43 of that list. ND tight end Troy Niklas' cousin, OT Jake Matthews of Texas A&M, is No. 1 on the list.</p>— Eric Hansen (@hansenNDInsider) <a href="https://twitter.com/hansenNDInsider/statuses/366991503790313472">August 12, 2013</a></blockquote>
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[GoldenIsThyFame]

Notre Dame's Brian Kelly has 'unfinished business'; eager to prove 2012 was no fluke

All that said, a little more than a year ago, coming off consecutive 8-5 seasons, with outside doubts about his future beginning to percolate, Kelly needed a sign that what he was selling was going to work, truly work, here.

"And then there was the day Jaylon Smith committed," Kelly said. That was June 2, 2012. Smith was a five-star recruit according to rivals.com, the No. 3 player in the country. He was a big-time linebacker from just over in Fort Wayne and the kind of athlete and recruit Kelly absolutely had to have. And Smith just got back from meeting with Urban Meyer in Columbus, Ohio.

"When Jaylon came back from Ohio State and said no to Ohio State, that was big," Kelly said. "Because you've got Urban there. The glitter is still on. It's Ohio State and it's Urban Meyer and he's the hottest thing out there and Jaylon said, 'no, I want to come to Notre Dame.'

"That might have been the time I looked out there and said, 'we're going to be all right.' "

 

[Whiskeyjack]

By Yahoo!'s Dan Wetzel--Notre Dame's Brian Kelly has 'unfinished business'; eager to prove 2012 was no fluke:

Last January he spent three days interviewing with the Philadelphia Eagles. "I was never offered the job," he notes. More NFL teams will come a-calling though. He can listen or stay here for what he calls "unfinished business."

Brian Kelly is talking about transparency. It's his No. 1 challenge, he said. Not just getting better players to eventually beat Alabama. It's continuing his ability to pull everyone into his world, to trust him. And in this case, it's the most difficult crowd to flip yet, the Notre Dame administration that values a profound separation of academics/student life and football.

"Breaking down myths that football coaches protect the players and cover up academic problems or shield them from problems in the dorms," Kelly said. "That old myth of the bad football coach. Building a program that is transparent to all parties.

"I think there was a mythology that existed [at Notre Dame] that the football coach just cares about football games. I care about players and the university and how they all interact together. And building this program, the only way you can do it is if we're partners in this together."

Kelly is talking from a palatial, yet classically designed, Guglielmino Athletics Complex [or the Gug]. The facilities are top of the line. The stadium is legendary. The school obviously values football. He has a beautiful office, complete with balcony overlooking campus. Or, well, at least one side of campus, the athletics side. The other side – the one that sits under the glimmering golden dome and fans out from the famed quad – believes in both a physical and practical distance from sports.

In essence, players are real students, with real classes, living in real dorms, with real expectations to meet the academic and social standards of other real students. The theory is there is no hiding anyone at Notre Dame. This is the core pride of the school.

The challenge is when a player runs afoul with the strict rules. Past coaches have sworn that the separation is real and shook their head at the school's disciplinary system, "Student Life." One deemed it "a black hole." Not only do they have no control and no say in the outcome, they have no info at all about what is going on. Forget covering up anything. There's no calling anyone. There's no way to plead anyone's case. There's no way to know what's coming or when.

In the control freak world of high major college football, this is an anomaly. Say an underage player gets caught with beer in the dorms, he deals with Student Life like anyone else. He isn't passed on to a coach who will run him at 5 a.m.

Kelly understands and says he values all of that. That's what makes this place special. He's just looking for what he called, "transparency university wide as it relates to growing the program on a day-to-day basis."

"We can't do it the way Alabama does it," Kelly said. "We can't have our own department. And this isn't to knock how they do it at Alabama. They have an incredible program. We have to be mainstream. Our kids have to live in the dorms with the other students or it wouldn't work here.

"The provost has to believe that I believe in that. The dean of students has to believe that. The dean of admissions. Because they have to be able to trust that when I bring a kid here and I tell you that he's the right kid for Notre Dame that he is not here just because he is just a football player.

"[Being a great player is] a big part of it, don't get me wrong," Kelly continued. "I don't want to get fired. Remember, the last three coaches that came here won the graduation rate award. They got fired too. It is what it is."

Gaining "transparency" may make running the ball on the Crimson Tide seem easy.

"I think that's where you build a program," Kelly said. "And that's where I've shown the model. I believe I am showing them the model that what it has to be successful here at Notre Dame. And we're getting there. We've got some work to do but we're breaking down some walls that had been built."

"[When I got here] there was a bit of, 'you mind your own business, we'll take care of Student Life. You take care of what you do and we'll take care of academics.'

"And that's fine. But I want to be in the loop. I want to be part of the discussion. I don't have to make the decision on a code violation. I don't have to make the decision on parietals [male-female dorm curfews]. I'm not asking for that. I just want to be part of the discussion. And we're getting there."

Wetzel is one of the best in the business, and there's lots of great stuff in here. Must read.

Edit: I bet some of these "transparency" issues are what is holding up Kelly's contract. Still, I feel a lot better about the future of our program after reading that.

 

[GoldenIsThyFame]

I win.

 

[Son of Kenmare]

Condolences to the Alford Family

Condolences to the Alford Family

Deepest condolences to Coach Alford and his family in the loss of his brother. Based on their close relationship, I'm sure we've lost a tremendous human being and leader of young men.

 

[Whiskeyjack]

You thought that bit about Jaylon was the most important part of the article?

I win.

"Erroneus!"

 

[GoldenIsThyFame]

You thought that bit about Jaylon was the most important part of the article?

"Erroneus!"

Haha, I pasted it while I was reading. When I got to the end of the article and went to add it in, there you were with your late post.

 

[Grahambo]

Dan Wetzel: Notre Dame's Brian Kelly has 'unfinished business', eager to prove 2012..

Dan Wetzel: Notre Dame's Brian Kelly has 'unfinished business', eager to prove 2012..

.

 

[clashmore_mike]

Haha, I pasted it while I was reading. When I got to the end of the article and went to add it in, there you were with your late post.

lol

 

[Luckylucci]

Thats a great article. Hopefully he continues to "break down walls."

 

[GoldenIsThyFame]

BK got this from Belichick

 

[clashmore_jon]

not sure if posted yet, but here is a link to BK on college football live Notre Dame Fighting Irish coach Brian Kelly on preparing 2013 season - ESPN

 

[domer13]

Father Thesing to serve as Notre Dame football team chaplain // News // Notre Dame News // University of Notre Dame

Fr. Paul Doyle was team chaplain for over a decade. Fr. Mark Thesing (who has traveled with the team) will now serve as primary team chaplain.

Oh, and no more pre-game Mass on Sundays.

 

[WakeUpEchoes]

Just to clarify, pre-game mass is moving to Fridays. I think you meant pre-game mass on Saturday, not Sunday?

 

[ulukinatme]

This is a good thing I think. They talked about reducing game day distractions. Not that mass should be a distraction, but it's one less thing on the itinerary.