Archive

By Jeffery Green | @Jeffery_AGreen Sports Capital Journalism Program ATLANTA – There was frustration throughout the dressing room. There was anger and sadness in their eyes. For the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame, there had been a month with an unprecedented series of celebrations from their campus to the Sugar Bowl to the Orange Bowl. …

By Cort Street | @cort_street Sports Capital Journalism Program ATLANTA – All they needed was a chance. That was the message a decade ago, when, in the inaugural College Football Playoff, Ohio State battled through a devastating early-season loss and numerous injuries to key players but managed to capture the final seed of the expanded …

By Rob Hunt ARLINGTON, Texas – The new hats they wore said UNDISPUTED NATIONAL CHAMPIONS. The Ohio State Buckeyes, at the end of the first College Football Playoff, added another word Monday night. They earned perhaps the most improbable national championship in the history of the game with a resounding 42-20 victory over the second-ranked …

The Buckeyes enter Monday night’s national championship affair on a six-game winning streak over the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, with Notre Dame’s last win in the series coming all the way back in 1936. Ohio State will be seeking its first national title in ten years, while a nearly unfathomable 36 years have passed since …

By Jeffery Green | @Jeffery_AGreen Sports Capital Journalism Program ATLANTA – On the evening of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, not far from the Center that bears his name and Ebenezer Baptist Church where his national reputation grew, the University of Notre Dame played a football game that could make Marcus Freeman the first Black …

By Jeffery Green | @Jeffery_Agreen Sports Capital Journalism Program ATLANTA – They were roommates once, multiple colleges and years ago, at a time when their dreams exceeded their credentials. Will Howard and Riley Leonard were paired at the Manning Passing Academy in 2023 and 2024, a connection between young quarterbacks formed a friendship that will …

By Cort Street | @cort_street Sports Capital Journalism ATLANTA – The clash of competing shoulder pads striking with more velocity than at any other point in the season. The whisk of two ill-fated field goal kicks, one hooking beyond the reach of the left goal post, the other fading outside the right. The cry of …

By Cort Street | @cort_street Sports Capital Journalism Program ATLANTA – As Curt Cignetti took the podium to give his opening remarks as the honoree at the Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year Award presentation, he paused, taking a moment to think reflectively at the side of the bust of Robinson, a coach he had …

I was scrolling on X before kickoff of the Capital One Orange Bowl between Notre Dame and Penn State when I keyed in on a post. A sports betting account reported “breaking news” that Penn State was now favored by a point, a flip after Notre Dame had been favored by the same number all …

By Jeffery Green | @Jeffery_Agreen Sports Capital Journalism Program ATLANTA – Near the start of Notre Dame’s Media Day appearance at the Georgia World Congress Center, a crowd was gathering in front of Jack Kiser’s podium. Not all of the listeners were members of the media. Defensive teammates swarmed around Kiser, who smiled as they …