The Triple Option: Defending Notre Dame Football to a national audience

We gently dust off the triple-option playbook to get a better look at the Notre Dame football program. LFG!

SPOTLIGHTING FOR REAL REASONS

Over the last couple of years, I’ve found myself agreeing with Josh Pate more times than not, and I’ve come to find him as one of the more rational voices from the national media to discuss the Irish. He’s fair and doesn’t come off as a hot take specialist — which means I can listen to his criticism about the Irish without hearing the lazy arguments normally made. I’m just saying... it’s a program that I don’t feel like setting on fire 3 minutes into a discussion about ND.

So... here’s Pate on Notre Dame and the expectations in 2023.

PAYBACK

One of the fun things about the transfer portal is the chance for “revenge games” each season. They’re not always a big deal, but this season kind of feels like it thanks to a trash-ass Instagram post from Phil Jurkovec.

Notre Dame will play against 4 former players in 2023, and all 4 are with ACC programs.

MORE TROJAN FIRE

The USC Trojans are adding Kliff Klingsbury to the staff.

Whatever.

READ A BOOK

We recently had ISD’s Greg Flammang on the Earned 5-Star Podcast, and we sidestoried his recent interview with Ian Book. I just want to make sure as many people listen to this interview as possible. While Ian Book will likely never get the respect he deserves from the Irish fanbase — that doesn’t mean his story is unimportant. On the contrary... it’s more important than ever.