Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1421675
www.BLUEANDGOLD.com OCT. 30, 2021 13 UNDER THE DOME THEY SAID IT THEY SAID IT "We're a pretty resilient, tough team mentally. Our guys will battle. We're still learning in many ways. We have a lot of young players. We had five or six fresh- men on the field the last game we played late in the game. That's a never-ending process for those guys to continue to grow, but they know how to win. "As we stand here today, they have a great way about themselves in terms of they believe they're going to win, they're confident, they keep playing. But they have to understand they don't have much margin because they don't have much experience. If they keep that in mind and stay focused on the details, they could win every game they play." — Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly on his team's growth through six games "After suffering a number of glitches in the first two games of the season, new coordinator Marcus Freeman's defense has come along nicely, allowing just 19.8 points per game and 4.9 yards per play since then. While the offense has struggled to establish the ground game and has bounced be- tween a trio of quarterbacks, the Fighting Irish are up to 13th in defensive SP+ and are projected fa- vorites in each of their last six games because of it. "This defense is aggressive up front, ranking 15th in rushing success rate allowed and 14th in stuff rate, but the Irish are increasingly diverse in the back, ranking 15th in QBR allowed from man cov- erage and a solid 41st from zone. Safety Kyle Ham- ilton has lived up to his all-world hype and then some, but cover men Cam Hart and Clarence Lewis have combined to allow just 21 completions in 56 passes. Only Cincinnati has been able to find any sustained success against them." — ESPN.com's Bill Connelly on Notre Dame's greatest strength being its increasingly versatile defense "If Notre Dame could guarantee that the of- fensive line performance at Virginia Tech could be repeated six times in the season's second half, the Irish would be a good bet to run the table and position themselves for an outside shot at the College Football Playoff. But it's hard to go that far with this team, considering the line questions and quarterback uncertainty, two things that must get resolved for Notre Dame to have a shot at a one- loss regular season. "True, Notre Dame will be favored in every game the rest of the season. Also true: Notre Dame nearly lost to Toledo. The more realistic outcome is a 10-2 finish that puts the Irish into a New Year's Six bowl game, which would be a strong landing spot for a program in a transition year." — Peter Sampson of The Athletic "Can this season mark the end of the worst four- year run of Mike Brey's tenure with the Irish? ND's average record in that span: 17-15. No NCAA Tournaments. Average KenPom finish: 69th. Brey hopes 2021-22 provides improved dividends. Why as high as No. 50? Prentiss Hubb is still here; he'll be invaluable, and maybe second-team All-ACC. Big Nate Laszewski seems destined to be a more well-rounded player. And I love the addition of Paul Atkinson [Jr.], who was one of the best players in Yale history and will toughen up the Fighting Irish's identity." — CBS Sports' Matt Norlander on ranking Notre Dame No. 50 out of 358 Division I schools, eighth-best among ACC squads "Notre Dame has provided me some incredible opportunities over the past five-plus years, but none as monumental as this. It has been a lifelong dream to be the lead broadcaster for a college bas- ketball team, and I can't wait to get to work. Coach [Mike] Brey is one of the best coaches in America, and I am eager to cover him as well as his players and staff as they go through the best conference in college basketball." — Tony Simeone, who was named the new voice of Notre Dame men's bas- ketball Oct. 20 PHOTO BY CHAD WEAVER OF THE WEEK "We're not normally one for made-up holidays … "… but #NationalGoldDay is one that just *speaks* to us. "#GoIrish" — The official account of Fighting Irish athletics (@Fighting Irish) Oct. 20 "KYLE HAMILTON, Notre Dame. It's hard to pick out just one guy on Georgia's lights- out defensive unit. So we'll give the nod to the veteran Fighting Irish free safety who is arguably the player his team could least afford to lose. The mainstay of the Notre Dame secondary has picked off three passes, broken up four more, and ranks second on the team with 33 total tackles." — Eddie Timanus on his top defensive player nationally in USA Today's midseason awards