#38 R.P.I. Virginia Tech @ #17 R.P.I. Notre Dame:

Today’s word of the day is… leprechaun

lep·re·chaun
/ˈleprəˌkän,ˈleprəˌkôn/

Old Irish: lu: small, corp: body
noun: leprechaun; plural noun: leprechauns

• (in Irish folklore) a small, mischievous sprite. (often believed to have a treasure hoard).
• Larry Bird’s rim-tightening, bolt-loosening bo.Garden hommie.
• ~6 pm on a 3-game O&M cultural ‘con?

Notre Dame Head Coach: Brian Keith Kelly: age=57, (65–36 @Notre Dame; 236-93-2 overall); has a rep’ for defensive-minded coaching and national recruiting success.
$2.100,000.oo

Baller Kelly was born in Everett, Massachusetts, and was raised in a Catholic Irish-American family in Chelsea, Massachusetts.  His father was a Boston politician. He was a four-year letter winner at Assumption College as an Inside-Lb (1979-1982). After graduating from Assumption in 1983 with a bachelor’s degree in political science Kelly started out as a Linebacker coach, defensive coordinator, and softball coach from 1983 to 1986.

After that, coach Kelly joined the Grand Valley State University staff in 1987 as a graduate assistant and defensive backs coach after which he became the defensive coordinator and recruiting coordinator in 1989. Kelly took over as head coach in 1991. In his final three seasons, the (other non-L.a.) Lakers went 41–2, at one point, winning 20 consecutive games. The Lakers went 14–0 in 2002 en route to their first national title and went 14–1 in 2003 when they claimed their second National Championship. Kelly was named the AFCA Division II Coach of the Year after each of these championship years— not bad work; if you can get it.

Kelly then went to a pretty well kicked Central Michigan University football program where he only turned C.M.U. around in one year and got to a bowl game in year number three. After that, he was off to Cincy where he posted a seminal looking 36-6 mark including four bowls in four seasons and two New Year’s Day bowl invites with a perfect season in his final (12-o) year!

Coach Kelly then landed most any up-n-coming coaches dream job @South Bend. As the Irish big whistle coach Kelly has gone an entertaining and job-holding .611 overall for N.Dame. This includes a low-water mark or Irish Potato Famine of 4-8 in 2016 and nearly all the vacated wins from 2012-2013 (o-4 official mark; with 21 wins vacated) due to the use of ineligible players. This also included the Sugar Bowl season that climaxed in a dubbing by S.e.c. Alabama to boot.

Big Whistle Kelly is the winningest Notre Dame hire since Lou Holtz. In the 13 years between Holtz’s departure and Kelly’s arrival, the Irish averaged seven wins per year and finished 11th or better in the AP poll once. Even with 2016’s all-time weirdness, Kelly has averaged nine wins per year and has finished 11th or better four times. He’s got two top-5 finishes, as many as Notre Dame managed in the 1990s and 2000s combined.

Coach Kelly has only spawned a very fruitful nine fellow college football head coaches per his very own coaching tree. He only holds eight national Coach of the Year awards and three conference Coach of the Year awards thus far.

Daddy Kelly has a wife, Paqui, and three children, Patrick, Grace, and Kenzel. Paqui, after surviving breast cancer, went on to start the Kelly Cares Foundation.
May St.Xenia of Rome bless!

2018 record:  12-1, independent

N.Dame Defense: (starters back=6)

• 4-2-5 base D with true Ng and a floating hybrid/bandit/rover type Db.
• 47th in Total D.
• 81st vs. the run.
• 24th vs. the throw.
• 37th in passing efficiency defense.
• 34th in 1st down D.
• 38th in 3rd down D.
• 127th in zone D!
• 12th in defensive TD’s!
• 11th in fumbles recovered (with: 20 total forced)!
• 30th in Qb’s sacked.
• 12th in Tackles for a Loss (TFL) inflicted!
• TBA in dLine Havoc. De/Lb hybrid Julian Okwara leads the sacking way (as expected; and looks heavier/stalker than his listed 248 lbs.) with 4 sacks and fellow De Jamir Jones is tied with quad’-Qb’s-sacked as well. In point of fact, 11 different Irish have tallied a Qb-sack or part of a Qb-sack thus far. The bookends are stronger than the Dt’s and the Irish are clearly better vs. the pass than vs. the run in front-wall terms. Decent frontline size, though not quite huge. Although the Irish De’s will “plum git after yah”, 12 sacks and 18 combined TFL (tackles for a loss) says so. De is a bit dented at the moment; as it should be a quality five deep now reduced to four. Still yet, this is a rather Lo.FM disruptive type frontline. The Vice Squad really does need to have a golden day.

