Domer Brad Lidge Closes Out World Series… Plus Pitt Preview

Former Notre Dame pitcher Brad Lidge, the Major League Baseball leader in strikeouts per nine innings, recorded save number 48 (out of 48) the other day when he closed out the rain-delayed sixth game of the World Series, helping the Philadelphia Phillies earn the title. Some of you might not know that Lidge used to play for Notre Dame when he was in college, and indeed won the Big East Player of the Year in his junior year with the Irish. Congrats to Lidge and to the rest of the Phillies organization.

Today there will be a Halloween-style pep rally at Notre Dame to get pumped about the next home football game, the one this weekend against Pittsburgh. The game is officially sold out, but if you’re wise you know the right places to get tickets. Hint, hint. There’s a great pre-game article about the matchup between Notre Dame and Pittsburgh with a lot of historical perspective and random statistics. Check it out at UND.com.

To get Notre Dame Fighting Irish football tickets, go to StubHub.com.

Permalink - Posted in General on October 31, 2008 - Post a comment

Coaches’ Preseason Poll Ranks Irish Hoops Squad No. 9

The Division I Coaches’ Top 25 Poll is out, and the Irish received a fantastic ranking. Notre Dame’s men’s basketball team received a No. 9 position in the poll, which is the most prestigious ranking system for college basketball teams in the country with the exception of the more popular AP Poll.

The No. 9 ranking is the highest preseason rank that Notre Dame has ever received, and is a high water mark for the expectations of the team entering a season. As you’re probably well aware, the Irish return Big East Player of the Year Luke Harangody, plus three other starters from last year’s 25-win, second round NCAA Tourney team. Clearly the coaches of the nation agree with us: the Irish are going to be sweet.

But there’s also trouble in the Poll, as the Big East is the most represented conference with a total of seven teams in the top 25. Three of those teams, Connecticut (No. 2), Louisville (No. 3) and Pittsburgh (No. 6) are ahead of Notre Dame in the poll. Marquette is ranked 17th, Georgetown is 18th and Villanova is 25th.

To get Notre Dame Fighting Irish football tickets, go to StubHub.com.

Permalink - Posted in General on October 30, 2008 - Post a comment

Who is… Pittsburgh?

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team will play the Pittsburgh Panthers this weekend, so it’s about time we got to know Pittsburgh’s football team. What are their strengths? What are their weaknesses? Will the Irish come out on top? Let’s take a look:

-Pittsburgh-
  • Biggest Strength: Running game and defensive. Pittsburgh running back LeSean McCoy is their go-to back, and he’s been doing just fine charging down the field for the Panthers this season, averaging about 90 yards per game whole splitting some reps with LaRod Stephens. Pittsburgh’s passing defense has been very efficient, as they are ranked No. 34 nationally in allowing passing yards. They also have allowed the sixth fewest passing completions in the nation.
  • Biggest Weakness: Passing game. Panthers quarterback Pat Bostick has been prone to making mistakes when flustered, and he might see more time if the usual starter, Bill Stull, has to miss the game with an injury. Last week he suffered a concussion, and his availability this week is, as yet, not certain.
  • Notre Dame Has To… imitate Rutgers. The Scarlet Knights were able to overcome the Panthers by airing it out. Mike Teel threw six touchdowns and raked up 361 yards through the air. Jimmy Clausen will have to find receivers down field early, and Notre Dame could come out big winners here over a team that’s among the “others receiving votes.”

To get Notre Dame Fighting Irish football tickets, go to StubHub.com.

Permalink - Posted in General on October 29, 2008 - Post a comment

Taking Stock of the Irish Football Team

At 5-2 this far into the season, Notre Dame football fans have to be pleased with the way things are heading. Sure, they might have been 6-1 right now were it not for some mistakes, but still the progress this team has made since their nightmare season a year ago is obvious and overwhelmingly optimistic. Last week they played a bad team in Washington, but there is solace in beating a bad team. For starters, the Irish never gave the Huskies, hope. They won it wire to wire and played very strong defense. They didn’t play down to Washington’s level. Two, they were able to rest some of their starters at the end of the game. And three, they got their first road win of the year, which should build some momentum as the schedule gets a little tougher. You can read all about these talking points when you check out the Irish team report by the Sports Xchange.

There’s also a nifty little game by game breakdown of the season so far, so that you an get an idea of the storyline, in case you have missed out. The stretch run of the season will be more tough than the beginning, with Pittsburgh, Boston College and USC all lined up to play the Irish. Will they steal a couple of games they shouldn’t win? Find out by getting some tickets.

To get Notre Dame Fighting Irish football tickets, go to StubHub.com.

Permalink - Posted in General on October 28, 2008 - Post a comment

Notre Dame Demolishes Washington, Moves to 5-2

Washington was no match for Notre Dame as the Irish routed the Huskies 33-7 in their game this past Saturday afternoon. Notre Dame’s offense was not nearly as efficient as it had been in their last few games, but their defense was most impenetrable, shutting out Washington until the fourth quarter, when Notre Dame had already take out most of their starting players.

Game ball probably goes to James Aldridge, who scored on a pair of touchdown rushes and gained 84 yards on 12 carries, average rush of 6.5 yards. He was sitting on the bench for good portions of the second half, otherwise he might have added more stats.

One interesting thing from the game- despite the coaching controversy and drama which we’ve more than covered here at the Notre Dame Blog, is the fake punt play that Notre Dame ran in the second half, when they were already up 24-0 and faced a fourth and 13. Notre Dame snapped the ball to a running back, who ran for 35 yards, leading to another Irish score. The debate rages over the use of that play at that point in the game.

