Happy Birthday Niall!
Today, the One Direction crooner celebrates his 19th birthday!
The group’s sole Irishman has had a LOT to be thankful for this past year — hit records, sold out tours, performing at the Olympics — making it one to remember!
Check out some pics of 1D’s resident goofball (below)!!!
Wonder how he’ll celebrate tonight??
We’re sure the only gift he’s craving is Demi Lovato’s cakecakecake!
We hope the birthday boy get his wish!!! LOLz!
[Image via WENN.]
Happy Birthday Niall!
Today, the One Direction crooner celebrates his 19th birthday!
The group’s sole Irishman has had a LOT to be thankful for this past year — hit records, sold out tours, performing at the Olympics — making it one to remember!
Check out some pics of 1D’s resident goofball (below)!!!
Wonder how he’ll celebrate tonight??
We’re sure the only gift he’s craving is Demi Lovato’s cakecakecake!
We hope the birthday boy get his wish!!! LOLz!
[Image via WENN.]
Bleacher Report – 4-star defensive tackle/offensive lineman Darius Latham will visit the Irish on Saturday before venturing southeast to Tennessee on Sunday. As reported by Allen Trieu—”In no particular order”—the five schools at the top of his list are Notre Dame, Florida, Tennessee, Wisconsin and Ohio State.
It has been a rough four seasons for this year’s version of the Notre Dame season close. They have had to deal with disappointing seasons, a new coaching staff and deaths to a teammate and person close to the football program.
One of the positives has been their play in the bowl games though, something that was a problem during a decade stretch for the Irish. From 1995 to 2007, Notre Dame lost nine straight games with many of them coming in blowout fashion. The other seasons, the Irish were so bad that they didn’t have enough wins to be bowl eligible.
The last couple of postseason games have been much more kind to this senior class as they are currently on a two-game win streak.
Manti Te’o didn’t win the Lott Impact Award Sunday night in Newport Beach, with Boston College’s Luke Kuechly receiving the prize. But Te’o did steal just about all the headlines, when he announced that he’d be returning for his senior season at Notre Dame.
The Irish’s All-American linebacker, who many thought would be destined for the first round of the NFL Draft, announced late Sunday night that he was returning for one last season at Notre Dame, returning a critical piece to the Irish defense.
“I feel I’m not done at Notre Dame,” Te’o said, as reported by Fox Sports’ Lisa Horne. “I’ll be coming back to Notre Dame.”
SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) —
Brian Kelly’s motto this season has been “next man in” for injury-riddled Notre Dame.
Now it’s Cierre Wood’s turn.
With starting running back Jonas Gray suffering a torn ACL against Boston College, the Irish will lean even more heavily on Wood in Saturday’s game at No. 4 Stanford.
Wood wasn’t exactly behind Gray. Wood began the season as the starter, and leads the team in carries (187) and rushing yards (1,001). But his workload is sure to surpass his average of 17 carries per game against the Cardinal as the Irish try to keep Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck off the field.
Against Boston College, Wood finished with 26 carries while taking over the running back position when Gray was injured on the first play of the second half. Thirty carries this weekend might not be out of the question.
“If they need me to carry the ball 50 times that’s what I’ll do,” Wood said. “If they need me to carry it 10 times that’s what I’ll do. As long as we get the W that’s what I’m more concerned about.”
With a two-back offense, Wood had been the speed to Gray’s power.
“He’s got to do it all,” Kelly said of Wood. “He’s not Jonas Gray. He doesn’t run the same way. He’s a different runner.”
Still, Wood said he never thought of certain plays being designed for Gray and other plays being designed for him.
“I never looked at it as this is a Jonas play,” Wood said. “I’m pretty sure he never looked at it as the speed plays would be my plays. Whatever play that comes up, we’re going to run that to the best of our ability and try to break it.”
Wood said he knows he’s in for a tall task against the Cardinal. In last year’s 37-14 loss to Stanford, the Irish only mustered 44 yards on the ground.
“They’re a very physical team. They’re assignment sound. They play with little to no mistakes. You add together with a lot of talent and that puts you in the top five in the nation,” Wood said.
Against the stout Stanford run defense that ranks fifth nationally, Wood will have to use a combination of speed and strength to gain maximum yardage. And he says he won’t try to force anything.
The virtue of patience is something Wood had to develop when losing his starting spot to Gray over the past several games. In the four weeks before the Boston College game, Gray carried the ball 56 times to Wood’s 48.
