Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/897211
www.BLUEANDGOLD.com NOV. 13, 2017 13 THEY SAID IT "This is a great game for so many reasons. It has Bonzie Colson and Miles Bridges. It has the top-five Spartans. It has the Fighting Irish, a Final Four sleeper." ESPN's Joe Lunardi on Notre Dame at Michigan State being one of college basketball's impactful games during the first month of the 2017-18 season "Just keep doing the same things that you've been doing. You have to really recognize and realize that it's not about the hype, it's not about being ranked third in the country, fifth, whatever it is. It's just about beating your next opponent. That's all it's about. That's all it's been about. That's the only thing that Coach [Mike] Elko, Coach [Clark] Lea, all the other coaches have been harping on us, to make sure we're doing what we have to do to beat the next team." — Senior linebacker Nyles Morgan on keeping focus despite hype from the team being ranked No. 3 in the first College Football Playoff rankings "This will be the biggest game of the month if — and it's really not that big an if — Notre Dame beats Wake Forest, Miami (Fla.) and Navy to enter this Saturday with just that single loss, by a point to Georgia. If so, this is potentially a win-and-get-in game for the Irish, meaning the final result would have a huge impact on the Power Five conferences." — USA Today's Paul Myerburg on ranking Notre Dame at Stanford as the biggest college football game in November "For years, Notre Dame represented the ideal in college athletics: It was a consistent winner, and it won with players who spoke in complete sentences, graduated and went on to be successful on and off the field. That's why it went into business with NBC in 1991. Notre Dame was so pure it didn't even play in bowl games until the late 1960s. It was big-time football with an Ivy League image. (And again, that fight song doesn't hurt.) "That image, even through years of relative mediocrity, is a big reason no school drives emotions like Notre Dame. It is to college football what the New York Yankees are to baseball, the Dallas Cowboys are to the NFL and Duke is to college basketball. Many love the Irish. Many hate them. Almost no one is neutral." — John Feinstein of The Washington Post "Nelson was ranked No. 11 in my updated Big Board, but he's going to jump a couple more spots. He dominated NC State. He's a rare talent. Guards rarely go in the top 10 of the draft, but the 6-foot-5, 330-pound Nelson has a chance to do it. As of now, he's going to have one of the best grades for a guard that I've given out in my 35 years of doing this. He has tremendous agility and quickness, can pull on the move and is incredibly physical. Nelson is like a brick wall. And with 31 career starts, Nelson has experi- ence. He's just an outstanding football player." — ESPN NFL Draft analyst Mel Kiper Jr. on Notre Dame left guard Quenton Nelson OF THE WEEK "Work to be done" Notre Dame junior quarterback Brandon Wimbush (@WimbushB7) Oct. 31 PHOTO BY COREY BODDEN UNDER THE DOME YOU DON'T WAIT FOR MAIL DELIVERY! HAVE TO The digital edition of Blue & Gold Illustrated is available Sundays at BlueGoldOnline.com The Blue & Gold Illustrated digital edition includes all the great content you find in your print edition, plus: ✦ Searchable archive ✦ Downloadable PDFs ✦ Available on computers and tablets Visit BlueGoldOnline.com for the latest issue every Sunday! It's already part of your subscription! PLUS: The Blue Gold Report Midweek Update! • Emailed Every Pre-Game Wednesday • Depth Charts And Rosters For Both Teams • Updated Statistics • Columns and Much More! • Can be viewed on your computer, phone or tablet, or printed out to read later. To receive notifications, please send your email address to: newsletter@blueandgold.com. Customer Service: 1-800-421-7751