Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1509252
BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM OCT. 14, 2023 5 FAN FORUM AHEAD OF SCHEDULE Thank you to Blue & Gold Illustrated for your coverage of Notre Dame foot- ball. A few points for those readers who seem to forget what life was like during the Cajun Kelly era. I find it incomprehensible that any Irish fan would be down on Marcus Freeman. Did he make some mistakes in the Ohio State game? Of course. It is Year 2! Go check out 2016 for those who long for the days of 3-star recruits and big-game meltdowns under Cajun Kelly. Marcus and his staff are getting real talent. ND is acquiring the pieces nec- essary to make a legitimate 10-year run atop the college football hierarchy. It doesn't take an insider to see how much the players love Coach Freeman and the players headed for the Bend are better across the board than we've seen since Lou Holtz. The OSU loss was gutting. No doubt. But let me say this: the energy, enthu- siasm and feeling of a return to glory on campus all weekend was pervasive. Marcus deserves credit for that. We were a play away from celebrating the biggest home win in 30 years. The big wins will come! Going toe to toe with the elites like the Buckeyes was unheard of during the Cajun Kelly era. As for the Duke game, that epitomizes the heart of this program. That was an immensely tough spot. Very good team with a first-round talent at QB at home at night in arguably the biggest game in recent program history. To gut that game out shows the heart and moxie of the Freeman-led Irish. Many, many, many legendary coaches took several years before they started competing for national championships. It's absurd to suggest that Coach Free- man is not headed in that direction. I'd say he's ahead of schedule. Our beloved Irish are already going toe to toe with the elites and winning big road games. Feel free to go root for the guy in the Bayou if you disagree. I'm all in with Coach Freeman and the Irish! Go Irish! Sean Kennedy Medford, N.J. MANDATORY READING Just a suggestion for all the football experts and coach wannabees. Find the September 30 issue of Blue & Gold Ilus- trated (the Ohio State issue) and go to the last page and read the Lou Somogyi column from September 30, 2013. This should be mandatory reading BEFORE a person is allowed to trash a quarterback, coach, offense/defense coordinator or anybody else. Boy, does Lou hit the nail on the head … again. Pat Buckley Portage, Mich. ON TARGETS I'm a longtime Blue & Gold Illus- trated subscriber with a suggestion. You should include targets in the individual receiving statistics chart. It's often a telling stat and was in the Duke game. Subbing for injured starters, Tobias Merriweather and Rico Flores Jr. com- bined for only 2 catches on 11 targets, while tight end Mitchell Evans had 6 receptions on 8 targets. Tom Bundy BE HEARD! Send your letters to: Letters, Blue & Gold Illustrated, P. O. Box 2331, Durham, NC 27702 or e-mail to: sdowney@comanpub.com After engineering the game-winning drive, Notre Dame graduate student quarterback Sam Hartman cut short his interview with ABC on live television so he could go check on injured Duke quarterback Riley Leonard. Fan had plenty to say about that gesture by Hartman. Here is a some of the fan reaction on our mes- sage board at BlueandGold.com. CDarwin22: How ND of Hartman to hang out near the Duke injury tent for the Duke QB. Fantastic taste on his part. ✊️ bradenmi: Total class act. Ab10: Great for the Heisman campaign. coldmarble: Pure class. But it seemed sort of weird that he never looked directly at the camera or [ABC sideline reporter] Holly Rowe when answering her questions. Irish Slab: He doesn't want the attention. He heaped praise on his defense. That's what winners do. Maverick 1: Kid is all class and very humble. KWSUSMC: Hartman is a great QB but even better man. A true ND man! So happy he came to ND. Kcndmis97: Big-time class. Ryan Day can learn from him. This was a gutty win, very proud of this team. You could tell the defense was getting tired. Offense was confused as Elko's defense had the upper hand. Somehow, last week we give up a 3rd-and-19, lose due to having 10 men on the field and this week we win because Hartman converts a 4th-and-16 … with his legs! You can't make this stuff up. Wow. IrishDiego: That was my take. He was bird-eyeing the tent to see when Leonard was coming out. Edwards44: I said to my wife this has a chance to be a major ND moment. I don't know how, but sometimes they get it done. I thought about Virginia Tech in '19, and now I think we roll Louisville and have a major matchup in South Bend in two weeks! NDMatt82: I'll take a Sam Hartman every single year leading this team for the rest of time. He's good enough to be a national championship QB … we're just waiting on the rest of the team to be there. Sucks we only have him for a year. FROM THE WEBSITE .com .com Marcus Freeman is 14-6 (.700 winning percent- age) in his first 20 games as Notre Dame's head coach. PHOTO BY CHAD WEAVER