  

• TBA Tin Linebacking Havoc. Irish defensive coordinator Clark Lea just graduated over 200 total tackles amassed in his former seven-year starting inside-linebacking twins. So the N.Dame second-layer is bound to be a little down this season. Lb Asmar Bilal, leads N.Dame in stops as expected and Drew White is a reasonable run-fighter; and that’s what he is. Linebacking second-layer only stocks two Lb’s in paper. Tho’ the hybrid Rover will cheat-up at times and even things up.
• TBA in Secondary Havoc. N.Dame is one of the very few teams I’ve ever scouted to play right in between playing the man and playing the ball. They are not tight on this anymore than they are soft on this. They do get to a few throws due to courting superior VHT (very highly touted) hind-4 athletes than most others do. And the starters are really good here… Cb is experienced if a little south of Safety(s), as the Fs/Ss combo (J.Elliot+A.Gilman) was listed among the best in the country by several of my preview mag’s. With the Irish defensive-backfield rated among the top-3 hind-4’s in the A.c.c. And this D is not jam or press-man coverage shy. Gotta work release techniques in practice this week. Cb TaRiq Bracy only goes a buck-sixty-nine (169 lbs.); might be worth taking a run @him or isolating him downfield vs. Haze’ or Mitch’. Cb Troy Pride is “recovery speed” personified itself; as he could be the seminal speed-merchant in the hind-4 we see all season, and he prolly should be working C.Beck ‘esque T&F to boot.
• D overall: in green-slate chalkboard gone whiteboard theory… N.Dame will allow short(er) plays at the expense of forcing you to maintain drives via disallowing anything BIG downfield. Chunk-yardage allowed is their philosophical bane. With no theoretical easy-points give up or a Smith Barney D that makes you: “earn it”. (tho’ Eye did catch that N.Dame advances fumbles (nearly 100 fumble return yards) at all costs. Very Beamerball of them).
• ∑ (summary): returning D production=55% #42 (Julian Okwara) is your conflict defender here. As the only thing JayO has not done is INT a pass; (yet). Likewise, Eight N.Dame defenders have started all eight games this season. What you read above is the theory, although in application N.Dame has slipped from a stellar lights-out 5th best in Red-Zone D and is a soft-and-cushiony 108th in power success rate allowed this campaign. Fu’/Cory are you taking note of this… Q? As five of the only decent+++ vs. the run 2018 front-seven defenders are gone here. And with such a strong secondary? K.I.S.S. coach Gene Simmons says to lick the Irish on the… ground. That said… beyond one deep Fs Centerfield in Tampa-1, the Domers tend to play the run first… this is a very forward-facing D with sometimes 10 guys within not more than 5-yards of the Line-of-Scrimmage (LOS) here. They must really trust their recovery speed to do this tho’ U.s.c.-West gave them a hard play-action time for it as well. N.Dame will run blitz between the Ot’s in the proverbial box and there are placements behind that that have been vacated if you break LOS run-contain or can hit them quick enough on the throw. Tackling was solid. Not below average at all on stops; tho’ they do tackle the ‘ball quite a bit on secondary (i.e. subsequent to first)-contacts. And N.Dame will switch to a forty-three 4-down lineman look in obvious rush sets. Saw a couple of thirty-three nearly stacked looks as well. And this D is a bit blitzy at times so our ability to I.D. dealing or red-dogs must improve; now!

Defensive letter-grade:

N.Dame Offense: (returning starters=8)

• Multi O: Pro’, read-Gun, Spread, Pistol(s), 10’whatever derivative personnel.
• 59th in Total O.
• 63rd in ground O.
• 54th in aerial O.
• 25th in passing efficiency.
• 112th in 1st down O.
• 38th in 3rd down O.
• 69th in completion percentage O.
• 123rd in TOP (time of possession) O.
• 7th fewest passes picked.
• 27th most fumbles.
• 1st in zone O!!!
• 38th in sacks allowed | 34th in TFL allowed.

