By DOUG GRIFFITHS ISL Assistant Editor In Notre Dame football fans’ minds, for all practical purposes the 2013 season is over just five games into it. Why? Because Brian Kelly’s Fighting Irish have failed their only two matchups against top-25 teams. As a result, Notre Dame won’t be playing for a national championship this season […]
By DOUG GRIFFITHS ISL Assistant Editor Having had plenty of time to digest and analyze Notre Dame’s first regular-season loss since 2011, I’ve come to some conclusions. Before I dive into those, let me reassure Irish Nation that the sky isn’t falling and Notre Dame’s program isn’t slipping after Saturday night’s 41-30 defeat Saturday night […]
By CLIFF BRUNT ISL Editor WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Amid all the talk about what is and isn’t a rivalry, Purdue vs. Notre Dame, by many standards, actually is one. The two Indiana schools first met in 1896 and have played every year since 1946. Notre Dame has gotten the best of the series, leading […]
By DOUG GRIFFITHS ISL Assistant Editor SOUTH BEND, Ind. — The way Notre Dame started its season opener you thought they would cover the spread in the first half. The first two times the Fighting Irish touched the ball against visiting Temple, they found the end zone, and for all practical purposes the game was […]
By DOUG GRIFFITHS ISL Assistant Editor SOUTH BEND, Ind. — We are a week away from Notre Dame kicking off the 2013 season when it hosts Temple. On paper, the Owls aren’t much of a test for the 14th-ranked Fighting Irish. After all, Temple is coming off a 4-7 season a year ago, including 2-5 […]
By DOUG GRIFFITHS ISL Assistant Editor When Brian Kelly held his first formal press conference of the 2013 season, it was blatantly obvious just how confident the fourth-year Fighting Irish boss was. Shouldn’t he be? After all, he has re-energized a program that saw its usual sky-high confidence brought down to earth before his arrival […]
By DOUG GRIFFITHS ISL Correspondent Brian Kelly’s Fighting Irish have been tabbed a preseason top-10 team by some heading into the 2013 campaign, but those lofty expectations may be way out of whack now that starting quarterback Everett Golson is in exile after being suspended from the university. In the latter part of May, the […]
By DOUG GRIFFITHS ISL Assistant Editor Unlike Thursday night, Manti Te’o didn’t have to wait too long before hearing his name called during the second round of the NFL Draft tonight. Te’o, thought to be a first-round pick by the pundits, took in the draft from his home state of Hawaii and had to endure […]
DOUG GRIFFITHS ISL Assistant Editor It was a good night for one Notre Dame player in New York City at the NFL Draft and a stunning night for another. Tyler Eifert heard his name called, perhaps a little later than he might have anticipated, but the Cincinnati Bengals made him a happy man when they […]
By DOUG GRIFFITHS ISL Assistant Editor NOTRE DAME, Ind. – Brian Kelly’s Fighting Irish don’t lack confidence, nor should they. Coming off last year’s 12-1 season that included a trip to the BCS National Championship Game, Kelly entered spring drills wanting his team to develop an identity. It did just that, says the fourth-year Irish […]
By DOUG GRIFFITHS ISL Assistant Editor For many, Christmas comes in February in the form of national signing day for college football, and that most anticipated day of the year is almost here. Schools will be anxiously awaiting players’ autographs tomorrow as they put the finishing touches on their 2013 recruiting classes. One of the […]