Running backs coach Tim Hinton said Wood handled the demotion with poise.
“He managed it tremendously well,” Hinton said. “You’ve got to really compliment Cierre on how he managed it and how we was able to take that. Some kids aren’t going to do as well as he did. Bottom line is he came out and continued to produce and had great yardage.”
When Gray went down to injury, Hinton said Wood may have taken it worse than anyone else.
“It really bothered Cierre that his buddy got hurt,” Wood said. “It bothered him internally . I was really proud of how he managed that.”
Wood’s personality shines in the running back group. He’s not one to shy away from making a joke.
“He’s got a great personality,” Hinton said. “We love being around him. Our players enjoy him. He’ll miss Jonas being around because that was his real sidekick.”
On Tuesday, Wood was simply wondering whether he would be going to Hinton’s house for Thanksgiving dinner.
“Got to have some sweet potato pie,” Wood said. “You have to. If he doesn’t have that, I’m definitely not going.”
If sweet potato pie is what Wood needs before carrying the load Saturday, the Irish will make sure he gets some.
LANDOVER, Md. (AP) — Notre Dame will travel halfway across the country to play a “home” game against Maryland on Saturday night in a stadium only 12 miles from the Terrapins’ campus.
It’s all part of Notre Dame’s plan to play one off-site home game per year. The Irish faced Washington State in San Antonio in 2009, hosted Army at Yankee Stadium in 2010 and will face Arizona State at Cowboys Stadium in Texas in 2013.
Next up: FedEx Field, home of the Washington Redskins.
“As we have looked to move one game a season around the country, playing in the Washington D.C. area seemed a natural for us in terms of institutional fit,” Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick said.
It can’t hurt recruiting, either. So Irish coach Brian Kelly won’t complain too much about the quirk in the schedule.
“Playing on the East Coast, it’s a great area to recruit, get great exposure on NBC in primetime,” Kelly said. “We’re really happy about those things, but we’re treating it as though we’re going to play Maryland in Maryland.”
Not exactly an ideal scenario for a surging team seeking to improve its bowl stature.
“I have no control over those things,” Kelly said. “They make the decisions and they tell me what bus to get on. I have a card that tells me what seat to sit in, and I show up.”
Kelly shouldn’t worry much. Maryland (2-7) has lost five straight and is winless on the road — though it’s only a short trek from the Terrapins’ campus.
“We play an away game this weekend but we are treating it like a home game,” Terrapins coach Randy Edsall said.
The Irish (6-3) will wear their dark jerseys, but that won’t do much to make them feel at home.
“You pretty much treat it as a road game,” linebacker Darius Fleming said. “You’re not at home in your home stadium. You’re out there. We’ve never been there before.”
Tight end Tyler Eifert said, “It is strange and not normal, but you just have to approach it as another game.”
It’s the second straight matchup for the Irish against an Atlantic Coast Conference foe. Notre Dame rallied past Wake Forest 24-17 last week for its sixth win in seven games.
All signs point to an easy victory for the Irish, but this isn’t a typical week. If Kelly can’t even count on a home game being at home, he certainly isn’t taking this outcome for granted.
“I think we saw last week you’ve got to really play well when you go on the road,” Kelly said. “Teams are going to play their very best. Maryland will play their very best against us, as has every team we’ve gone against. … Whatever their record is, it is. But this is their one shot. They’ve already had their Senior Day. That was last week. So they’ve got to look at their schedule and go, here’s our bowl game.”
Kelly was right on target. The Terrapins aren’t going to have a winning season and will probably finish in the cellar of the ACC Atlantic Division, but all that will be a lot easier to take if they defeat Notre Dame.
“Notre Dame is one of the most storied programs in the history of college football. To beat them would be a great victory for us,” Edsall said.
“It’s a huge game for us — a pro stadium, a packed house and it’s only the second time we’ve played them,” defensive tackle Joe Vellano said.
Notre Dame beat Maryland 22-0 in the 2002 Kickoff Classic in New Jersey.
The Terrapins will be breaking out their “pride uniforms” — the same garish helmet, jersey and pants combination they wore in the season opener against Miami. The white, black, yellow and red outfit created a national buzz because of its outlandish look. Maryland won that game, too, but hasn’t beaten an FBS opponent since.