  

• O overall: Rb(s): Tony Jones Jr. (cartilage injury/bruised ribs, St.Siegfried bless) has been hot as the Sun of late and is really coming into his own. So are his 5′11″ 227 -rock-solid- lb. Chuck Muncie near lookalike measurables. Not to mentioned busting the centennial (100-yard) rushing barrier in three of his last four contests. Tony was merely the 21st ranked Rb outta high school according to Rivals. He of the legit 4.5 speed and noticeable 545 lb. back-squat at Rb. Rb Jafar Armstrong does not appear to be back as Armstrong has suffered from a “nagging groin injury” as really Y-chromosomes “groan” everywhere upon reading these very words. Armstrong is one of the very atypical converted Wr’s to Rb’s you will ever see. And “aye” this does mean that this Rb is a receiving threat… and in other news rain is still rumored to be, wet. Qb: 6′, 212 lb. final year Qb1 Ian Book is a 1,492-yard passer on 59.2% passing for an average of 7.6 ypc with a long of 65-yards and a shiny 15:2 passing ratio (TDs:INTs) thus far. Recall Ian opened 2018 as a Qb2, (sound familiar?) Ian Book was only 19% better at throwing the football -of all the Qb things- than the other Irish Qb’s last year. Yes, I’d say that counts as real live jumper-cables go concerning the 2018 Irish O. As Ion is a smaller (6′, 212 lb.) final-year Pivot who thus far has played a lot bigger than that. (Although he has hung about 10 lbs. of right-mass since we saw him last). Book has a history of rally-cap heroics including the cardiac comeback Citrus Bowl two years ago and Ian did play off-n-on for the oft’ injured old Qb1 Wimbush prior to that. Ian was the no. 39-ranked quarterback by Scout outta high school and was ranked higher than that in pure scholastic pocket-Qb terms. With: 7,632 passing yards, 78 TD passes, 64.6% passing in high school. As this kid is not a dual-threat basketball on grass modern era spread-set Qb by trade or by high school formatting. Although he does have a rather crafty looking bicentennial (2o1) yards rushing thus far. Ian is, however, a gifted rhythm and timing thrower; something of a Marvin Garden’s Michael Brewer if you will with zippy short to medium throws. Although Book only yokes a 76mm Sherman Tank sized main-gun (i.e. his deep arm is a few bricks shy of a load). Making the likable tho’ often dinged-up Ian something of a D-1 Pivotal overachiever if you will. Who is not real far removed from entering slump-busting terms (or he is playing with an undisclosed-hurt)— what with a completion percentage that has plummeted nearly ~10% since we saw him last. And don’t forget… Book was pulled in favor of backup Qb2 Phil Jurkovec during the fourth quarter last week @Michigan. Unsurprisingly… not a Penthouse or full-frontal passer due to smaller stature. And Although Book is nearly +40 Qb rating points to the better @Home, he is also being sacked 400% less in October than in September. So his monthly metrics are up, right? ‘rong! As Book is actually down 15-points of Qb rating despite vastly superior passing-cup protection as his downfield catch-points have truncated by nearly 2-yards/snag. As there is something irregular to the point of being downright off/outta-sync about that. oLine: Te Cole Kmet (good dang pass catcher, 2nd on 23 grabs for 290-yards and four scores), Ot Liam Eichenberg, G Aaron Banks, G Tommy Kraemer, Ot Robert Hainsey DeeDub; “do work” here. Lotta seasoning lives upfront folks (as five linemen with a combined 60 career oLine starts are back). Four 2018 starters return (sans their ’18 starting C is all). Reasonable size, tho’ more built to move as opposed to maul. (UPDATE: whispers hint the starting right-Ot (Tom.Kraemer, M.c.l. sprain; may St.Nikhon bless) be done for a while). Oline blocks downhill or collapses well enough, does not move as well pulling/kicking-out outside the Ot-box despite (seemingly) being right-sized for it. As this Irish front-5 lumbers a bit at times getting to the seal/fold point. Wr’s: Chase Claypool (ankle ding; may St.Phillp bless); is the alpha catcher here, although #88 Javon McKinley is a crazy HR threat power-hitter with 24 ypr and a 40% chance to score when 8’s touches the rock. As do recall that Kelly-Green style catch-crews are known for their receptive efficiency. As a staggering eleven guys are averaging ≥10.0 ypc. As there are numerous **** (4-star) guys in the Wr’ing crops here no matter where you look. Very deep Wideout spot at the moment. Yet not real sizey sans the big ole Chase Claypool (6′4″, 233 lbs.). And yet Chase plus the Te is plenty mismatch sizey enough… DAX and Ashby pay attention stat; or have more than mere passing attention paid to you.
• ∑ (summary): returning O production=57%. Interesting numbers considering that N.Dame just departed nearly 2K worth of alpha Wr and alpha Rb total yards combined from 2018. The Irish only have one carry north of 43-yards this season as this is a ground-gaining although not a slashing or electrifying rushing assault. On the other hand(s)… the N.Dame catching-crew has a stunning nine different snags north of 28-yards already with five of ’em going gangbusters for fiddy-two (52) or more. So that put the pre-season phobia(s) of lack of big-plays N-S through the airwaves to rest on the A.S.A.P. film study: lotta 10-personnel spread/Gun looks here with one quasi hybrid-back or just pure 4-wide at times. N.Dame uses almost a retro half-back who tends to split odd or left side more often than not (the ball placement short/wide notwithstanding). Book will play-action to this Hb or just work short to the medium quick Left-Coast type sets with one longer stretch guy. And they will use their one big/good Te (Cole Kmet) on linear go make a play jump-balls along the sideline. Book also squirts free from time-to-time and is not half-bad as a runner at all for the first 10-15 yards upfield despite lacking redline R.P.M. jets. He moves/sees things well and gets to the yardage marker accordingly. (notice: he does not tuck the ball properly, nearly always an orthodox or right-hand carrier even when moving left). O has some nearly horizontal Utah-pass or jet-option type looks to it and with one Te split wide and their one bigger Wideout they have enough size to make this run-shape fit. There are also legit old-school End-Around reverses and misdirection’s snuck in here and there. Plus, virtual shovel-passes to a crossing Wr in front of the Qb. Gonna take a slickster ball-handling Scout Team Qb to simulate all of this for Bud Lyte. Tho’ you can key Qb1 (Book) and Rb1 (Jones) on any run-situational-fit. As not much in the way of actual ball-carrying variety goes ground-troops for the F’n Irish.
• 54% run:pass 46% mix. Wr, Javon McKinley is your secret sauce offender here— as he can, will, and has broken-games and fields wide-open. Eight N.Dame offenders have started all eight games this season. The Irish want to play with both tempo (25th in adjusted pace) and physicality, yet they didn’t have a ton of the latter and had to rely on Book to bail them out on third-and-medium all last year. Looks similar in 2019 to me, although Book has dipped a bit and N.Dame is possibly less physical than they were last year to boot. Now mix in a flurry of catch-crew drops and whispers that Book is not working through his progressions and well there you downward offensively go. A possession-based adversarially efficacious look if you will.

