Category: NewsWatch

IRISH NEWSWATCH: “Notre Dame Bounces Back” – Blue and Gold Illustrated

NewsWatch, Notre Dame Football Defense, Notre Dame Football News, Quarterbacks
Golden Dome in Bright Sunlight

Blue and Gold Illustrated reports on Notre Dame’s defensive improvement against Syracuse, following a change in defensive coordinators.

… though the 50-33 #NotreDame win over Syracuse … featured plenty of room for improvement on defense, it was a step in the right direction. Syracuse’s high-powered offense started fast …. But some halftime adjustments proved crucial, and the Irish limited the Orange to just six second-half points. … Kelly fired third-year defensive coordinator Brian VanGorder before preparation for Syracuse’s uptempo offense started. He was pleased with the team’s response. …

Meanwhile, Notre Dame quarterback Deshone Kizer had a strong first half, but Brian Kelly looked for improvement in some of Kizer’s situational decisionmaking.

Offensively, junior quarterback DeShone Kizer had another career day for the Irish. … 23 of 35 passes for a personal-best 471 yards with three touchdowns and an interception. … though Kizer put up huge numbers en route to a 33-27 halftime advantage — he had 170 yards and two touchdowns through the game’s opening period — Kelly said he liked his quarterback’s second-half performance even better. ‘He has a tendency to want to do too much,’ said Kelly. ‘He puts too much pressure on himself. He’s got to stop doing that. What I liked about him in the second half was he dropped the ball down, took the easy completions, made the smart decisions, He needs to continue to do that.’

Click here for Blue and Gold Illustrated: “Notre Dame Bounces Back”

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IRISH NEWSWATCH: “Notre Dame trying to simplify its defense” – Chicago Tribune

NewsWatch, Notre Dame Football Defense, Notre Dame Football News
File Photo of Word of Life Stone Mural Mosaic, Featuring Christ with Arms Upraised, On the Hesburgh Memorial Library at Notre Dame

… Brian Kelly somewhat simplif[ied] Notre Dame’s defense since he dismissed defensive coordinator Brian VanGorder … [he also played] a lot of freshmen. … Troy Pride Jr. became the 13th freshman to play for Notre Dame this season, a high for Kelly since he joined the Irish in 2010. Pride was one of four freshmen in Notre Dame’s secondary at one point Saturday. Kelly vowed to become more involved with the defense during practice to help interim coordinator Greg Hudson. ‘It’s really a short-term approach,’ Kelly said. ‘It’s, “Let’s put these guys in a position to succeed this year, utilizing a lot of young players, gaining experience as we go and being smarter about utilizing our personnel.”‘” … Kelly hopes … it [also] could pay dividends in the future.

On another note, Notre Dame running back Tarean Folston was out against Syracuse after a turned ankle, yet he will be back for North Carolina State.

Kelly said Folston turned his ankle during practice and he’s optimistic Folston, who suffered a season-ending injury in last year’s opener, will play Saturday against North Carolina State. ‘He wanted to give it a shot,’ Kelly said. ‘But he was just not even close to being able to.’

Click here for Chicago Tribune: “Notre Dame trying to simplify its defense”

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IRISH NEWSWATCH: “Equanimeous St. Brown pads Notre Dame receiving numbers” – South Bend Tribune NDInsider

NewsWatch, Notre Dame Football News, Wide Receivers
Golden Dome in Bright Sunlight

St. Brown padded his team-leading totals with four more catches, 182 more yards and two long touchdowns in a 50-33 squashing of Syracuse Saturday at MetLife Stadium. … with 25 for 541 and six scores on the season, the owner of one career catch coming into this season is ahead of [Will] Fuller’s All-America pace of last season. … The 79-yard touchdown pass from DeShone Kizer to St. Brown on the opening play from scrimmage was the longest completion of the season for Notre Dame and the sixth-longest pass play of the Brian Kelly Era. … the Irish had five scoring plays of 50 yards or more against the Orange, with St. Brown accounting for two of them.

Click here for South Bend Tribune NDInsider: “Equanimeous St. Brown pads Notre Dame receiving numbers”

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IRISH NEWSWATCH: “Kizer covers for shaky D as Notre Dame beats Syracuse 50-33” – AP/Chicago Daily Herald

NewsWatch, Notre Dame Football News
File Photo of Word of Life Stone Mural Mosaic, Featuring Christ with Arms Upraised, On the Hesburgh Memorial Library at Notre Dame

Notre Dame will count this as progress after a week of upheaval and adjustments for a beleaguered defense. … Notre Dame tightened up its tackling and held Syracuse to seven points in the second half, and DeShone Kizer made up for most of the Irish’s ills with one of the best passing games in school history. … a career-best 471 yards … the Fighting Irish snapped a two-game losing streak by defeating Syracuse 50-33 …. In the first game since coach Brian Kelly fired coordinator Brian VanGorder, the Irish (2-3) allowed more than 30 points for the fourth time this season and 489 yards to Syracuse’s up-tempo spread offense. … The tackling on punt coverage still needs work. Syracuse’s Brisly Estime had a 74-yard return late in the first half that setup a touchdown and left Kelly fuming …. Estime added a 38-yard return.

