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Fighting Irish Basketball Schedule
Last 5 Games
| Old Dominion | Thu 03/18 | L 50 - 51 |
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West Virginia
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Fri 03/12 | L 51 - 53 |
| @ Pittsburgh | Thu 03/11 | W 50 - 45 |
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Seton Hall
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Wed 03/10 | W 68 - 56 |
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@
Marquette
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Sat 03/06 | W 63 - 60 |
Big East Conference Standings
(updated 4.3.2010 at 11:23 PM EDT)
| Conf | Overall | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| W | L | W | L | |
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Syracuse Orange
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15 | 3 | 30 | 5 |
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West Virginia Mountaineers
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13 | 5 | 31 | 6 |
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Villanova Wildcats
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13 | 5 | 25 | 8 |
| Pittsburgh Panthers | 13 | 5 | 25 | 9 |
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Marquette Golden Eagles
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11 | 7 | 22 | 12 |
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Louisville Cardinals
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11 | 7 | 20 | 13 |
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Georgetown Hoyas
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10 | 8 | 23 | 11 |
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Notre Dame Fighting Irish
|
10 | 8 | 23 | 12 |
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South Florida Bulls
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9 | 9 | 20 | 13 |
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Seton Hall Pirates
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9 | 9 | 19 | 13 |
| Cincinnati Bearcats | 7 | 11 | 19 | 16 |
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Connecticut Huskies
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7 | 11 | 18 | 16 |
| St. John's Red Storm | 6 | 12 | 17 | 16 |
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Rutgers Scarlet Knights
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5 | 13 | 15 | 17 |
| Providence Friars | 4 | 14 | 12 | 19 |
| DePaul Blue Demons | 1 | 17 | 8 | 23 |
Raking The Muck: Notre Dame vs. Independent BYU, Some Purdue Trash Talk, Depth Chart Notes
by CW on Sep 2, 2010 9:31 AM EDT
in Notre Dame Football
3 comments
Can't believe we're already here, folks, with just a shade over 48 hours until Notre Dame kicks off against Purdue. Almost as exciting is the fact that there are a nice set of games this evening. Of particular interest to fans of the Irish, a few opponents in action tonight:
Pittsburgh at Utah - A rematch of the 2005 Fiesta Bowl, where Utah routed the Panthers to conclude a perfect season before Urban Meyer moved on to Gainesville. Great chance for fans to watch the best game of the night but also do some scouting on two of the best teams Notre Dame will face all season. Dion Lewis and Jonathan Baldwin bring the big play potential for Pittsburgh against a Utah defense that only returns four starters.
USC at Hawaii - The night cap is Lane Kiffin's debut as Trojan head coach. The visitors are four touchdown favorites, so I'm just hoping the Rainbow Warriors keep it close just long enough to see everyone favorite's wunderkind sweat a little on the sidelines.
A few other top teams in action against relative creampuffs tonight (Ohio State and Miami both work out some kinks before their Fiesta Bowl rematch next weekend), while the other big ESPN game is Steve Spurrier and the embattled Gamecocks hosting Southern Miss. Happy football, everyone.
*
After a flirtation with staying in the Mountain West, BYU is now an independent in football. The problem about finding a network was resolved rather quickly, as ESPN has stepped in with an eight-year (!) deal, and while there are stills a lot of holes on that schedule to fill, Captain Jack Swarbrick is pitching in with a rumored six-game Cougars/Irish series that will dot the decade through 2020. (BYU had previously scheduled a series with Texas, meaning the ‘Horns, Cougs and Irish have a nice little ménage a trois going on over the next few years.) It's going to hurt people's argument that Notre Dame needs to join a conference to get a TV deal when Brigham Young secures a supposedly lucrative contract in a couple of weeks.
(Fun fact: This author's first game as a Notre Dame student/fan was the 2004 loss in Provo. It featured the greatest performance by a special teams player I've ever seen, as Matt Payne kicked the ball around like Pele for four quarters. We had even rented a big screen TV to see that sadness. Great times.)
And while Pat Haden was probably just making sure the PAC12 knows who is boss, he didn't rule out Southern Cal going independent, although he was very, very short of actually endorsing that as an option.
