Spartans Lynch-ed in South Bend as Irish Earn First Win of Season

Forget the omnipresent commentary on Notre Dame turning the ball over for a minute. With the help of a few freshmen, namely DE Aaron Lynch and RB George Atkinson III, the Irish were able to earn their first win of the season this past Saturday against Michigan State.

There were other contributors in the Irish's 31-13 victory but much of the win can be attributed to solid contributions from the underclassmen.

Lynch did not play at all in the road contest against Michigan a week prior and based on the performance he put on against Michigan State it is difficult to understand his lack of playing. He was a dominant force and caused issues all afternoon for Spartans QB Kirk Cousins.

With the Spartans running game essentially obsolete (29 yards) Lynch saw most of his playing time in obvious passing situations. His pass rushing ability stood out as he amassed five tackles, one sack that caused a fumble and six quarterback hurries. To put that last stat into perspective, last season alone Notre Dame did not have a single individual record more than five hurries for the year. That is some serious pressure!

A healthy rotation on the defensive line all afternoon kept legs fresh. Lynch rotated with Kapron Lewis-Moore, Ethan Johnson and fellow freshman Stephon Tuitt, who also played well for the Irish.

Moving onto Atkinson III, his spark was provided on special teams. After the Spartans got on the board with a field goal, bringing the score to 7-3 in favor of the Irish, Atkinson III took the ensuing Spartans kickoff 89-yards for a touchdown. It marked the first kickoff return for the Irish since Amrando Allen Jr's 95-yard return in the 2008 Hawaii Bowl.

After the game Notre Dame Head Coach Brian Kelly revealed how the Irish practiced creating a 'wedge' throughout the week to expose the Spartans. Senior walk-on Chris Salvi perfectly executed a block on the play to take out two Spartans defenders to help pave the way for Atkinson III. The freshman did the rest of the work with his blazing speed.

Special teams play for the Irish still showed inconsistency despite the great return by Atkinson III. John Goodman muffed a punt in the 4th quarter and caused a 'here we go again' feeling to settle in over Notre Dame Stadium. Punt returns cannot get much worse for the Irish as they rank 106th in yards returned (5) and 111th in average yards per return (0.7). If improvements are not made the Irish will wind up losing more games this year due to poor special teams play.

Irish QB Tommy Rees put himself into another set of precarious situations after two turnovers early in the first half. If the Irish are to make anything out of their abysmal start to the season they will need Rees to limit his mistakes. His resiliency cannot be forgotten, though, as his short term memory allows him to quickly move on after throwing an interception and focus on his next opportunity.


Fifth year senior CB Gary Gray redeemed himself nicely after a dismal showing last weekend in the Big House. He had a few knock downs and made 10 tackles en route to a much needed bounce back performance. The real star of the secondary, though, was senior Robert Blanton.

After Goodman's muffed punt the Spartans took over with the ball deep in Irish territory. Cousins helped advance the ball inside the red zone to the Irish before setting the stage for Blanton's heroics. Blanton tipped a pass from Cousins to himself and bolted 82 yards down the field to help preserve Notre Dame's first win on the year. He also made six tackles including three for a loss in the contest.


All world WR Michael Floyd faced double coverage throughout the game but still managed to reel in six catches for 84 yards. He received some help from Sophomore WR TJ Jones, who caught a TD pass from Rees in the 3rd quarter to put the Irish up 28-10. Not only did he put the Irish further on top of the Spartans, he put his gloves together to form a Leprechaun and was flagged for an unsportsmanlike penalty. This was contrary to what Coach Kelly had been advised of and had consequently informed his players that it was 'ok' to do so.

As it turns out, after further review Jones and Kelly's interpretations, not the referees', of the rule were correct.

Incorrect penalties aside, the Irish brought their season average down from 8.5 to 5, which shows they are starting to become more disciplined.

It has been said before and will be said again: Coach Kelly is building a new philosophy and mindset with his football team. In year two things should be progressing and we have already seen some major improvements along the defensive line and running game (two areas facing the most need for resurrection).

