Columns
-
Notre Dame v. Texas ’16: Post Game 6-Pack
Notre Dame’s season started with a disappointing and unexpected loss in Austin last night in front of a Darrell K Royal Stadium crowd record of 102,000+. Despite the loss, not…
Read More » -
Notre Dame Football Stock Report: Week 1
It’s game week, ladies and gentlemen, and to kick off the new season I’m starting a new weekly stock report that will appear every Tuesday. I’ll be looking at the…
Read More » -
Duranko’s Digest: What Did we See in Palo Alto?
A late Stanford rally, initiated with 30 seconds to go, was capped off by Conrad Ukropina’s 45 yard field goal, earning Stanford a 38-36 win over the crestfallen Irish, seeing…
Read More » -
Duranko’s Digest: What Did We See in Fenway?
Notre Dame’s beat Boston College 19-16 to move to 10-1, before heading to Palo Alto for the titanic season finale against Stanford. The green-clad Irish offense punched holes in the…
Read More » -
Duranko’s Digest: What Did We See Against Wake Forest?
A somnambulant, diffident Notre Dame team did just enough to beat young, eager Wake Forest 28-7, to move to 9-1. The win completed the second unbeaten home slate under Kelly,…
Read More » - ADVERTISMENT
-
Duranko’s Digest: What Did We See Against Pitt?
Notre Dame, with the usual and perplexing ebbs and flows, moved to 8-1 with a 42-30 win over the Pitt Panthers. The Irish start was as easy as 1-2-3. Prosise…
Read More » -
Duranko’s Digest: What Did We See Against Temple?
Notre Dame fashioned another thrilling fourth quarter rally to defeat pesky, resilient, tenacious Temple 24-20. Temple played up to Notre Dame’s level rather than Notre Dame playing down to Temple’s.…
Read More » -
Duranko’s Digest: What Did We See Against USC?
Somewhere, Rock and Howard Jones smiled. This is what an epic, rivalry game look like. Legacy fulfilled. Offense, Defense, Special Teams, thrills, agony, expected stars and surprise heroes. Football games…
Read More » -
Duranko’s Digest: What Did We See Against Navy?
After the second consecutive slow start, Notre Dame exercised functional control over Navy and completed discharge of its moral imperative, defeating Navy 41-24. The win over Notre Dame’s longest continuous…
Read More » -
Duranko’s Digest: What Did We See vs. Clemson
For Clemson it was a Perfect Storm. It had been 38 years since a Notre Dame football team last visited Clemson, 17 days since the Tigers took the field against…
Read More » -
Duranko’s Digest: What Did We See Against UMass?
Leveraging a dominating offensive line with a bewildering array of skilled players Notre Dame disposed of a pesky band of Minutemen, 62-27. Notre Dame moved to 4-0 with a 5…
Read More » -
Duranko’s Digest: What did we see against Georgia Tech?
Deshone Kizer was big enough for the moment.
Read More » -
Duranko’s Digest: What Did We See Against Virginia?
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times
Read More » -
Duranko’s Digest: What Did We See Against Texas?
We saw ruthless, brutal physical domination. After establishing that, Brian Kelly’s 2015 Fighting Irish used a remarkable array of skilled players and a stunning performance by Malik Zaire to dehorn…
Read More » -
Post Spring Notre Dame Football Stock Report
With spring practice complete and Notre Dame ready for OTA’s, we have a somewhat better idea now of what the Irish have to work with and work on between now…
Read More » -
Duranko’s Digest: Notre Dame Football’s Spring Forward
Spring practice is now concluded. What did we learn? Better than expected: Jerry Tillery at Defensive tackle. Tillery’s move from “left tackle of the future” to defensive tackle was an…
Read More » -
Duranko’s Digest: What Did We See Against LSU?
Hard by the banks of the Cumberland River, and in easy walking distance of the cathedral of country music, the Ryman Aauditorium, the Fighting Irish defeated those long, thick, swift …
Read More » -
Duranko’s Digest: What Did We See Against USC?
Ugliness, embarrassment, second disaster of the year. USC, resisting the temptation to run up the score, buried the Irish 49-14, sending the Irish to its first four game losing streak…
Read More » -
Duranko’s Digest: What Did We See Against Louisville?
The Fighting Irish lost their third straight game as the Louisville Cardinals befouled Senior Day, 31-28. It is axiomatic to football’s unforgiving math that a team’s stronger units must compensate…
Read More » -
Duranko’s Digest: Paul Hornung, Notre Dame’s 1956 Heisman Winner
With Louisville coming in on Saturday, the 22d, Louisvillians will mark this as their first visit to South Bend for football purposes. But over 60 years ago, in a galaxy…
Read More » -
Duranko’s Digest: What did we see against Northwestern?
Northwestern beat Notre Dame 43-40 in a game that was as repulsive in its unfolding as the result. It was a bad loss to a bad football team, which may…
Read More » -
Duranko’s Digest: Notre Dame’s Disaster in the Desert
On a weekend when the sports media bubbled over with Veteran’s Day references, Notre Dame’s offense, in whole and in part, was simply overrun by Arizona State’s blitz package. It…
Read More » -
Duranko’s Digest: What Did We See Against Navy?
The Fighting Irish squeaked past Navy 49-39 in a weird affair that more closely resembled a Halloween House of Horrors than a first rate triumph by an outstanding team.
Read More » -
Duranko’s Digest: Notre Dame Football Program-Semi-Annual Report
With seven games behind us it’s time for the Midyear Report. ASSETS/LIMITATIONS: THE UNITS We rank the units according to three categories: FINAL FOUR MAJOR BOWL BOWL This is primarily…
Read More » -
Duranko’s Digest: What did we see in Tallahassee?
Jameis Winston led three excruciating, Heisman-quality drives of 70 yards or more to lead Florida State to a comeback 31-27 victory over the Fighting Irish, extending the Seminole win streak…
Read More »