Offensive letter-grade:

Irish Special Teams: (zero return)

Notre Dame is 41st in Net Punting and so is rookie year Jay Bramblett. Jay is a 6′1″, 188 lb. Tuscaloosa escapee. As Jay was merely the no.2 ranked Punter in the nation (Scout). That’s all… and he was not ranked less than the #5 Punter in America by anyone. Making Jay a rarified legit Top-5 consensus punting specialist pick. And although Jay only tallied a career-long of 59-yards in-game in high school he also went for 178 of 260 passes completed; good for 2,341 passing yards and 18 TDs as a senior year Qb1. So, you have to know there are some Oct.31st tricks in the treet-bag here.

• N.Dame is 85th in Punt Returns | 81st in KO returns.
• N.Dame is 26th in punt coverage | 18th and in suicide-squad
• N.Dame has blocked 2 kicks and allowed 0 kicks to be blocked.
• N.Dame has blocked 1 punt and allowed 0 punts to be blocked.

Jonathan Doerer is a 6′3″, 203 lb. junior year place-kicker and 92% touchback KO-specialist from Ric Flair country or Charlotte, Nc. So you know leg-strength is not lacking here, nor is accuracy at a nifty looking 86% thus far with no P.A.T. misses as well. Doerer only has one make at any level >44-yards (52 yards this season). So his accuracy does wain a bit beyond a mid-40’s spot. Jon’ was, however, the 6th ranked Kicker in scholastic terms (Scout) and a consensus Top-20 kicking prospect coming outta high school nationally. To take that a step(s) further… although N.Dame has not turned to Doerer all that often, he has only tallied one collegiate miss his entire kicking career (88%). Not half bad for a kid with a very leggy rep’ that seemed to want for guidance software coming into 2019.

p.s. a word to the coach Shibest wise… N.Dame has been onsides vulnerable under Kelly.

Special Teams letter-grade: N.Dame is ranked an impressive 26th in S&P+ Special Teams for 2019. Punting is good and Place-Kicking is even better. Only the return teams seem to
lack punch. Accordingly, I’ll go good for a steady looking B++ here.