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If you needed to get your ire up any more for this weekend's game, allow me to recommend checking out our old friend T-Mill's answers about ND/Purdue over at Keith Arnold's NBC haunt. A lot of fun stuff in there, but my two favorites are probably calling preseason All-American (and Purdue game-winning touchdown recipient!) Kyle Rudolph a "solid tight end" and predicting that Saturday's game will be like 2004, a game the Boilers won 41-16. (UPDATE! Travis clarifies his statement in the comments.) To provide balance, here's MGo's preview of Purdue in their conference rundown:
Robert Marve is sure getting a lot of hype for a guy who finished just inside the top 100 nationally in pass efficiency last time he played a live down. There's nothing (aside from the four stars next to his name in 2008) that suggests he'll be better than Joey Elliott was last year. Running back Ralph Bolden has a torn ACL, causing him to miss at least part of the season, and his backup, Al-Terek McBurse, has been dinged up during camp as well. The Boilermakers return top receiver Keith Smith, along with a couple other key pieces in the receiving game. They do, however, lose a couple offensive linemen from a mediocre unit, which could mean a step back.
The defensive leaders for Purdue will be a pair of seniors in defensive end Ryan Kerrigan and linebacker Jason Werner. The linebackers should be the same as last year, with Joe Holland filling one of the spots, and Chris Calrino and Dwayne Beckford battling for the final position. The secondary is almost entirely new, as Torri Williams, David Pender, Brandon King, and Dwight McLean are gone. The defense should be a serious weakness of the Boilermakers.
Almost game time. Almost.
*
Brian Kelly made some clarifications on the depth chart. Two main points:
- The back-up quarterback situation is a work in progress. "That position is still one that will be evaluated all week, quite honestly, and all year," Kelly said. "Rees and Montana will be given second-team reps. They're splitting them right now. There is no No. 2 and No. 3."
- While Steve Filer isn't in the two-deep, some switching around of linebacker responsibilities means he could easily get into the game before freshmen Prince Shembo and Danny Spond.
As always with these things so early in the season, things are very nebulous.
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Shaq Evans is likely on his way home to UCLA. Still disappointed things didn't work out, but here's hoping he still is able to score a bunch of touchdowns against USC in his career.
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And just because:
"Thanks to the success of our programs, we’ve had a difficult time finding teams willing to come to LaVell Edwards Stadium to play us. We believe the combined resources between BYU and ESPN are already paying off – we’re still working out the details, but we have agreed to a six-game deal through 2020 with Notre Dame football that will bring the Fighting Irish to Provo."
WR Shaquelle Evans to Transfer
Not particularly surprising after the depth chart's release yesterday, but still disappointing.
Irish Blogger Roundtable: Purdue Edition
by CW on Aug 31, 2010 1:00 PM EDT
in Notre Dame Football
0 comments
We've joined up with a bunch of the other fine Notre Dame blogs on the internet to discuss some weekly questions about the Fighting Irish and college football in general. The inaugural queries of the 2010 season can be found over at UHND, along with (eventually) replies from the rest of those involved. Here's a roster of all the blogs participating this autumn.
Frank V's questions, and my answers, after the jump:
Which of the following Notre Dame players will have the most yards from scrimmage?
by CW on Aug 31, 2010 11:00 AM EDT
in Notre Dame Football
0 comments
I excluded Michael Floyd, but everyone else is fair game.
Notre Dame Football Depth Chart: Purdue Week Edition
by CW on Aug 31, 2010 6:00 AM EDT
in Notre Dame Football
0 comments
Late yesterday afternoon Irish Sports Daily started tweeting highlights from the new depth chart. You can now find the whole thing there, at Rivals or pretty much any other Irish-related place on the internet. A few things that jump out:
- Steve Filer isn't on the two-deep, which is a surprise. I'd be shocked if he didn't work his way into the rotation by the end of the month, and some Irish fans think this is some sort of motivational tactic and he'll see the field before Prince Shembo. I don't think I'd go that far, but I don't think we've seen the last of Filer.
- We may have seen the last of Shaq Evans and possibly Deion Walker, neither of whom cracked the top six receivers. Those guys have all the talent in the world, but they just haven't been able to find their groove under Weis or Kelly. Rumors have Evans transferring out sooner rather than later, and there's potential for Walker to maybe move over to defense if he doesn't move on. Who knows why the four-star guys didn't work out, but it doesn't look like they'll be having a major impact on the offense this season, at least early on.
