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The good, the bad, and the Irish. Week 1: Temple

The Irish won their home opener against Temple handily, but there is still sooo much to discuss.

Temple v Notre Dame Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images

Hello, fellow Irish fans! This season I’ll be recapping ND games. Follow along as I parse out the good (because we must celebrate the good), the bad (this fanbase always finds shit to complain about), and the Irish (miscellaneous observations that are ~so~ ND).

The Good

There were a lot of good things in this game. A run game! A pass game! ONLY ONE BLOWN COVERAGE!

The offense

Things were clicking early for the offense on Saturday. Josh Adams scored the first touchdown of the season, only 33 seconds into the first quarter. From that moment forward, the Irish offense controlled the game. Brandon Wimbush looked comfortable in the pocket, and was able to create some plays on his feet as well.

mood
Via NBC

As predicted, Notre Dame’s O-line was sharp throughout the game. It helps having Mike McGlinchey and Quenton Nelson back for encore seasons. All in all, the Irish had 606 yards of total offense. Yea, I’ll take it.

Brian Kelly

“I’m sorry, the old Brian Kelly can’t come to the headset right now. Why? Oh. CAUSE HE’S DEAD.”
Via NBC

We heard a lot of the “Brian Kelly has changed” narrative this weekend. Sounds like BK has been listening to T-Swift. Only time will tell if the kinder, softer, more laid-back Kelly is here to stay. He did seem a lot less purple than previous season openers, though, and that, my friends, is a good thing.

Irish Siblings!

Via NBC

Julian Okwara recorded his first career sack on Saturday. He’s the younger brother of former Irish DE Romeo Okwara. Cheers to following along in his big brother’s footsteps.

Here’s a photo of the G.O.A.T. and Tom Brady.

NFL: Preaseason-New England Patriots at New York Giants Noah K. Murray-USA TODAY Sports

The Bad

We beat Temple by 33 points, what could we possibly have to complain abo — DO YOU KNOW WHO WE ARE? WE’RE NOTRE DAME FANS. WE MUST COMPLAIN. COMPLAINING IS THE BLOOD THAT PULSES THROUGH OUR VEINS. NOW LET’S ROAST SOME UNPAID TEENAGERS.

Field Goal Unit

Justin Yoon went 0/2 on field goals Saturday. Not ideal, but to be fair, neither of them was a chip shot (44, 47 yards).

On the bright side, one twitter user compared the Irish to Alabama.

Oh...errr never mind.

Brian Kelly

It’s fun when you can put the head coach in the good and the bad section. Kelly was still getting roasted on twitter throughout the game, despite the scoreboard. Here are a few classics.

Hey, you win some, you lose some.

The Irish

The biggest storyline this weekend was the updated stadium, and yes, the coveted video board made its debut.

The Video Board

My initial reaction was, “WHY DIDN’T NOTRE DAME HAVE THIS WHILE I WAS STILL A STUDENT?” My secondary reaction was, “HOW HAVE I BEEN WATCHING FOOTBALL GAMES AT THIS STADIUM FOR 20+ YEARS WITHOUT VIDEO REPLAYS?”

The video board was beautiful and life-changing. It made the looong TV timeouts fly by and allowed fans to get way more pumped up than I’ve ever seen during a home opener against a semi-competitive team on a warm, September afternoon. Better late than never!

Visitor Tunnel

The best part of the new stadium? Visiting teams now have to run out of this comically narrow tunnel onto the field. The best part about this tunnel? It’s actually a staircase. Don’t trip fellas!

Tom Rees

You’ll always be Touchdown Tommy to me.

Kizer Watch

Look it’s DeShone Kizer talking to Jack Swarbrick, no one else to see here! Via NBC

C’mon NBC, Matthias Farley is a safety for the Colts now. Show the man some respect.

Brian Kelly said he was “thrilled” for DeShone to start Week 1 for the Browns. Yes, but thrilled in the way you are thrilled for your ex when you find out they’re engaged to someone younger and hotter (I’m looking at you, Hue.) Anyways, good luck DeShone!

On to Georgia. Go Irish, BEAT DAWGS!