Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1539020
6 SEPT. 13, 2025 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED 'DESTRUCTIVE FORCE' I greatly enjoyed Eric Hansen's ar- ticle "Changing Landscape," which discusses the efforts of Pete Bevacqua and the university to bring a national championship in football back to Notre Dame. Mr. Bevacqua really has the right attitude and I'm confident in his well- thought-out plans and efforts. The article does, however, bring up some disturbing points, at least for me. What the heck do parasitic, destructive "private equity firms" have to do with college sports in general and football in particular? As Sears, Kids 'R Us, Red Lob- ster, Kmart, Genesis HealthCare and so many other previously profitable but now bankrupted companies will attest, "pri- vate equity" has developed into a destruc- tive force in our society and it would be a big mistake to let that particular camel get its avaricious nose under the tent. I would appreciate some follow-up ar- ticles fleshing out how "private equity" is attempting to shoulder its way into college athletics. Mr. Bevacqua is cor- rect in decrying any trend to turn college football into a minor league image of the NFL, but I wonder if we can resist such a seemingly inevitable tide caused by big money interests in our country. The pull of money is exceedingly hard to resist. Ed Szewczyk Notre Dame '73 East Alton, Ill. Thanks for sharing your opinion, Ed. This is indeed an evolving story that we will continue covering. BIG MISTAKE? I just received my BGI magazine and I was somewhat taken aback by the article written by Tyler Horka. Tyler, in my opinion, seems to be setting us readers up for disappointment from the QB position. From what I read in the spring the two QBs CJ Carr and Kenny Minchey were the best thing since sliced bread. I guess that is not the case from what the article was inferring; so, my ques- tion is, why did they let Angeli walk out the door when he could have been a steadying force for the younger QBs? I'm not saying Steve Angeli is panacea but let us not forget that Joe Montana was last in a long line of ND QBs! The problem all stems from the por- tal system, it hinders the development of recruited players. If you brought in Carr and took a few hits when he was younger by now you would have a sea- soned QB, one who would be capable of getting the program to the next level. Personally, I think letting Angeli walk was a big mistake. That kid was a loyal ND player and he would have complemented the team simply because Tyler said the defense is great, the O-line is great and the stable of running backs is second to none! That is why it would not have hurt ND to give Angeli a chance; you could have replaced him if he was struggling, it is as simple as that. Don't think that he wasn't hurt by that move, I feel his pain. I've been there and got the T-shirt. Ray Ciarleglio Growing pains with young quar- terbacks are inevitable, Ray. But that doesn't necessarily mean that they will fail. Head coach Marcus Freeman clearly believes in Carr's ability to develop into a star. Yes, it would've been nice to have kept Angeli as a security blanket, but we believe the Irish coaches did right by him letting him know where he stood in South Bend, giving him an opportunity to pur- sue a starting job elsewhere (which he achieved at Syracuse). FAN FORUM BE HEARD! Send your letters to: sdowney@comanpub.com or mail to: Blue & Gold Illustrated, P. O. Box 2331, Durham, NC 27702 After a prolonged competition, redshirt freshman CJ Carr earned the nod as Notre Dame's starting quarterback for the Week 1 matchup at Miami over redshirt sophomore Kenny Minchey. Irish fans had plenty to say about the long-awaited decision on our mes- sage board at BlueandGold.com. Here's a small sampling from one thread: Headless: Feel bad for Kenny, but excited for the choice. Based on everything we've seen, it felt like Minchey is the less risky choice (turn- overs) while Carr throws a nicer ball. SDS123: Let's go! Excited to have our QB! I love Minchey, too. Quest4Twelve: I'm definitely good with this decision! FWCOACH: Regarding interceptions, (Clem- son's DeShaun) Watson threw 17 in his NC (na- tional championship) season. Give me an ag- gressive QB, especially when the defense is elite. AraEra: I think this is also a vote of confidence in our receivers and especially the O-line. b_howard: Gonna be some growing pains but we rolling with it! Let's go; we ride with CJ. o_tivs31: Touchdowns win championships, interceptions don't necessarily lose them. Pair a guy with the best passing ability to stretch the field with the best O-line and running back and everyone is better!!! DMerTz: You got the job CJ, make it count! This should boost his confidence greatly now we can play football. Go Irish! HC92: Had developed a soft spot for Kenny throughout the process, but hopefully Carr is awesome against Miami and A&M and we can put any QB controversies to rest for a few years. FROM THE WEB .com .com JOIN THE CONVERSATION AT BLUEANDGOLD.COM! Sign up for just $1 for the first seven days! Redshirt freshman CJ Carr earned the starting nod at quarterback after a prolonged competition with redshirt sophomore Kenny Minchey. PHOTO BY MICHAEL MILLER CORRECTION In the Preseason 2025 edition of Blue & Gold Illustrated, it was noted in our Irish Echoes feature and in a photo caption on pages 80-81 that Notre Dame posted a 10-1-1 record and final ranking of No. 4 in Bryant Young's senior season with the Irish. That 10-1-1 finish and No. 4 final ranking actually happened in his junior campaign in 1992. During the 1993 season, Young and the Fighting Irish finished 11-1 and No. 2 in the country, behind only a Florida State team they defeated in November.