Forde looks at campus life for football stars

Yahoo! Sports columnist Pat Forde took an interesting look at how campus life is similar for students and football players alike at Notre Dame in his latest piece.

At many of the top-flight schools, top of the line living arrangements accompany the university's football players. But for the No.1-ranked team in the country, the players live in a dorm the same size we see here at American University.

KeiVarae Russell is one of the players profiled in the story, a freshman who has become a starter at cornerback. Russell rooms with a student from Brazil, one from Michigan, and one from North Carolina.

The following is from Forde's story: The entire article (which I linked to at the start of the post) is a great read if you have the time.

“Football players, I know how we got here. I didn’t know how my roommate got here from Brazil, or how guys got here from Michigan or North Carolina. I’ve learned a lot.”

Last Thursday, KeiVarae walked a visitor through Sorin introducing him to a wide cross-section of students: the studious kid who is always in the dorm’s basement kitchen on his laptop; the preppy kid who dresses like a male model; the kid who plays saxophone in the marching band; the kid from Mississippi on his way out to buy a gift for the dorm’s Secret Santa freshman present exchange.

The contrast is interesting in that Alabama runs what many view to be almost a pro program, while their opponent has some of its key players prominent in the day-to-day activities on campus.

KeiVarae Russell keeps with tradition by touching the foot of Father Sorin, Notre Dame's founder. Courtesy: Pat Forde / Yahoo! Sports

Breaking with tradition

Notre Dame has long had one of the most iconic uniforms in all of professional sports. The navy blue jerseys, with the gold, freshly painted helmets shining in the sun have long been the symbol for the Fighting Irish. For the national championship, Notre Dame will make a change to its uniform.

In a photo tweeted from the Notre Dame football equipment Twitter account (@NDFBequipment), the Irish's game day jerseys for the national championship will have player's last names on the back. This will be done for just the fourth time in school history.

This is sure to have some traditionalists in an uproar, as well as those who are very superstitious. Notre Dame is 12-0 without names on the back. Sure it's something small, but why mess with tradition (and success) on the game's biggest stage?!?

Courtesy of the ND football equipment Twitter account, here's a look at the Irish's jerseys for the title game.

Manziel edges Te'o for Heisman

History was made earlier tonight at the Downtown Athletic Club in New York. Unfortunately for Irish fans, it wasn't the type of history they wanted.

Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel became the first freshman in the 78-year history of the award to take home the trophy after defeating Manti Te'o and Kansas State quarterback Colin Klein. Manziel received 474 first-place votes, compared to 321 earned by Te'o. Klein nabbed 60.

As I wrote about Thursday, this was the perfect storm for a defensive player such as Te'o to break through and become the first defender to win the award. Voters had other ideas, as every region except the Midwest was won by Manziel.

After tonight, I don't see someone who strictly plays on the defensive side of the ball ever winning the trophy. When Michigan's Charles Woodson won it following the 1997 season, he was also a punt returner and occasional wide receiver, which significantly improved his candidacy.

Sports Illustrated's Zac Ellis disagrees, in his 'Te'o's runner-up campaign should provide hope to defensive players' column' following the ceremony.

Ellis writes that this is not your father's Heisman Trophy, with barriers being broken in 2007 (Tim Tebow, first sophomore to win it) and 2012 (Manziel). The next domino (a defensive player) will fall and it's not a matter of 'if' but 'when,' according to Ellis.

While the next domino falling makes for a good narrative, let's be real. Despite Te'o's magical season, he still received 153 less first-place votes than his offensive counterpart. Why don't we just make the Heisman an offense-only award?

Johnny Manziel became the first freshman to win the Heisman Trophy earlier tonight.

Weekend Links

With the weekend upon us, let's take a look at some of what's been said about Notre Dame football across the Web over the past week.

Keith Arnold (Inside the Irish blog, NBC Sports): Weekend notes: Awards, Ara, and Swarbrick

Matt Fortuna (ESPN Chicago): Notre Dame mailbag

Eric Hansen (South Bend Tribune): Can Te'o beat the odds?

