Getty Images Let me utter a sentence that isn’t often said on the last day of November in northwest Indiana: It’s a great time to be in South Bend.
The Irish await the winner of Alabama-Georgia in the national championship game. Mike Brey’s hoops team dispatched John Calipari’s lastest gang of mercenaries. As the student body galvanizes around its athletic teams — an electric crowd willed the basketball team to victory as Irish football players took turns cleaning the court — life looks mighty fine under the Golden Dome, with hundreds of students storming the court on national television after a dominating upset of Kentucky.
It gets characterized as hocus-pocus or clever marketing by skeptics everywhere, but it was hard not to see the magic of Notre Dame if you watched Mike Brey’s team take down Kentucky’s future NBA roster last night. And when Dan Shulman and Dick Vitale welcomed Manti Te’o to the broadcast, it was hard not to think that the Irish — after a football season that played out like a Madison Avenue marketing campaign for the university and its aspirations — got another ten minute infomercial live on ESPN.
With Te’o as the school’s leading man, Notre Dame is riding a tidal wave of positivity that hasn’t been seen in twenty years. When he wasn’t deftly avoiding recruiting violations, he was talking about a community that just about every prospective student-athlete would love to be a part of.
“They’re our family,” Te’o said of the football team’s relationship with the basketball team. “The only time we’re not together is when they’re on the court or we’re on the field. We’re always together, always talking about our next games and match-ups.”
As most major universities resurrect buildings to keep athletes and student separate, the stands were packed with Irish football players, arm-in-arm with their dormmates. Only Louis Nix was absent from the game, according to Te’o, and he had good reason: He was playing Santa at a cancer fundraiser. Even the biggest Notre Dame haters are going to have a hard time pulling a lump of coal from that stocking.
You’d be hard pressed to find an outcome January 7th that could lessen the impact that this football season has had on the university and its fan base. After almost two decades of consistently wearing it on the chin, it’s a great time to be Irish. You can’t blame the students for storming the court. It was Te’o, of course, that led the charge.
With awards soon to be rightfully showered on Brian Kelly and Manti Te’o, you might as well enjoy six weeks of non-stop talk about Notre Dame and its chances against the mighty SEC. Whatever happens in Miami, it’s amazing to think that one overachieving football team, a group that has risen from the ashes of a disappointing 2011 season, has put a community on its back and turned South Bend into one of the happiest places on earth.
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The future depth chart along the offensive line for Notre Dame just received another star-studded name when Tennessee’s Alex Bars gave his verbal commitment to the Irish coaching staff. The 6-foot-6, 280-pound linemen picked Notre Dame over an elite offer list, turning down Michigan, Ohio State, LSU, Penn State and Stanford among a slew of…
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When you think back to this time last year, there were so many unanswered questions about the Notre Dame offense. We were quoting Nelly and analyzing pie charts, hoping to get to the bottom of what was wrong with an offense that couldn’t stop shooting itself in the foot and struggled getting any efficiency. Everett…
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It’s been a long time since we’ve seen defensive end Aaron Lynch on the football field. After a freshman All-American season for the Irish, Lynch left South Bend in the middle of spring practice and headed home to South Florida. The soap opera surrounding the decision to transfer, which included social media pleas to stay…
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It appears football life (almost) in the ACC is starting to come into scheduling focus, as news is starting to trickle out from Big Ten rivals about future dates. While the Michigan series is on hold (likely until 2020), Michigan State athletic director Mark Hollis announced the future of the Irish-Spartans rivalry isn’t going anywhere.…
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It might not fly too well on the handshake circuit, but Brady Hoke‘s dig at Notre Dame for backing out of the Michigan series might not be all that appropriate… considering Michigan asked to take a break first. Last June news broke that the Irish and Wolverines were going to take a two-year hiatus in…
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God bless Brady Hoke. During a time of year where just about anything counts as college football news, the Michigan head coach provided some real bulletin board material and ratcheted up a Notre Dame-Michigan rivalry that will be coming to a temporary end after the 2014 season. “We are fortunate to have unbelievable rivalry games…
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Reuters