While the Irish would feel much better sitting at 2-1 as opposed to 1-2 they will take what they can get at this point. After all, as the nation's leading team in turnovers lost it is hard to imagine they have even won one game.

Pittsburgh, who experienced Notre Dame syndrome by blowing a huge fourth quarter lead last weekend at Iowa, is up next for the Irish and will pose as an intriguing challenge. The Panthers are led by Todd Graham, who skippered the Tulsa Golden Hurricane to victory at Notre Dame Stadium last season.

A lot has changed since Graham's last contest against the Irish and growing pains will most likely show for the Panthers in this contest. Barring any major catastrophe on special teams or in the turnover department the Irish should emerge from Saturday's matchup 2-2 on the year.

Cutting Room Floor Lives!

Despite what you might hear in certain circles, there are still vague rumblings of activity deep beneath the surface in Cutting Room Floor. I feel it's important to remind the world that you can purchase both our "official" releases at cdbaby.

Both In Our Luck and our Whiskey Rebellion EP are available for download, as are popular individual songs such as "Walking Alone", "No Thanks Ms. M" and "Brilliant Night".

I anticipate some sneaky new releases at some point and some potential official recordings down the line. Keep an eye on Stars and Slights for new content. Life is a little murky right now so who really knows what to expect when it comes to music?

Anyway, please buy our music as we attempt to make more.

Stay tuned!

Frank Beamer Wins 200th as Hokies Edge East Carolina 17-10

Virginia Tech survived its first road game of the season Saturday, outlasting the Pirates 17-10 a game dominated by defense.

The win marked Frank Beamer's 200th at Virginia Tech and 242nd for his career. Beamer becomes just the tenth coach in FBS history to win at least 200 games at one school.

Tech quarterback Logan Thomas was somewhat inconsistent his first career road start completing just 8 of 20 passes for 91 yards and an interception, but he had several key passes dropped by receivers.

Thomas added 66 yards on the ground and proved once again that he's an imposing physical runner, plowing head-on over defenders on several carries fully utilizing his 6-6 frame.

David Wilson continued the quietest Heisman campaign you'll come across with 26 carries for 138 yards as Tech ground out 241 yards on the ground.

Josh Oglesby also had an excellent effort posting 43 yards on nine carries and scoring both of the Hokies' touchdowns.

The Hokie defense was in midseason form Saturday, holding the explosive Pirate offense to just 112 total yards including -15 yards rushing.

Corner Kyle Fuller interception a pass and the Hokie defense sacked ECU quarterback Dominique Davis five times.

The Techmen return to Blacksburg this weekend for a non-conference tilt with Arkansas State. The Red Wolves are 1-1 on the season and are coming off a 47-3 thumping of Memphis.

Under Frank Beamer, the Hokies are 118-31-1 in Blacksburg and 3-0 all-time against Arkansas State.

Stunning Collapse Puts Irish, Kelly at 0-2 Searching for Answers

Notre Dame's Gary Gray (4) watches as Michigan's Roy Roundtree (12) catches the game-winning TD for the Wolverines

Another week, same old story for the Fighting Irish. For the second game this season you might think the Irish actually won by looking at the stats column.

Notre Dame had more total yards (513 to 452), rushing yards (198 to 114), better 3rd down efficiency (8-14 to 3-9) and dominated time of possession (37:01 to 22:59).

But, like last week, as your eyes glaze down the stats column you pass over the most telling stat: turnovers.

It was a 5 turnover performance that ultimately prevented the Irish from having any shot of beating South Florida a week earlier. True to form, it was another 5 turnover performance that practically gift wrapped an undeserving victory for the Michigan Wolverines last night.

Make no mistake about it, Michigan did not win the game last night. Notre Dame lost it. And what a heartbreaking 35-31 loss it was for the Irish.

