Relevant Links From Sites We Trust: Notre Dame Week




See…clear evidence!

Rudy sucked
Last December, a writer for The Observer, UND's daily student newspaper, observed just how much Rudy sucked.
For kids like me who grew up with golden domes dancing in their dreams, “Rudy” was like a fifth Gospel. The kid overcame all the odds to sneak into not just the university, but the legendary football team, even if just for that one glorious sack.

Now that I’m in college, “Rudy” has a different kind of inspiration for me. I know now that the Rudy in “Rudy” is more inspired by a person than the real thing. The jersey scene in Dan Devine’s office never happened. Joe Montana says they carried Rudy off the field as a joke.

And, most importantly, Rudy sucked.
Finally, its starting to hit home.

Close your eyes and its Hoke
Not relevant to Notre Dame at all...and it was posted a few days ago, but still worth sharing here because Elliot Mealer's Hoke impression is just so damn good. He lost me on the inflection of "head coach".

Notre Dame and Ohio State announce home/home
...two days before the Irish will end their series with Michigan. Thanks for that.
I'm over it. Not because of this announcement or anything, but I'm just over the whole kissing Notre Dame's ass because they're Notre Dame. Would I like Michigan to keep playing them? Of course. But its not going to happen...so after Saturday night, its done.

I will say this though...Michigan is 9-9-1 all-time in South Bend, so this game will be the tiebreaker for the series in their house...if that means anything to you.

What Michigan needs to do now is announce a home/home with Texas.

This just in: Hoke has struggled on the road
BTN's Tom Dienhart breaks down Michigan/ND by talking about Hoke's road record...the lowest hanging storyline fruit in the Big Ten.
Hoke has taken care of business at home, going 19-2 in the Big House. But he’s just 6-8 on the road (7-11 if you include neutral site games). Great programs win on the road with consistency. And this program hasn’t been great in some time. To wit: The last time Michigan won a Big Ten championship was 2004. Since then, the Wolverines have been a tease. Will Michigan be better away from Ann Arbor in 2014?
Tom probably started writing this back in February and realized it would be better put to use the week of Michigan's first road game. Good job, good effort.

UM-ND hiatus, who benefits more?
ESPN's B1G and ACC beat writers break down who benefits more, Michigan or Notre Dame, from the series ending. While the ACC writer Matt Fortuna thinks the Irish benefit more, B1G writer Adam Rittenberg disagrees.
The Wolverines, meanwhile, desperately needed more diversity in their schedule (diversity that Notre Dame naturally has as an independent). Don't gloss over future opponents such as Florida, Arkansas, Washington, Virginia Tech and Oklahoma. Many of these games don't happen if Notre Dame remains an annual opponent, especially with the Big Ten adopting a nine-game league schedule in 2016.

Beating Notre Dame hasn't helped Michigan's national profile in recent years. The Wolverines should get a bigger playoff boost from beating some of their future opponents.
This is a great point, actually. Michigan has won 4 out of the last 5 against the Irish and where has that gotten them? Naturally, conference rivals are more important. One could argue the UM-ND rivalry, while still producing very entertaining games, has become somewhat stale...at least from the Michigan side of the glass. Michigan State and Ohio State are much bigger fish right now.

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