- Braxston Cave beats out Dan Wenger, Chris Stewart holds off Chris Watt and Zach Martin and Taylor Dever will replace Sam Young and Paul Duncan on the outside. Trevor Robinson will also be starting, but there was never any question about that.
- Tyler Eifert is your number two tight end over Mike Ragone, while Cierre Wood is backing up Armando Allen. Other young folks in the top forty-four include Tommy Rees at backup quarterback, Prince Shembo and Danny Spond at linebacker and Lo Wood at corner (Wood is sort of by default). TJ Jones maintains his hold on the starting wide receiver gig, lining up alongside Michael Floyd and Theo Riddick.
- Backup wide receivers are Roby Toma, Duval Kamara and John Goodman.
- Wood and Riddick will be returning kicks, Nick Tausch is place kicking, David Ruffer is kicking off and Allen is returning punts. Kelly likes to get the ball into the hands of his playmakers as much as possible, as number one receiver Mardy Gilyard was returning kicks for the Bearcats last year.
- Anthony McDonald is backing up Carlos Calabrese, so I assume that means he will be good to go for Saturday afternoon. We can certainly hope so.
Notre Dame/Purdue Preview: Q&A with "Hammer and Rails"
by CW on Aug 30, 2010 11:43 AM EDT
in Notre Dame Football
3 comments
I was going to save this for later in the week, but since Travis from Hammer and Rails got his answers to me early, I don't see any reason to hold onto them. Purdue fans are confident, folks, and they're getting some national buzz as a sleeper. Will be an intriguing test for Brian Kelly's first game on the Irish sidelines. If you have any other questions about the Boilermakers, head over to our SBNation Purdue counterpart and ask away.
1) How do you think Robert Marve is going to fit into the offense? He's got a deep but unproven group of receivers after Keith Smith (91 and 1100 last year), but he hasn't played football in nearly two years and wasn't super accurate in his time at Miami (54.5%, versus 61.7% for Joey Elliot last year). He definitely brings upside, but how concerned are you about rust or being unfamiliar with Danny Hope's offense this early in the season?
I think he's going to be fine. He was able to practice a bit last year before tearing his ACL and has been learning the system since he decided to transfer. The injury obviously took away some of that time, but he was able to go throw spring drills and was the clear #1 coming out of there. I know there is the possibility of rust, but I think he is definitely ready to get out on the field after all this time.
I feel a little uniquely qualified to talk about him because I saw him live once in a game at Miami. My wife is a Hurricane alum and we usually go down for one game a year. We saw him against Virginia Tech, which was one of his better games. I think I am most impressed that he has gotten his head on straight. It seems like his maturity level is much higher than it ever was at The U. He's saying all the right things in practice and doing everything well on the field. Since Caleb TerBush is now academically ineligible he comes in as the only quarterback with collegiate experience.
Marve will add more of a running element to our offense than Elliott did. Not a lot of people remember this, but Drew Brees rushed for nearly 800 yards the year he took us to the Rose Bowl. It was his ability to read defense and know exactly when he could take off for 10-15 yards that made3 us so dangerous that year. If Marve can do this, it would greatly help our offense. We don't have a lot of healthy running backs at the moment, so any help on the ground he can give us is great.
2) Is Purdue going to be able to run the ball well? With Ralph Bolden's injury and the need to replace three starters on the offensive line, including right tackle, it seems like that might be an area of weakness.
I think we're going to be fine. Al-Terek McBurse is a four-star running back that had a similar year last year to Bolden's in 2008. He has the talent to be a home run hitter, but he is more of an edge runner than a between the tackles guy. Jared Crank and Derek Jackson give us two bigger backs to use as fullbacks, while Dan Dierking is playing both halfback and fullback. He's undersized, but he is a tough, reliable runner that won't hurt us. Reggie Pegram is a true freshman that is a bigger kid and he has performed above expectations in camp. He was originally projected to redshirt, but with Bolden's injury and Keith Carlos out Pegram has had a chance to play with the first team. So far, he has impressed coaches.
As for the line, I am not worried. Hope was originally an offensive line coach and after being back with the program for two years it is paying off. He built Brees' Rose Bowl line where all five starters spent time in the NFL. Matt Light, Brees' left tackle, even has three Super Bowl rings protecting Tom Brady's back. Dennis Kelly and Ken Plue are the two returning players and they were the best linemen last year anyway. Peters Drey is settling in at center while Nick Mondek, a converted defensive tackle, has taken ownership at right tackle. We like to run behind massive guard Ken Plue a lot, and he is very effective in the ground game.