Click here for AP/Chicago Daily Herald: “Kizer covers for shaky D as Notre Dame beats Syracuse 50-33”

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IRISH NEWSWATCH: “Notre Dame Officials Watching Brian Kelly”

Brian Kelly, NewsWatch, Notre Dame Football Game Day, Notre Dame Football News

Notre Dame football coach Brian Kelly should know that his stated intent to act out more on the sideline has raised eyebrows among those above him …. Notre Dame sources have told 670 The Score that some university officials have long been embarrassed by Kelly’s purple-faced ranting at his players, assistants and officials, considering it unbecoming of the position and creating bad optics for the program and the school. Now they’re newly concerned …. This is coupled with myriad issues of players’ legal transgressions and renewed attention to the vetting of borderline recruits who bring what some there feel are unnecessary risks. And all of it is in sharp focus due to losing. …

Click here for CBS Chicago: “Notre Dame Officials Watching Brian Kelly”

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IRISH NEWSWATCH: “Notre Dame vs. Syracuse: Game Preview, Prediction and Players to Watch” – Bleacher Report

NewsWatch, Notre Dame Football Game Day, Notre Dame Football News
Met Life Stadium File Photo

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish will attempt to salvage a disappointing 2016 campaign when they challenge the Syracuse Orange in a neutral-site tilt …at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. Syracuse’s (2-2) uptempo offense poses a legitimate threat to a team that just fired its defensive coordinator. Earning a victory would jump-start Dino Babers’ rebuild at the school.

Click here for Bleacher Report: “Notre Dame vs. Syracuse: Game Preview, Prediction and Players to Watch”

[featured image is file photo]

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IRISH NEWSWATCH: “Game Preview: Syracuse” – Blue and Gold Illustrated

NewsWatch, Notre Dame Football Game Day, Notre Dame Football News
Football Next to Football Field

This season, Syracuse is running plays at the fastest clip in FBS, averaging 93 plays a game through three weeks, which is predicated on better conditioned players. … Sophomore quarterback Eric Dungey — a 6-foot-3, 207-pound native of Lake Oswego, Ore. — leads the speed-based attack. His top target has been … [r]edshirt-senior Amba Etta-Tawo, a graduate transfer from Maryland (15 starts and 938 yards in three seasons) … the offense’s top performer early in the season. Though he had just the month of August to learn the offense, Etta-Tawo began the 2016 season with three straight 100 yard receiving games to go along with three touchdowns.

Click here for Blue and Gold Illustrated: “Game Preview: Syracuse”

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IRISH NEWSWATCH: “Irish, Syracuse To Kick at Noon ET Network (ABC, ESPN or ESPN2) designation will be finalized following games of Sept. 24”

NewsWatch, Notre Dame Football News
Met Life Stadium File Photo

UND.com reports:

The NotreDame-Syracuse football game to be played Oct. 1 at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey will kick off at Noon ET. The game will air on either ABC, ESPN or ESPN2. The specific network designation will be finalized following the games of Sept. 24.

 

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IRISH NEWSWATCH: “Beyond the spin cycle of Notre Dame’s defensive woes” – South Bend Tribune NDInsider

NewsWatch, Notre Dame Football Defense, Notre Dame Football News
File Photo of Football on Turf with Yardlines

… Michigan State … gashed the Irish for 260 rushing yards and 501 yards in total offense. … The statistical snapshot, one fourth of the way into the regular season, features a high-water mark of 89th nationally out of 128 in any significant defensive category. … 103rd in pass-efficiency defense, 102nd in total defense, 94th in scoring defense, 100th in tackles for loss, 89th in third-down defense, 104th in fourth-down defense, 93rd in red zone defense, 89th in turnovers gained, and — most alarming — 99th in rush defense (198.7 yards allowed per game). … Nevada, ND’s Sept. 10 opponent, and the Irish share the statistical bottom in the team sacks category. Neither one of them has recorded a single one yet.

Notre Dame Defensive Coordinator Brian VanGorder has some stats that are weaker than defensive stats under former DC Bob Diaco, as well as Charlie Weis and Ty Willingham:

… Saturday night marked the sixth time in the VanGorder Era than an opponent surpassed 500 yards in total offense and the 12th time it blew past the 200-yard rushing mark. … that’s 41.4 percent of the games VanGorder has presided over [with] 200 or more rushing yards recorded by the opponent, and 20.7 percent in which 500 total yards were reached.
Under Bob Diaco, VanGorder’s predecessor … those percentages were 23.1 and 5.8, respectively. In former head coach Charlie Weis’ five seasons, they were 25.8 and 6.5 percent, respectively, 10.8 and 8.1 in Tyrone Willingham’s three seasons and 18.3 and 1.7 in Bob Davie’s five-year run.

Click here for South Bend Tribune NDInsider: “Beyond the spin cycle of Notre Dame’s defensive woes”

 

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IRISH NEWSWATCH: “Brian Kelly defends Brian VanGorder, says staffer liked tweet by mistake” – ESPN

Brian Kelly, NewsWatch, Notre Dame Football Defense, Notre Dame Football News
Golden Dome in Bright Sunlight

As for whether he is confident in VanGorder, whose unit ranks 104th in total defense through three games — after finishing 37th and 69th in 2015 and 2014, respectively — Kelly is standing behind his [Defensive Coordinator]. …

‘Oh, absolutely. Yeah, without question. That’s not even part of the conversation’ …. ‘It’s really about the fundamentals of defense. … I mean, this is not rocket science what we’re talking about here. These are plays that we’ve got to continue to work on and fundamentally get better at. There’s not a question about scheme. There’s not a question about who’s leading it with Brian. This is about coaching, communicating and teaching the fundamentals and getting our young players, those that don’t have a lot of experience, better at execution.’

Click here for ESPN: “Brian Kelly defends Brian VanGorder, says staffer liked tweet by mistake”

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