By DOUG GRIFFITHS ISL Correspondent NOTRE DAME, Ind. — If you didn’t believe Notre Dame is a team of destiny before Saturday, you probably do now. The fourth-ranked Irish’s 29-26 triple overtime win over Pitt was nothing short of miraculous. Notre Dame snatched a victory from the jaws of defeat not once but a couple […]
Continue ReadingBy CHRIS GOFF ISL Correspondent INDIANAPOLIS – As he turned to watch Marcus Thornton’s 3 erase the last of a 14-point halftime lead, Paul George felt despair. I was thinking, ˜Did I just give this game away,’ George said. Thornton, left open, sent the game to overtime with a swish from the top of the […]
Continue ReadingBy DOUG GRIFFITHS ISL Correspondent So far this season, Notre Dame has played like a champion, as its sign just outside its locker room suggests. But how will the Irish play as a heavy favorite at 3:40 p.m. Saturday when they host Pitt? The game against the Panthers begins a three-game stretch where 8-0 Notre Dame, […]
Continue ReadingBy DOUG GRIFFITHS ISL Correspondent Just when you think you have the Big Ten football somewhat figured out, last week happens. Michigan appeared ready to solidify itself not only as the favorite to win the Legends Division, but take a stranglehold in doing so. Nebraska, though, had other ideas and now the Cornhuskers control their […]
Continue ReadingBy DOUG GRIFFITHS ISL Corrrespondent Letdown, letdown, letdown. That seems to be the only thing being talked about around Notre Dame’s football program this week. After each big win this season, Irish coach Brian Kelly has been asked during the following week of preparation how his team will avoid a dreaded letdown. As expected, a […]
Continue ReadingBy DOUG GRIFFITHS ISL Correspondent Beating a top-10 team on the road is never easy, especially when you’re a double-digit underdog, but Notre Dame made it look about as easy as possible Saturday night when it handled Oklahoma with relative ease, beating the Sooners by 17 points. As they have all season long, the Irish […]
Continue ReadingBy CHRIS GOFF ISL Correspondent As the Indiana Pacers open a new season this evening on Halloween, it’s worth pausing to consider what a frightening position the franchise once occupied. When Donnie Walsh left in 2008, a steady degradation of the roster left Mike Dunleavy Jr. as the second-best player on the team. The ghosts […]
Continue ReadingBy CHRIS GOFF ISL Correspondent After a season of stunning success, the Pacers spent money like a super PAC on steroids this summer. Huge contracts landed on the doorsteps of Roy Hibbert and George Hill, and no expense was spared in overhauling the bench. It was Indiana’s most lavish offseason in nearly a decade. Clearly, […]
Continue ReadingBy DOUG GRIFFITHS ISL Correspondent Notre Dame is for real. If there was any doubt, Brian Kelly’s fifth-ranked Irish silenced the critics with an extremely impressive 30-13 win at No. 8 Oklahoma. Go ahead start the national championship talk because it’s warranted. Barring something out of the ordinary, Notre Dame will be 11-0 when it […]
Continue ReadingBy DOUG GRIFFITHS ISL Correspondent If you’re not one of the lucky 82,112 to be in attendance Saturday night in Norman, Okla., you’ll probably be glued to your television watching what will be the biggest game of this college football season so far. Without question, it doesn’t get any bigger than No. 5 Notre Dame […]
Continue ReadingBy DOUG GRIFFITHS ISL Correspondent One look at Saturday’s Big Ten schedule and it’s easy to decipher that we could be entering the month of November and both divisions could for all practical purposes be sewn up. That scenario will indeed unfold if Michigan is able to win Saturday at Nebraska. A Wolverine win in […]
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