Edsall will probably alternate quarterbacks, a tactic he’s used the last three weeks. C.J. Brown has the better legs; Danny O’Brien is a purer passer.
“When the running quarterback comes in the game, we have to make minor adjustments and tweaks in how we play certain coverages just because of the way that he can run,” Notre Dame safety Jamoris Russell said. “He’s a threat.”
Copyright Associated Press
SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) — Ben Hansbrough has taken his swagger, dribbling skills and floor-burn approach overseas. Tyrone Nash and Carleton Scott are also no longer wearing the Notre Dame uniform.
After a 27-7 season, an unbeaten record at home, two wins over eventual national champion Connecticut, a 14-4 mark in the Big East and a No. 2 seed in the NCAA tournament, the Irish must adjust to the loss of three of its starters from a year ago.
They’ll really be counting on fifth-year players Tim Abromaitis and Scott Martin.
The Irish open the regular season at home Nov. 12 against Mississippi Valley State.
SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Notre Dame forward Tim Abromaitis will miss the first four games of the regular season because of a misunderstanding over an NCAA rule.
The school announced the news Tuesday. The 6-foot-8 senior was the team’s second-leading scorer last year at 16.1 points per game.
The problem dates to his sophomore year, when he played in two exhibition games at the beginning of the 2008-09 season.
The Irish then sat him for the rest of the exhibition season to preserve an extra year of eligibility. But the NCAA only allows that for freshmen, so Abromaitis technically used a season of eligibility when he participated in the two exhibition games.
“This certainly was an unfortunate misunderstanding that I had of the NCAA rule,” Irish coach Mike Brey said. “I discovered that I had misinterpreted the rule midway through the 2008-09 season and immediately reported it to our compliance office.”
The school appealed to the NCAA and Abromaitis was granted a fifth year of eligibility as long as he sits out the first four regular-season games: Mississippi Valley State (Nov. 12), Detroit (Nov. 14), Sam Houston State (Nov. 16) and Delaware State (Nov. 18).
His first game back would be against Missouri at the CBE Classic on Nov. 21.
Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press
The Notre Dame Fighting Irish will try to continue their turnaround Saturday against the Air Force Falcons. The Golden Domers have won three straight after losing two very winnable games to begin the season. Air Force is 3-1, but has beaten weak teams in South Dakota, Tennessee State and Navy. The Falcons only loss is to an overrated TCU team.
Full story at National Football Authority
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (AP) — For all the progress Notre Dame has made the past two games, the Fighting Irish could be back in the doldrums with another rash of mistakes Saturday at Purdue.
Notre Dame is coming off wins against Michigan State and Pittsburgh, but the Fighting Irish (2-2) might have a better record if not for their 15 turnovers. The team ranks last nationally in turnover margin.
“They are an excellent football team and loaded with talent,” Purdue coach Danny Hope said. “They have turned the ball over a lot in their first four games, and that’s probably why they are not undefeated. But they certainly have the talent and play like a top 10 football team.”
Quarterback Tommy Rees is directly responsible for nine of Notre Dame’s turnovers — six interceptions and three fumbles. More miscues could give the underdog Boilermakers (2-1) a boost under the lights at Ross-Ade Stadium.
“It’s not a secret, I need to cut down on some of the turnovers and some of the mental mistakes,” Rees said. “I think each week with different defenses, different situations, I keep growing as a player. The last two games, we’ve come out with wins, so you can’t be too upset after those. I think the more experiences, the more games that come, I can keep developing things and work on limiting some of those mistakes.”
Rees took a giant leap in the fourth quarter against Pittsburgh. He completed all eight passes on the go-ahead drive, including a 6-yard touchdown pass to tight end Tyler Eifert with less than 7 minutes remaining in a 15-12 win.
Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly said the effort was a sign that Notre Dame is moving in the right direction.
“It was the first game that we exhibited what I consider necessary ingredients, absolutely crucial ingredients, to being a consistent winner, and that’s poise and confidence,” Kelly said.
Eifert’s development as a target is a key because teams have gone to great lengths to stop receiver Michael Floyd. He ranks second nationally among tight ends with 20 catches and 244 yards.
“He provides a mismatch for us out there,” Rees said. “He does a good job of feeling throughout the zones, making himself open. He’s a big, athletic target. He can go up and get a lot of the balls.”
Floyd still has 35 catches for 424 yards. Theo Riddick and TJ Jones have two receiving touchdowns. Running back Cierre Wood has rushed for 393 yards and four touchdowns and Jonas Gray has 232 yards on just 25 carries, giving the Irish balance.
