A long road to hoe.

With 1/4^th of the season already in the books the 2016 season has taken a different path that most of us had hoped for.  College football playoffs, gone, a 10 win season doubtful at best and a major bowl appearance on life support what does the 2016 season hold now for the Irish.  Let’s look at the rest of the schedule and re-evaluate.

9/24 Duke.  At 1-2 the Irish should still beat and beat convincingly the Blue Devils to make it to .500 on the season.

10/1 Syracuse.  Another 1-2 and very possibly a 1-3 team when they meet in the Meadowlands should help the Irish move back to a winning record at 3-2.  Most of us thought Notre Dame would/could be 5-0 at this point.

10/8 NC State.  This match up could be tougher than originally thought when the Irish travel to Raleigh in October.  I would still pick them to win. 

10/15 Stanford.  I saw this as a pick’em game before the season started now, well let’s just say the Irish will be 4-3 after the Cardinal.

10/29 Miami.  Anther preseason win pick here but now that the Hurricanes are 3-0 and ranked #15 I might reconsider but for the fact those wins are over a FCS team and two borderline FBS teams this still should be a victory for the Irish.  A loss however would be devastating on many levels.

11/5 Navy.  The Midshipmen are always pose concern for Notre Dame.  I’d like to predict and Irish win here but I wouldn’t bet the farm on it.

11/12 Army.  Even though he Black Knights are currently undefeated at 3-0 we should be confident on Her Loyal Sons being victorious.

11/19 Virginia Tech.  Let’s pencil this in as a win.

11-26 USC.  Taking the Alabama shacking out of the picture  it’s still early to tell what kind of team the Trojans are, they did respectable against Stanford only losing 27-10.

So obviously the best Notre Dame can finish is 10—2, however lets be a little more realistic.   At this point a very good (regular) season would be 9-3 and a good season is 8-4.  A 7-5 season is disappointing and anything .500 or below is devastating.  

The Day After

Traditionally we do not do stars of the game after a lose but we have decided that it might be unfair to players who stepped up and performed.  So each week if the Irish lose we will offer stars of the game (if warranted) and or  those players, coaches and pays that may need to put on blast.  We are doing this in part out of frustration but also you have to take the good with the bad and if the coaches and players are going to say they take responsibility and should be held accountable lets accommodate them.

Stars of the game:

Equanimeous St. Brown

3rd Star - Receiver Equanimeous St. Brown;  4 catches for 83 yards and a touchdown.   He looks like the future is now for St. Brown.

2nd Star - Punter Tyler Newsome; 6 punts averaging over 50 yards per kick with a long of 71 yards and 3 within the 20 yard line.  It not good when your punter is one of your best players.

1st Star - Quarterback DeShone Kizer; 344 passing yards with 2 touchdowns along with 2 rushing touchdowns.  He may not have to "carry" this team but he is instrumental in its success. 

On Blast:

Brian VanGorder

Brian VanGorder; it's season three for VanGorder and there is still criticism, schemes, player rotation and execution are all suspect.  

Miscues / Mistakes; missed or poor tackling, poor (and costly) punt coverage, 2 lost fumbles.

Offensive play calling; 2.3 yards per carry rushing the ball for a total of 57 yards which was the majority of the what was going on during MSU domination compared to 344 yards passing when the Irish were rolling.  Let Kizer take control.