Unit Rankings:

1. N.Dame D. (D is 91% upperclassmen, 39 seasons combined!)
2. N.Dame O. (O is 81% upperclassmen, 39 seasons combined!)
3. VT D/VT O. (tie)
4. (not a ton of vertical separation here, however)

X-factor(s):

• motive: Hard to tell where N.Dame is post-Michigan, as they Irish could be going Red Dawn and playing the “Wolverines”, twice. V.Tech would love a win— no doubt. EDGE=VeeTee.
• weather: generally I’d say really cold yet (still) liquid conditions favor the home team with the better frontlines and groundskeeping. Here? Well here N.Dame appears a little physically shy and Q himself makes this one at least a tie; (tho’ I’ma tempted to say: “VeeTee”). EDGE=push.
• health/off-field: N.Dame left Michigan battered in more ways than one. However, VeeTee was even more beat-up prior to BYE. Overall this is very close to a push on paper. EDGE=quantum VeeTee.
• penalties: In the realm Ripley’s believe it or not, N.Dame is actually 48-spots worse than VT in yellow-laundry | and yet just 18″ worse in yellow-yardage! Go fig’ on this? As the Irish don’t rack up many “tweeting” majors (personal fouls/etc.); although they do have a buncha jittery 5-yard variety type fouls. EDGE=VeeTee very small.
• intangibles: N.Dame is only, 110, that’s one-hundred-ten spots better at pigskin integrity (Turnover Margin). And in Points Off Turnovers per a whooping 70-16 EDGE=Irish (huge).
• fatigue: N.Dame did BYE one two weeks ago and won’t be severely worn-down here. Although @BIG-Blue last weekend prolly did take a little sompthin’-sompthin’ outta them as that used to be the pinnacle physical contest of the year decades ago. That plus VT has +13 days’ worth of fresh legs for Saturday. EDGE=VT more than a little.

Illation, conclusion(s) and OPT digits:

Number of who Irish could I.R.A. @V.P.I.=14

the takeaway:

The takeaway here is… Notre Dame mounted an impressive run in 2018, with the Fighting Irish posting an undefeated regular season for the second time in nine years under Kelly. Six of the 12 wins were by 10 or fewer points, with four of those victories coming at Notre Dame Stadium courtesy of six N.f.l. draftees who are now all gone.

Or in other words, “aye”; the Irish are a good squad who went Gestalt Theory off last year and uber theorized in close contests @home. This is a real live homecourt advantage men, one of the more severe ones Fu’ and Staff will see in +/- a handful of seasons.

And yet Notre Dame hasn’t put together three consecutive double-digit win seasons since 1991-93 under Lou Holtz. Meaning: this is a very good football squad that typically comes up 1 break or one baller short of being, great.

permutations:

1. Δ1=70% that N.Dame is just plain better. And as you can see above, they are older/more experienced better to boot. That, on a very tough road, with one or maybe even two youngling VT Qb1(s) could be code for: “Hello South Bend we have a problem.”
2. Δ2=15% that neither team is as good as advertised. And you get a game that is not real easy on the eyes. 23-10. 20-9. Or a very lackluster ho-hum refugee baseball kinda day that trends in reverse before eventually moving on. Plus the weather could shorten this game via encouraging rushing while discouraging passing.
3. Δ3=15% that VeeTee is checking N.Dame’s chin at the right time. Fu’ in particular seems to get himself up a good deal for bigger names as well.

the optics…

Forum Guide: sadly, our reflexive round-robin friend the Fourm Guide of Graham Houston fame is not open due to lack of common opponent(s) this week.

Splits:

One of the overall trends I found here was… N.Dame has ever been nearly equalized in-game in total yards, or A+++ or F—. Not much of anything D letter-grade or B letter-grade lives here. A very strange trimodal subset of data points if you will. Like a camel with a hunchback, or three, humps. Making N.Dame really really good, really really poor or really really; average.

Overall: N.Dame outrushes V.Tech by a full yard per carry although total rushing was only separated by 12′ per game. On the aerial side, N.Dame out-passes V.Tech by about 20-yards per contest even if V.Tech out catches N.Dame by a half-yard per grab. On the other side of the ball, N.Dame is about ~40-yards per game thriftier on D in total. However, the Irish are less strict on the ground allowing 30 more yards per game whereas V.Tech allows a whopping ~70 more yards per contest through the airwaves.