“They have great players,” Hope said. “That’s a real challenge for our defense that we have to spread out and match up; we have to, and we have to do something to slow down the production.”
Purdue is a blocked kick in the closing seconds against Rice from being undefeated this season. The Boilermakers know what a win could do for their national profile.
“Obviously, we have to keep things in perspective,” Hope said. “The game is always circled on our schedule and on our calendar. We want it to be our night.”
Purdue will play two quarterbacks.
Caleb TerBush is the starter. He led a game-winning drive in the 27-24 win over Middle Tennessee State in the opener, then led Purdue down the field in the final minutes against Rice before Carson Wiggs’ field goal was blocked in the closing seconds of a 24-22 loss. He completed 14 of 17 passes for 143 yards in a 59-0 win over Southeast Missouri State.
Robert Marve, the backup, has played once since missing a year after ACL surgery, but the former University of Miami quarterback is familiar with big-time environments. He opened his Miami career at Florida in 2008, led the Hurricanes to a win at Texas A&M the next week and started against Florida State later in the year. After transferring, he started Purdue’s opener at Notre Dame last season and completed 31 of 42 passes for 220 yards in a 23-12 loss. He completed 18 of 24 passes for 134 yards in the second half.
“TerBush is more capable relative to running the football,” Kelly said. “Robert really has good escapability, but he’s had the two knee injuries. Accurate thrower, can really sling it around the field, very live arm. So we’ll have to be very aware of TerBush in there in terms of his ability to run, but Marve can come in and really throw the ball around very well.”
TerBush and Marve will face a defense that has been solid other than a loss at Michigan. The Irish allowed South Florida 254 yards, Michigan State 358 yards and 13 points and Pittsburgh 268 yards and 12 points.
“We’re just worrying about what we do,” Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te’o said. “We obviously know and understand what the different quarterbacks are capable of doing. But we just worry about ourselves. We’re worrying about doing our job, and everything will fall in its place.”
Because of the way Notre Dame started the season, Kelly is just concerned about leaving with a victory.
“I look at the first two weeks where we averaged over 500 yards in offense and we lost both games, so really for me, it’s about winning games and making certain that we do that,” he said. “I’d rather do that and be out coached and, you know, win ugly and do all those things but at the end of the day win the football game. Beauty points, style points I’m not really interested in those things.”
Obviously, there is no way that Notre Dame could be “Notre Dame” without recruiting nationally. They would have ended up being more like Purdue, or even Indiana had they not. To recruit nationally, they have had to build relationships and develop pipeline states and pipeline schools to compete at a national level.
For the last 18 years, Notre Dame has still recruited quite well with the lone exception being the timeframe that a certain Ty Willingham was coaching our beloved Irish. In fact, he proved that the Notre Dame brand was only as good as the man developing it. You see, coaching has been the biggest problem that the Irish have had to deal with- not a lack of available talent. For all of his faults, Charlie Weis proved that you could still get top talent to sign with Notre Dame- but you just have to coach them up, to reach peak-performance.
Read more at Subway Domer
For the first time in a long time, Notre Dame has a numbers crunch on their roster, and they’ll be forced to make some difficult decisions at both the front and back-end of the roster. With scholarships limited to 85, Notre Dame has themselves in a situation that’s actually enviable — more roster options than they can actually accommodate.
Tough decisions remain for recruits and players alike. Obviously Aaron Lynch is the big get at DE along with Williams. Amir Carlisle is out, so Huggins is almost a must get, although Coach Kelly said that defense was the priority this year.
Bring David Ruffer back and give him a scholarship, he’s more than earned it. On the other hand Montana has not. Harrison Smith and Gary Gray are both must’s to come back considering our depth of experience in the secondary.
Read more at NBC Sports
Notre Dame wide receiver Michael Floyd will return for his Senior season. Obviously barring injury, I think this is a good decision. Draft analysis had Floyd going in the 3rd round of the draft as part of a deep wide receiver class.
Floyd will come back and continue to rewrite the Notre Dame record books and be a huge contributor to a team that is suddenly on the rise after winning their last 3 regular season games and winning their bowl game.
“I’m returning to Notre Dame for three reasons: to earn my degree, return Notre Dame to the top and improve myself as a player.” said Floyd
The 6-foot-3 wideout will continue to build on 171 catches for 2,539 yards and a school-record 28 touchdown grabs in three seasons.