There were several key junctures where the Irish had opportunities to close out the Wolverines. From the red zone in the first half Irish QB Tommy Rees threw into traffic at Michael Floyd who was covered by no less than three Wolverines defenders. Instead of going up 21-7, the Irish stayed at 14-7 before forcing a three-and-out and eventually kicking a field goal to make it 17-7.

Then there was the fumble by Rees, who let the ball slip out of his hand as he was attempting to throw, at the goal line when the Irish were about to expand on a tightened 24-21 lead late in the 4th quarter.

Rees was chosen earlier in the week by Coach Kelly to start in favor of the previously anointed starter Dayne Crist. Several mistakes were made, especially the fumble mentioned above along with a few ill-advised interceptions, but Rees ultimately played good enough to put the Irish in position to win the game. He did, after all, manage to lead them down the field and connect with WR Theo Riddick, who recovered nicely after an awful opening game performance, for what appeared to be the go-ahead score with 30 seconds left.

Luck was not on Notre Dame's side though. Take the Michigan fumble at the 1-yard line. Irish S Harrison Smith forced the ball loose but it bounced directly into the eager and sure hands of Michigan's QB Denard Robinson who easily waltzed into the end zone for a score.

Late in the 3rd quarter, Notre Dame's DE Kapron Lewis-Moore had an opportunity to bring down Robinson with a sack. With Lewis-Moore tightly gripped to his leg, Robinson somehow managed to remain balanced and throw a precision pass to WR Junior Hemingway for a 77-yard gain.

What sticks out most from Robinson's performance, though, is that he completed a meager 11 passes all night. But from those 11 passes he generated 338 yards, which goes to show how poorly Notre Dame's secondary played.

As bad of a passer as Robinson is he somehow managed to tear apart the Irish secondary seemingly at will. Pictured at the top of the article, CB Gary Gray was largely responsible for those bombs thrown by Robinson. He looked confused on a 43-yard touchdown to Hemingway in the 2nd quarter and allowed a 14-yard touchdown to WR Jeremy Gallon early in the 4th quarter. On the game's final offensive play Robinson went over top of Gray to hit Roy Roundtree (picture at the top of the article) for the game-winning score.

But this was a team loss and everyone on that roster is accountable for it. Coach Kelly did not tread lightly on this after what surely was a migraine inducing performance.

We're not good enough. There's not an individual in the locker room, including all the coaches, that are good enough right now. Pretty much told our football team that when we're a better football team we'll start winning.

Better needs to be right around the corner or it could wind up being a long season for the Irish and their fans.

Virginia Tech Breezes Past Appalachian State 66-13

Virginia Tech went nuts on Appalachian State last Saturday to the tune of a 66-13 thumping in Blacksburg.

David Wilson tallied 164 yards on 16 carries and three touchdowns.

Logan Thomas made his first career start at quarterback for the Hokies and threw two touchdowns to Marcus Davis and completed 9 of 19 passes for 149 yards.

The Hokies next head to Greenville, N.C. to take on the East Carolina Pirates in Tech's first game as the No. 11 team in the polls.

Television coverage starts at 3:30 and kick off is slated for 3:40 at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium.

Below is the video of Tech receiver Dryrell Roberts' filthy catch over a Mountaineer defender Saturday.

Shamrock Helmet Pictures Released by Notre Dame for 'Under the Lights' Matchup

While we haven't yet caved in to the Twitter craze it is hard to turn a blind eye to it at times. Count this as one of those 'hard to turn a blind eye' times.

Ryan Grooms, a Notre Dame Football equipment manager, started his own feed and regularly tweets updates on the Irish's uniforms. Among his tweets this week was one revealing the official shamrock helmet to be worn by the Irish this weekend in the 'Under the Lights' game against Michigan.

The one posted by Grooms is more official than the one at the header of this post, which is one you could actually purchase here if your heart so desires. Note how an 'Irish' moniker was added to the sidestraps as well as a font change from black to green was made at the top of the face mask.

At the very least, the Irish will be sharply dressed when they run onto the field in their throwbacks against the Wolverines.