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 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 Everett Golson is soaking it all in as he should be. The Notre Dame freshman quarterback is enjoying all the attention he and his Fighting Irish teammates are receiving as they prep for the BCS National Championship Game on Monday night. Golson has led Notre Dame to a 12-0 […]
By DOUG GRIFFITHS ISL Assistant Editor Notre Dame did what no one thought it could. It finished the football season undefeated thanks to a 22-13 win at USC Saturday night. Yes, the top-ranked Irish, who began the season unranked and ended it 12-0 for the first time since 1988, are relevant once again. So relevant […]
By DOUG GRIFFITHS ISL Assistant Editor Many college football aficionados doubted whether Notre Dame would ever be relevant again on the national stage. The school’s academic standards were too high, higher than when the Irish last won a national title more than two decades ago. High enough in fact that star players from that 1988 […]
By DOUG GRIFFITHS ISL Assistant Editor NOTRE DAME, Ind. — Finally the Irish resembled a top five team at home, hammering Wake Forest 38-0 Saturday in Notre Dame Stadium. The third-ranked Irish’s previous five home games were all decided by a touchdown or less, but this one was over in a hurry. Notre Dame scored […]
By DOUG GRIFFITHS ISL Assistant Editor Emotions will be running high when the third-ranked Irish run out of the Notre Dame Stadium tunnel for the final time Saturday. Seniors like all-everything Manti Te’o and Tyler Eifert will be playing their final game in front of their home fans. Those same fans will be saluting Te’o, […]
By DOUG GRIFFITHS ISL Assistant Editor Over the next few weeks, Notre Dame and its massive fan base will likely don the colors of Baylor, Texas, Stanford and Oregon State. OK, maybe they won’t go that far, but you know they’ll be the biggest fans of those four teams you’ll find across the country. As […]