Tailgate Approved

38-10. People will want to start believing again, but they'll say, "It's just Stanford." Fair enough.

This will likely turn out to be a good illustration of why I don't bet on games but I took: ND, PSU, Bama, Clemson, Utes.

34-17 Irish

This is interesting to me, because I feel like the defense has mostly been very good this season. They've had long stretches of every game that have completely shut down the opponents. They certainly haven't been perfect. They should do a better job containing QBs to prevent scrambles, they have allowed some scoring drives in critical situations, and they had some (garbage time) breakdowns against UNC. I think we are close to seeing them develop into a great group. The d line has been deep and productive. The secondary has been surprisingly good (particularly Bracy and the freshmen). The area that could use an emerging playmaker the most is the LB group, in my opinion.

For those who prefer reading to video, everything from Coach Freeman's press conference today, per 247: https://247sports.com/college/notre-dame/LongFormArticle/Everything-Marcus-Freeman-said-Monday-ahead-of-Notre-Dame-vs-BYU-194702074/#194702074_28 (I posted this in a different thread before this one was created. It makes more sense being here.)

Per ESPN: "The Football Power Index (FPI) is a measure of team strength that is meant to be the best predictor of a team's performance going forward for the rest of the season." Details: https://www.espn.com/blog/statsinfo/post/_/id/122612/an-inside-look-at-college-fpi

Everything from Coach Freeman's press conference today, per 247: https://247sports.com/college/notre-dame/LongFormArticle/Everything-Marcus-Freeman-said-Monday-ahead-of-Notre-Dame-vs-BYU-194702074/#194702074_28

I stop worrying when the game ends. It's easy for me to rationalize positivity, because: I don't have any control over the outcome, and I have more fun that way. As my wife and friends can attest, I can get pretty pissy during a game. I can't seem to shake that "meatball fan' mentality entirely. However, once the game is over, the result slides off my back pretty quickly. Then, it's back to looking forward to the next chance to watch a win.

I hope your wife is feeling better and you have been able to find some relief from a very stressful situation.

They look clean as hell. The details push it over the top to one of the better Shamrock unis for me. They may get a little washed out on TV, but I bet they look gorgeous in person. I think the team will feel great putting those on for the game.

From his Twitter, too. Per Pete Sampson, he'll likely end up at USC.

The ND Experience site provides the updated times for trumpets and other band events: https://experiencesandevents.nd.edu/gameday/on-campus-events/

I think this week will help stop the bleeding. It feels like the pendulum has swung too far with people's expectations. A solid victory will go a long way to helping people mellow. I think we'll see the Irish score a couple passing TDs, a couple rushing TDs, and a D/ST TD.

I'm in no position to judge OL play, so I won't speak to whether Kris played the worst of the bunch. However, PFF grades are notoriously suspect. For instance, the overall grade for the defense against tOSU was apparently worse than any grade the defense had in 2021, worse than the offense in the same game, and worse than 103 other schools that weekend.

Here is the page for South Shore's shuttle service for 2022 ND games. I assume the 2023 service will be similar. https://www.mysouthshoreline.com/news/item/429-service-advisory-notre-dame-football-2022-service-revisions

@Herdfanand @Marshall2004, Irish Breakdown put together a football game day experience: https://www.si.com/college/notredame/football/ultimate-notre-dame-football-game-day-experience-2022

There are lots of outstanding questions, but I'll do my best to answer what I can. -The campus is walkable. You can get across it in 20 minutes or so. Park your car and wander. -Parking lots open at 8am on gameday. It's not necessary to get there that early, but that's up to you. -Our fans are generally extremely welcoming. We sometimes make it too easy for other teams to play there. With the right attitude, I'm confident you'll find someone to offer you some of their spread at a tailgate. -It's a generally family-friendly atmosphere. Bring a ball to toss on one of the many quads, check out the calendar of events for any of interest to you, and there will be people buzzing around all over campus all day Saturday.

Parking information is below. It looks like they offer pay-to-park options these days (up to $8), but the Bookstore lot is free. I'd be surprised if they're trying to enforce the one hour time limit there, but I can't say for sure. https://police.nd.edu/parking-and-traffic/visitor-guest-parking/

Here's the full list of on-campus events for this week: https://experiencesandevents.nd.edu/gameday/on-campus-events/

Thanks, @ndomer4. I appreciate your position. I think @jbrown_9999provided interesting analysis. It seems there are cycles where a handful of teams dominate. It may get more lopsided (super conference, NIL), or it may spread out (expanded playoffs, NIL). I tend not to worry about it, but I feel for those that do. Thanks for sharing your perspective.

@ndomer4Would your opinion change if ND was part of the 5 star club?

I think this is the right attitude. A small nit to pick (that doesn't change the point): the Michigan game was at the Big House.

Here are Coach Freeman's comments from today for those (like @irishwavendand me) who prefer to read rather than watch videos: https://247sports.com/college/notre-dame/LongFormArticle/Everything-Marcus-Freeman-said-Thursday-before-Notre-Dame-Ohio-State-192403729/

Per Bryan Driskell, the staff will continue to pursue Keeley. Keeley has raced up the rankings since commiting (1st commit of 2023), and he wants to take OVs at other schools. It's not a good situation for ND, but fair enough. Source: https://www.si.com/college/notredame/recruiting/notre-dame-football-recruiting-keon-keeley-decommits-reopens-recruitment