A few of the best statistical minds in the ND hive have crunched some year end numbers and there are official numbers to prove what we all know — the Irish defense improved.
RUSHING DEFENSE: 50th (up 39 spots from 89th last year)
PASS EFFICIENCY: 25th (up 57 spots from 82nd last year)
TOTAL DEFENSE: 50th (up 36 spots from 86th last year)
SCORING DEFENSE: 23rd (up 40 spots from 63rd last year)
No doubt Bob Diaco was under the gun after the Navy debacle but if you go back and look at the numbers they prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that the defense improved tremendously. But go beyond the numbers and trust your eyes….The last four games particularly, the defense played with a confidence and physicality not seen for a long time.
Defense wins championships….ask the SEC.
Read more at NBC Sports
After meeting with head coach Brian Kelly, Notre Dame wide receiver Michael Floyd will sleep on his options before informing his head coach whether or not he’ll come back to school for his senior season.
The word is that Floyd got his draft grade and it put him somewhere in the 3rd round. I think that makes this a harder decision than maybe Floyd thought it would be. 3rd round money is significantly lower than 1st and even 2nd round money.
One thing working against Floyd is that this is a deep receiver class with the likes of A.J. Green and Julio Jones. On the other hand there is always the chance of a career changing injury if he does come back.
My gut feeling is that he goes….or stay’s. We’ll hold our breath until tomorrow.
Read more at NBC Sports
Aaron Lynch still plans to visit Notre Dame this weekend and Florida State still appears to be out of the picture.
But Lynch, a heavily recruited defensive end from Cape Coral, Fla., now says he’s also considering Florida and Miami.
The 6-foot-6, 245-pound Lynch told the Fort Myers (Fla.) News-Press in a text message on Monday that he’s considering the in-state Gators and Hurricanes, and that he is no longer considering the Seminoles.
Good news and bad news. Good news is he still plans to visit Notre Dame, bad news is he also added Miami and Florida to his list. So far he’s been given every reason to commit to Notre Dame but he continues to resist. I’m starting to get the feeling that Lynch just doesn’t want to leave the state of Florida.
Read more at The South Bend Tribune
The recruiting saga of Aaron Lynch, one-time Irish commitment, recent Florida State pledge, and soon to be early-enrollee, has taken another u-turn. And this time, it appears it’s in the Irish’s favor.
This situation appears to be college football recruiting in a nutshell. An 18 year old who is making the biggest decision of his young like is struggling to make that decision. Committing to an Irish team who struggled with a new coach and now seeing that same team rise with the looks of continuing that rise has clouded an already cloudy decision. Hopefully the young man can find in his heart what really will make him happy……signing with Notre Dame.
Read more at NBC Sports
For the first time in a long while, Notre Dame is in a position of strength going into the home stretch of recruiting, and head coach Brian Kelly and his staff are ready to take advantage of the momentum.
Several top players remain uncommitted or semi committed but still looking. As always the Irish need to hit a home run on the defensive side of the ball.
Read more at NBC Sports
1. Julius Jones . . . . . . 24 . . . . .10.9 . . . .262
at Pittsburgh, Oct. 11, 2003
2. Vagas Ferguson . . . 30 . . . . .8.5 . . . . .255
at Georgia Tech, Nov. 18, 1978
3. Phil Carter . . . . . . . 40 . . . . .6.4 . . . . .254
at Michigan State, Oct. 4, 1980
4. Reggie Brooks. . . . . 19 . . . . .11.9 . . . .227
at USC, Nov. 28, 1992
5. Jim Stone . . . . . . . . 38 . . . . .5.9 . . . . .244
vs. Miami, Oct. 11, 1980
6. Julius Jones . . . . . . 33 . . . . .6.7 . . . . .221
vs. Navy, Nov. 8, 2003
7. Vagas Ferguson . . . 18 . . . . .12.2 . . . .219
vs. Navy, Nov. 4, 1978
8. Julius Jones . . . . . . 23 . . . . .9.5 . . . . .218
at Stanford, Nov. 29, 2003
9. Allen Pinkett. . . . . . 36 . . . . .6.4 . . . . .217
at Penn State, Nov. 12, 1983
10. Jim Stone . . . . . . . . 33 . . . . .13.6 . . . .211
vs. Navy, Nov. 1, 1980