Every football season, there is always far too much news for just me to keep up with on this site and write about on a post-by-post basis.  When the news piles up like this, I’ll try to throw out a roundup post like this one to do a quick summary.  Most of the stories will relate to either Notre Dame or our opponents, but if something rather big happens, I’ll toss it in here as well.

With college football being just hours away from kicking off, there has been a flurry such news, so let’s just hop into it.

Jarron Jones is Irish

On Monday, the Irish picked up the commit of a 6’7″ 300+lbs beast in 5-star DT Jarron Jones after he recently decommitted from Penn State.  I definitely suggest taking a look at his highlight film in this post by Irish Illustrated.  The kid is a man among boys and I cannot wait to see him in ND colors next fall.

Some folks have suggested that Jones might even be a candidate to be an offensive tackle as well, but regardless of where he ends up, the Irish have once again provided additional depth and size to the trenches, a trend that has been severely lacking in recent recruiting years.

Personally, I hope he stays on the defensive side of the ball as we could have an absolutely sick NT rotation with Nix, another 300 pound beast.  Imagine a front 3 of Tuitt/Nix/Lynch and Tuitt/Jones/Lynch. Fun times are ahead for sure as opposing offenses will have fun with our new defensive wall.

Grantland Confirms They Can’t Write About College Football

You may have heard earlier this morning that Bill Simmon’s little website, Grantland, has an article that talks about Notre Dame football.  I won’t link it here and I will save you some time in reading it as well.  Seriously, it isn’t worth your click.

Basically, it’s a piss poor attempt to take a shot at ND for “not punishing” our superstars and saying that we have sold our souls to be good at football again.  Yes, it is that same tired argument that is completely off base, but this time around such accusations were done without any arguments at all or really anything resembling coherent thought.

It would be like me coming on this blog and saying that Craig James killed 5 hookers while at SMU and then moving on to something else. #RIP5Hookers

I’ve seen better arguments made on NDN’s boards, try again Grantland…actually, you know what, don’t.

It’s Definitely Better Than Freekbass

My IBG brethren over at Her Loyal Sons has passed along a new ND song along a for your enjoyment.  This time around, we have a video created by HLS, a song written and preformed by ND fans, and absolutely zero Freekbass.  The song, “We Are Her Loyal Sons”, is also available on Amazon and iTunes, with a portion of the proceeds going to the ND general scholarship fund and Kelly Cares.

Michigan Is Ready for a Return to Glory…

…by scheduling Appalachian State again.

So while we are playing Texas to open up our 2014 season, the Skunkbears will attempt to exact revenge for the most embarrassing loss in college football history.  Or you know, they will fall on their face again to everyone’s amusement.

Why Michigan is trying to put themselves back into this no-win situation is beyond me.

USC Has Lost a Coach

No, it isn’t Kiffykins, but Southern Cal’s secondary coach, Willie Mack Garza has resigned for personal reasons.  Now I’m an avid Trojan hater, but I won’t take any shots here.  Hopefully nothing too bad has happened to Garza or his family.  Best wishes to him.

Edit: SportsByBrooks is claiming there is a link to Willie Lyles. If true, I will be taking quite a few shots in the future.

Aggies Have Finally SECeded

The most awkward and drawn-out breakup in college football is finally over and the Aggies have notified the Big XII X IX that they will be leaving pending acceptance to “an unnamed conference” the SEC in late June.

As an Aggie fan, I’m thrilled with this move.  The Big XII is a dying conference that basically bends over backwards to Texas and that won’t be changing anytime soon.  The move to the SEC will give the Aggies a far better TV and money distribution deal.  Hopefully this also means that the Aggies will actually have some games on TV this time around as well and I can actually see more than a couple of their games in the future.

Plus, some awesome road trips to College Station will need to happen for me.

It should also be mentioned that the Aggies made a great move by making this move a “pending move” and also naming a date of June.  According to Big XII bylaws, this means A&M’s exit fee has already dropped a bit by giving this advanced notice and will likely continue to fall before it’s all said and done (see: Colorado & Nebraska).  Plus, should the SEC not find a 14th team and everything falls through, the Aggies can fall back into the safety of the Big XII.  I highly doubt it would happen, but it’s a good cover-your-ass move in case everything goes to hell.

Bruce Frees Himself

Bruce Feldman has left ESPN after 17 years of phenomenal work and has joined the CBSSports.com team since ESPN continues to inexplicably let Craig James run their network.

For those unaware, Bruce was suspended by ESPN for helping Leach with his book, Swing Your Sword, of which he had ESPN’s blessing to work on.  ESPN then claimed Bruce wasn’t suspended, claiming:

There was never any suspension or any other form of disciplinary action. We took the time to review his upcoming work assignments in light of the book to which he contributed and will manage any conflicts or other issues as needed.   Bruce has resumed his assignments.

Since that time, Feldman released very little published work and didn’t tweet at all despite being active daily on the social networking site.

That was until today, when he tweeted that he had left ESPN for good.  He then went on the Dan Patrick show and didn’t hold anything back on the world wide leader.  I must say it was awesome to finally get to hear his side of the story for once, even though ESPN is still denying they were in the wrong.

Bruce also released his first post for CBSSports.com and it’s great to have one of the best college football minds writing and tweeting again just in time for the season.

Published by NDtex

Texan by birth, Irish by choice.

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2 Comments

  1. Damn, I thought I was all over the board in posts. Good stuff amigo. First off, Cheers to Bruce. His Dan Patrick appearance was glorious. As for Jones, it’s a great pickup, but it’s 9/1/11.

    Lot of time until 2/12 you know? I feel like ND fans have forgotten just how fluid a “verbal commitment” can be for a 17-18 year old kid.

    When I saw CBSSports saying USC’s coach was linked to Lyles I couldn’t quit smiling. I can’t wait for this to get bigger.

    The Grantland thing was absolutely retarded. The fact that his biggest point dealt with our “weak strength of schedule” when Sagarin had us at 22 in the country?!? But what do you expect from an entity set up by Bill Simmons. My typical plan of ignoring Grantland is one I need to stick to apparently. #dismissivehandwank

    Good stuff hombre. Football is back! GO IRISH!

    1. I full well understand the commit thing is never definite, but I tell you what, in Jones’ case, I’m a lot more confident than usual. It pretty much seemed that he decommitted from Penn State to specifically give ND a chance. Plus, I think his mother was a major factor in the decision too and his whole family is now a lot happier.

      At least that’s what I’ll keep telling myself if the fax is delayed.

      I really, REALLY hope Garza is linked to Lyles. I will rain down such venom after being so damned nice here.

      And yeah, Grantland just shocked me, mostly from how poorly it was written. Simmons and his buddies might not always write on things that speak to me, but they do tend to write well. Here though, it was like someone writing their first paper:

      Grantland: “ND let’s people get away with murder, has a weaker schedule than a non-BCS team, and kills puppies”

      Teacher: “Ok, and why is this?”

      Grantland: “BECAUSE I SAID SO”

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