To get Notre Dame Fighting Irish football tickets, go to StubHub.com.

Permalink - Posted in General on October 27, 2008 - Post a comment

Irish Women’s Soccer Undefeated, Untied Heading into Big East Tourney

Notre Dame football might get all the headlines, but the other type of football, soccer that is, should be getting all the praise. The Irish women’s soccer team is heading into the Big East Soccer Tournament with a perfect 18-0-0 record, the best in the Big East, and a No. 1 national ranking. The team basically looks unstoppable. They will enter the Conference Tourney with a first round bye and play the winner of the Cincinnati-St. John’s game in the second round. Clearly, Notre Dame is expected to dominant the tournament just like they have been dominating the Big East all season. They are, of course, a perfect 11-0 versus the Big East this year.

The streaks that the women’s soccer team currently own are simply mind-boggling. They’ve won 28-straight regular season games. Senior forward Kerri Hanks has scored at least one goal in the past 14 games. The Irish are unbeaten in their past 84 home games against Big East teams. Look for the Irish to do well in the Conference Tournament, and then follow the action into the NCAA Tournament, where the games should be as intense as ever!

To get Notre Dame Fighting Irish football tickets, go to StubHub.com.

Permalink - Posted in General on October 24, 2008 - Post a comment

Notre Dame Team Report Optimistic

The latest report on the Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team is optimistic about Notre Dame’s chances to get a victory over the Washington Huskies this upcoming weekend. If you take a look, you’ll see a short introduction to the Willingham drama, some quotes from Charlie Weis and then some personnel news.  What are the major themes? Notre Dame, whose passing attack is working brilliantly lately, should have a good time against Washington, a team that’s ranked last in the nation in defensive passing efficiency. They’re also not that great at defending the run. So Notre Dame should not have trouble scoring some points.

Washington is missing their first-team Quarterback, Jake Locker, and they haven’t been able to move the ball very well within their own offense. Notre Dame’s defense is fairly ordinary considering that they’ve played against mostly sub-par offenses this year. But they should hold up fine versus Washington.

To get Notre Dame Fighting Irish football tickets, go to StubHub.com.

Permalink - Posted in General on October 23, 2008 - Post a comment

Washington’s Willingham Not Looking Forward to Game

If you’ve been a fan of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish for some time, you probably know the back story about Tyrone Willingham and UND football. But for those of you who don’t here’s a little recap: Ty Willingham was the head coach at Stanford, where he was very successful, before he came to Notre Dame in 2002. He started off well enough, but soon encountered problems, and eventually was dismissed from the team in 2004 for poor performance. He then got a job at Washington, and has not quite seen much success there, either. He’s currently coaching the 0-6 Huskies, who have an eight game losing streak going back to last season. There were lots of theories as to why Ty was fired and there was, especially last year during the offseason, some accusations that there was bad blood between Ty and Notre Dame.

Enter the Washington game this weekend, where the Irish are on the rise, the Huskies are in a tailspin, and Ty Willingham has to compete against a superior team with his job once again on the line. The Notre Dame Blog feels bad for Ty, because we don’t think he’s a bad guy, or even a bad coach. He sure has had a streak of bad luck, though. While we’ll be rooting for the Irish to win, we’re also rooting for Ty to make a comeback this season.

To get Notre Dame Fighting Irish football tickets, go to StubHub.com.

Permalink - Posted in General on October 22, 2008 - Post a comment

Notre Dame Student-Athletes Graduation Rates Tops in Nation

Even though the Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team isn’t quite the best school in the nation in football (yet), they can boast of being the best in something: Graduation. According to two separate surveys, one conducted by the U.S. Department of Education, and one by the NCAA to determine Graduation Success Rate (GSR), Notre Dame scored better than any other football-participating institution in the United States, and scored in the top five for several other categories that ranked graduation rates based on specific factors, like sex, ethnicity and sport.

You can read all about this fantastic graduation rate information at the official Notre Dame website, UND.com. Why is having a good graduation rate important? Well, for one, it means that student-athletes at Notre Dame value their education more than the athletes at other schools. They see the purpose of getting a degree at the end of their college athletic career. For some superstar athletes, getting a degree and waiting around means missing out on millions of dollars at the pro level. Notre Dame athletes might indeed go on to get professional contracts, but they have decided that they can forgo one or two years of making the big bucks in order to see their education through. See Brady Quinn. Basically, it bodes well for the quality of education at Notre Dame.

To get Notre Dame Fighting Irish football tickets, go to StubHub.com.

Permalink - Posted in General on October 21, 2008 - Post a comment

Washington Falls to Oregon State

Notre Dame had the weekend off, but they were certainly watching the Washington-Oregon State game with a close eye. While Coach Charlie Weis and the Irish rested and practiced during their bye weekend, their next opponent, the Washington Huskies, took on one of their Pac-10 rivals, the Oregon State Beavers. Oregon State pulled out an easy victory, leading the Huskies 24-6 before the fourth quarter, and eventually winning the game 34-13. This moves the Washington Huskies to an overall record of 0-6.

So what can the Irish take from the Washington game that they can use next week? Well, the Huskies are not a very strong defensive team, especially versus he run. Oregon State rushed the ball 35 times for a total of 230 yards on the ground. They also accumulated 191 pass yards, but this was probably because they had set up the passing game so well with their barrage of running plays. Everybody knows that the Irish rely on Jimmy Clausen’s arm on offense, but it might be a good idea to try running first, passing later when they play the Huskies this upcoming weekend.

To get Notre Dame Fighting Irish football tickets, go to StubHub.com.

Permalink - Posted in General on October 20, 2008 - Post a comment


 Page 1 of 3  1  2  3 »