 

In their last 3-contests… the Irish O is pretty close to the same; although running more and passing less of late. The Hokie O, however, is rushing nearly +40 yards per game better and is actually just slightly improved on passing. On the other side, N.Dame’s D is within 9′ of being the same overall even if their rush-D is now looking at least pretty user-friendly at 198 yards per game of rushing allowed. The Hokie Bud Lyte halt-unit has oh-so-quietly loosed up by nearly 99 more yards per game allowed of Total D. Per a modest tightening vs. the run and a nearly caving approach vs. the air. (–122 ypg aerially worse here if you are keeping score at home)

• The Fighting Irish have held 21 of there last 22 opponents to 30 or fewer points. i.e. 4-full scores are typically enough for N.Dame to win.
• N.Dame is 100% at home this campaign (4-zip). VT is .5oo (1-1) on the road.
• Notre Dame has won 15 consecutive games at home dating to Sept. 30, 2017. It is the third-longest such streak since Notre Dame Stadium opened in 1930 A.D.
• “Are we going to get to Virginia Tech?” Kelly asked. “That game is past us. This will be the last question on Michigan.” –a big-whistle feeling some 4th-estate pressure insert (____) here; check!
• (compliments @89HOKIE) VT has yet to hold a P5 team under their scoring average this year.
• However, VT has actually been outgained overall on the year despite facing TWO D-1aa opponents already.

N.Dame Projected S&P+: 12th.
Irish Projected S&P wins: 9.o W’s.

the skinny…

I did not like how this Lo.FM (Long-field Management©) contest shapes up vs. the F’n Irish halt-unit out on the road. Thingy is their possession-based 1st-down O plays outta a hole more often than not. Or in other words, whoever wets the bed the least when chasing the chain-gang will be at great advantage here. Who that will be you ask? Well, that… depends.

Because N.Dame is pretty sharp at disallowing opposing penetrating TFL and Qb-sacks on O. And even better at that in inflicting TFL and Qb-sacks. Generally, this affords them a sharp-looking TTT (Time To Throw©) advantage. And as we all know by now… when taken in tandem? These two in-game barometers are highly pressurized and therefore very tough to beat.

the call…

In quarter-bounce terms, N.Dame has won every quarter not named the 4th-Q by at least a 2:1 scoring ratio to the good. The 9th inning or the 4Q you ask?

N.Dame has won by, one that’s (1) point. This does not suggest conditioning or mental toughness when you generally have a noticeable or massive recruiting/talent edge in your favor.

Or in other words, Fu’ and Co. just need to hang around and maintain contact in this one. Let pressure burst Irish pipes and try to steal this one vs. a possibly wilting or fading N.Dame, late. As guess whose Q-score is ranked 20th best in oLine power-rate this season? (compared that to the Irish dLine’s power-rate above at thy leisure).

---

Nevertheless, do caveat bear in mind… that in our recent mini-me baby-bull 3-zip market? We have faced one overmatched D-1aa team we beat by 2:1 or 34:17. We also beat a very talented coastal team by holding on late and then we barely nicked a reborn U.n.c. team in the 6th OT at home.

And the one thing those two teams that are pretty good had in common you ask? They both allowed a metric ton of sacks and TFL (tackles for a loss) when on O. Whereas N.Dame is 38th and 34th allowed respectively… you do the maths.

–oOo–

Although I am also wondering if VeeTee is catching ND at just the right time as two emotional ships passing in the night? Is this a karst topography type of game for the applied-sports psych phrenologist in us all?

"INCREASED" >>> (credibly) >>> "improved"

In closing… I do feel like our culture has grown or: “increased”. I am, however, still waiting on more objectivity regarding if it has actually: “improved” (post Qb1 swapping I mean). Acceptance and therefore commitment towards this new Qb1(s) has indeed escalated. And so has team-wide efforting, as no doubt this is an encouraging thing…

Mutually, the composite opposing talent matrix will now also escalate. An escalating talent matrix that we must now visit and face as nearly 18-point road underdogs 549-miles west-nor-west over in South Bend. Are we now cleansed cultural lepers or was U.n.c. a clinical con?

Or in other words… I do feel culturally better, I do not feel culturally the same, and certainly, I do not feel culturally worse… I’ma just not sure if I officially feel cultural: ‘great’? 

Do you?

Because when I look back, I’m semi split between: …Easter-eggs or cheat-codes?

What did we R.A.T.T. sixth overtime find?
💯

upset Index=33.33%

#wimps!

Virginia Tech=23, Notre Dame=27

“LETS GO!“

“HOKIES!“

bourbonstreet**