3) If the Irish focus on doubling or tripling stud lineman Ryan Kerrigan - easier written than done, obviously - who does Dayne Crist need to be looking out for as the second best Purdue pass rusher?
Gerald Gooden on the other End. Gooden started all 12 games last year and had 4.5 sacks. This will be his third season starting at defensive end, so he has more than enough talent to not be totally ignored. It is hoped that allt he attention on Kerrigan will open things up for him. Defensive tackle Kawann Short has also come a very long way. He had two interceptions a year ago and can do a lot to disrupt the passing game. Kevin Pamphile was supposed to take over the other spot, but a stress fracture in his foot has made it unlikely he will play at Notre Dame. He didn't play football at all until his senior year of high school, and he has already earned a starting spot coming out of his redshirt year. He's a raw talent that will only get better.
4) Purdue is replacing their entire secondary. How good are the new guys going to be, and how many corners deep are you comfortable going before the nickel or dime back becomes a severe weakness?
Honestly, I think we're going to be better because we will now be deeper. The open competition has forced guys to get better against each other, thus building depth internally. Albert Evans will start at one safety spot. He was a nickel back and special teams ace a year ago. Ricardo Allen is a true freshman that has taken ownership of one corner spot. Josh Johnson and Charlton Williams have some experience from the past two years. Theya re fighting for the other corner spot, while Michael Eargle is a JuCo transfer brought in to play immediately. That gives us four guys to use that are very athletic. At the other safety spot Ishmael Aristide, E.J. Johnson (a true freshman) and Chris Quinn give us athleticism that frankly we didn't have last year. Dwight McLean was a hitter, but not an all-world safety. Torri Williams was big, but years of injuries naturally slowed him a bit. I like Johnson to emerge because he is a ball-hawk from a 2-time state champion in Florida.
5) The Boilers are getting some dark horse buzz, but what's your biggest area of concern as a Boiler fan that you haven't already addressed?
I am worried about the run defense. Yes, we return six of the front seven. Yes, we have as many as seven linebackers that have impressed enough to be mentioned as starters. Still, we sucked against the run last year and have for many years now. To me, it's a catch 22. Will teams throw on us to challenge the young secondary, or run against us because we haven't proved we can stop it? If they try to run and they do stop it that obviously helps the secondary. If the secondary plays better than expected (and I think they have the potential to be better than last year) will teams still be able to run on us? I am honestly fine with the secondary. I think we have better players now than all four guys we had last year at the same point in their careers. The run defense is an issue that won't go away. It's unacceptable that we gave up over 200 yards to Minnesota last year, then turned around and stuffed Ohio State a week later.
Also, turnovers were a major issue last year. They easily cost us wins against Oregon, Northwestern, and Michigan State. They were also a huge difference in the Minnesota game. Had we not had a boatload of turnovers in those four games I have no doubt we win them. Shoot, we handed Oregon 17 points on turnovers on their field and only lost by 2. We must stop that.
6) And finally, if you feel like making a prediction, what's the result going to be on Saturday?
I have felt a Purdue win for awhile and I am sticking to it. I expect it will be high scoring because both defenses have questions, but I think Purdue pulls it off. This team did a lot of things we didn't expect last year. They won at Michigan, they should have won at Oregon, and they beat Ohio State. As long as we take care of the football I think we win.
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Fighting Irish Football Schedule
|
Purdue
|
Sat 09/04 | 3:30 PM EDT |
|
Michigan
|
Sat 09/11 | 3:30 PM EDT |
|
@
Michigan St.
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Sat 09/18 | 8:00 PM EDT |
| Stanford | Sat 09/25 | 3:30 PM EDT |
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@
Boston College
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Sat 10/02 | TBA |
| Pittsburgh | Sat 10/09 | 3:30 PM EDT |
| Western Michigan | Sat 10/16 | 2:30 PM EDT |
| @ Navy | Sat 10/23 | 12:00 PM EDT |
| Tulsa | Sat 10/30 | 2:30 PM EDT |
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Utah
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Sat 11/13 | 2:30 PM EST |
| Army | Sat 11/20 | 7:00 PM EST |
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@
USC
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Sat 11/27 | 8:00 PM EST |
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