With news light on the college football front (we’re still putting the pieces together for some long-form offseason features), let’s take a quick look at San Diego, where Manti Te’o‘s life as an NFL football player just got started. Te’o debuted at rookie minicamp, where reporters and coaches got their first look at the former…
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For Notre Dame football fans, there will always be a bit of a “what if” with Jeff Samardzija. The former All-American wide receiver, who exploded onto the scene when Charlie Weis arrived in South Bend, scored a ridiculous 27 touchdown passes in his final two years in South Bend, exactly 27 more than he did…
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The news of Gunner Kiel leaving Notre Dame was hardly a surprise. The talented young quarterback, who redshirted during the Irish’s 2012 run to the BCS Championship game, departed before spring practice, with an eye on finding an opportunity to play. It was another switch on an already wayward journey for Kiel, one of the…
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Sad news out of the Notre Dame football program. Former fullback Asaph Schwapp has lost his battle with cancer. He was just 26 years old. News of his grave condition broke earlier today when former Irish coach Charlie Weis tweeted, “One of the first young men I ever recruited to ND, Asaph Schwapp is gravely…
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As the school year draws to a close, the Irish are in the unofficial portion of the calendar. Yet that’s the time — through the guidance of strength and conditioning coach Paul Longo, that leadership usually emerges. Watching Brian Kelly’s teams evolve, you get the idea that when Kelly says his team develops at its…
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Last year, Notre Dame assembled a recruiting class that did most of its own work. Spearheaded by early commitments like James Onwualu, Malik Zaire and Jaylon Smith, the “Irish Mob” built on the camaraderie and closed strong, adding five-star recruits Greg Bryant, Max Redfield and Eddie Vanderdoes. It looks like the current recruiting class is…
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Putting the 2012 season into context will be easier the farther away it gets. Notre Dame’s unlikely run to the BCS Championship game is incredible for so many different reasons. Even if the end result was a one-sided Alabama victory, the fact that the Irish found themselves at the apex of the mountain is one…
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The house that Rockne built is in need of another expansion. At least that’s the thinking among Notre Dame administrators. The university announced a feasibility study that’s going to explore all options for the iconic stadium over the next six to nine months, as part of the a larger campus plan. “Inspired by the University’s…
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Just a few days after adding one of the top running backs in the country, the Notre Dame coaching staff accepted the verbal commitment of New Jersey offensive lineman Quenton Nelson. The 6-foot-5, 285-pound offensive tackle had offers from Alabama, Miami, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Stanford and a slew of others. Nelson joins a growing offensive…
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AP
While draft day might have been disappointing for some graduating Notre Dame players, it’s far from that when you’re looking at the overall health of the football program. The six Irish players drafted last week is another data-point that shows the talent on the roster, and the health of the program, is on the rise.…
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After a slow start to recruiting this spring, the 2014 group received a huge jolt when blue-chip running back Elijah Hood pledged his commitment to the Irish on Sunday evening. The 5-foot-11, 220-pounder is Rivals’ top-ranked athlete, No. 12 prospect overall, and has offers from North Carolina, Michigan, Ohio State, Florida State, USC and more.…
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During Kapron Lewis-Moore‘s Notre Dame career, the six-foot-four, 300-pound defensive end had his share of bad timing. An injury during the 2011 season cut short his junior year just as the Irish needed him most. After an impressive final season, an ACL injury during the biggest game of his career threw his draft potential into…
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It took longer than they probably hoped, but four more Irish football players went off the board in the late rounds of the NFL Draft. Safety Jamoris Slaughter, whose season was cut short after an Achilles tendon tear, was selected in the sixth round by the Cleveland Browns. Later in that round, Theo Riddick went…
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The waiting is finally over for Notre Dame All-American Manti Te’o, who was selected by the San Diego Chargers with the sixth pick of the second round. For Te’o, it’s a silver lining landing spot after a disappointing slide dropped him out of the first round. The former Irish linebacker heads to San Diego, about…