Rick Reilly (ESPN): Notre Dame fooled us all

Ivan Maisel (ESPN): Title game steeped in passion, history

Ralph Russo (AP College Football Writer): Notre Dame vs. Alabama: Star power, power football

Bill Pennington (New York Times): Game of the Century: Notre Dame vs. Alabama

Mike Lopresti (USA TODAY): Notre Dame-Alabama: War of tradition

Reminder: The Heisman Trophy will be presented tomorrow, December 8th, at 8 p.m. on ESPN.


Courtesy of Rick Reilly/ESPN.COM

Te'o takes home multiple awards; Heisman next?

All season long, Manti Te'o has been a dominant force on the field. Now, he's becoming a dominant force off it as well.

In the past week, Te'o has won the Butkus Award (nation's best linebacker), the Nagurski Award (best defensive player), the Lombardi Award (best lineman or linebacker) and now the Walter Camp Award (national player of the year).

"Manti Te'o's performance on and off the football field has made him an outstanding recipient of the Walter Camp Player of the Year award," Walter Camp Football Foundation President John Marks said. "His consistency, leadership, and perseverance have been trademarks of the Fighting Irish's outstanding 2012 season."

The linebacker hopes he can add one more accomplishment to his growing list of awards: Heisman Trophy winner.

But if history tells us anything, maybe Te'o was better off not winning the Walter Camp. In seven of the past 10 seasons, the winner of the Heisman was different from the winner of the Walter Camp. And if the projections are to be believed, it looks like Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel will take home college football's top individual prize this Saturday.

Which leads us to the following question: Will a defensive player ever win the award? Ndamukong Suh was the last defensive player to be a Heisman finalist, but Te'o is the most attractive defensive candidate ever. He plays at Notre Dame, who finished the season No. 1 and undefeated, and has the stats to back it up. If he doesn't win it, will a defensive player ever get it?

Manti Te'o will be in New York Saturday for the Heisman Trophy presentation.

Dealing with a long layoff

For Notre Dame, this is unchartered territory. Since the start of September, the longest they've gone between football games is 14 days.

They'll now have to wait over a month to take the field in the season's most important game, and Brian Kelly is already tired of talking about the long layoff.

"I think it's a self-fulfilling prophecy if you keep talking about the long layoff," Kelly said during an appearance today with Alabama head coach Nick Saban in New York. "We don't talk about that, we talk about what's the next step here, in the next stage towards the national championship."

The one big difference in this situation is that the Crimson Tide have been here before under Nick Saban. Twice.

The Saban-led Tide have endured long layoffs following the 2009 and 2011 seasons, before ultimately defeating Texas and LSU for the national championship.

"You almost have to look at any bowl game, or any layoff like you have of this length of time, as the next game is sort of a one-game season," Saban said.

Saban has used the time off to create excellent game plans in his past two national championship appearances. Now, we'll see if Kelly can do the same.

Nick Saban and Brian Kelly will lead their teams into Miami for the national championship Jan. 7.

Diaco becoming a hot coaching commodity

It happens all the time once the regular season ends. With the start of the bowl season just under two weeks away, teams are looking to fill their head coaching vacancies and get a jump start on planning for 2013.

One coach who has garnered a lot of interest for a head coaching job is Notre Dame defensive coordinator Bob Diaco, and it's easy to see why. Diaco leads a defense that is first in the country in points allowed, and in the top 10 in both passing and rushing yards against.

Long looked at as an area that needed to improve, the defense has been shored up during Diaco's time in South Bend. After a stellar 2012 campaign, Diaco won the Broyles Award as the nation's top assistant coach.

According to Mark Lazerus of the Chicago Sun-Times, Diaco is one of three finalists for the Boston College head coaching job.

"It doesn't surprise me if they wanted to talk to Bob Diaco," Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly said. "I think he's the finest defensive coordinator in the country."

Diaco has been a crucial part of Notre Dame's success, and losing him would be quite a blow on the defensive side of the ball.

UPDATE: Boston College has hired Temple coach Steve Addazio.

Bob Diaco has been the architect of Notre Dame's strong defense this season.