Notre Dame Football ranks #4 in worth, according to the Wall Street Journal.

How Much Is Your Alma Mater's College Football Team Worth? - WSJ.com via kwout

Do you have any idea how much ND would be worth if they had a competent coaching staff for the last 16 years?

Tyler Eifert has finally made his decision. The All-American tight end will retun to Notre Dame for his senior season in 2012.

Tyler Eifert will return to Notre Dame for his senior season, father Greg Eifert tells Irish Illustrated.

— Irish Illustrated (@NDatRivals) January 6, 2012

While this news is fantastic for Notre Dame, it wasn't nearly as breathtaking as the Manti Te'o decision. Most "kind of knew" that Eifert would come back, but the delay was interesting. Tyler really took the whole process and digested it to make the best possible decision for himself.

Fantastic news. Now... who is going to throw him the ball?

It's never too early (post bowl game of course) to start thinking about what jersey numbers will be available and worn for the Notre Dame players in 2012. Here is a list of what numbers I think will be available come spring and fall. I'm not going to speculate on transfers, but I will on other situations. These numbers are not "owned" as of yet:

• 1-3
• 10 & 15
• 22, 25, & 29
• 32 & 36-39
• 42, 45-47, & 49
• 50 & 54
• 61-63 & 67-68
• 71, 73, 75-76, & 78
• 81 & 83-86
• 90-95, 97, & 99

A lot of drama goes on behind the scenes with all of this, and Tom Bergeron's article from the Army All-American game had me thinking...

Here's the link again about some of the U.S. Army All American digit divas. Sorry if the first one was problematic. bit.ly/s85ReG

— Charles Robinson (@CharlesRobinson) January 3, 2012

Here are some notes on what to expect possibly:

Things are heating up in college football. No, it has nothing to do with the bowl games, but rather the players who are not involved in them. I'm talking about recruiting. National signing day is less than a month away, and of course the freakiness is closing in.

One recruitment that Irish fans may not have to wait that long to find out about is Arik Armstead:

Arik Armstead is back on track to enroll early and has a top five of ND, Oregon, Cal, Auburn & Texas.

— Irish Sports Daily (@ISDUpdate) January 3, 2012

Arik also has a desire to play basketball in college. Mike Brey has already visited Arik, and it would appear very likely that if he came to ND, he will be a 2 sport athlete. Brey has really impressed Arik.

Ok, none of that is too surprising. Notre Dame is in the running for one of the top recruits in the country who was once a USC commit and now wants to enroll early and play basketball. It's a lot of details- but nothing too surprising.

Until this:

Interesting deal involving USC DL Armond Armstead. Now considering ND, AUB or ARK, & couple play in 2012: bit.ly/znPHUg

— Bruce Feldman (@BFeldmanCBS) January 4, 2012

Armond Armstead, a current USC Trojan (sort of speak) has Notre Dame in his finalists to transfer to for the 2012 season. He just so happens to be the brother of Arik Armstead. Armond has said, that he will "always be a Trojan for life."

Are y'all cool with this? This isn't an official "package deal," but unofficially you know it is. Would you be cool with Notre Dame taking a transfer from Southern Cal to help gain the commitment of one of the top players in the country?

You should already know my answer by now. ABSOFUCKINLUTELY. We should know exactly what will happen in less than 2 weeks. 

TROLL ON!!!! 

Welcome to Twittermania! This is the place where you will find the best #NDFB tweets (and just about anything else of the awesome nature) on the @TheSubwayDomer Twitter timeline. There is now a running total, a scoresheet if you will, that is located in the menu bar above, or by following THIS LINK.

It's a great way to hand out the ultimate prize of GLORY, and it will also keep all the guys at HLS on their toes.  

This week, sucking up has it's merits, bowl game banter, doubling up, and loud noises. And remember, I don't do very well with rules. There may be more than 5 this week...

Let's jump to the Top 5:

#NotreDame @CoachBrianKelly has made some changes to his coaching staff. For a full release check out und.com/sports/m-footb…

— Brian Hardin (@bhardin2) January 2, 2012

Among the shakeups was the expected promotion of Chuck Martin to offensive coordinator. Bob Diaco adds the title of Assistant Head Coach, Kerry Cooks adds Co-Defensive Coordinator to title, and Scott Booker was named as a fulltime assistant, as he rises from the intern ranks.

Also as expected, Notre Dame announced the departure of Tim Hinton (Ohio State). What was not expected, was the departure of Ed Warriner. There is no word yet on any additions to the staff, outside of Booker, and the rest of the staff was given contract extensions.

National Signing Day is a month away.... no comments

Welcome to Bagpipe Monday on Subway Domer. Friends, I have no intentions of writing up a "post game" article or a Hangover post for our latest defeat. It was, what it was. To be honest, I just had one of the busiest and most stressful 3 weeks since my son was born at the end of May. If there was any free time to be had, I was usually ass deep on the couch, or playing with my kids.

I did the Clark Griswald Christmas, and hosted two different events at my home. It was pure insanity. On top of it all, I watched the bowl game while there were 5 kids under the age of 2 running in and out of the room; screaming their heads off for various reasons.

Why am I divulging all of this? Well, after 5 years of blogging, I finally feel like I hit a wall. Notre Dame's struggles on the field haven't helped on the motivation department, but really the lack of consistency on my end has more to do with my growth as a person and as a family man. After the complications with my son's birth, I was kind of surprised at how nice it was to take a step back from the constant blogging.

So here's the deal; I'm not shutting the site down. I'm not even announcing a slow-down really. Honestly, I'm just putting this out there in hopes of understanding. After 5 years, I have enough loyal readers and fellow bloggers that I communicate with on almost a daily basis, that I am asking for a little patience as I sort through my plans for the site and how it will evolve. Nothing is for certain- other than the fact that I WILL be getting a piper for Christmas next year.

Don't forget to vote in this weeks poll, and enjoy the pipes!

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Although it has been mighty slow around the site this past week- you didn't think I was just going to trash the last Open Thread of the year, did you? I realize the Anti-Preview was non-exsistent for this game, but I encourage you to check out the Irish Blogger Gathering on Her Loyal Sons. 

So, stop by randomly throughout the day, and stay awhile for the game.

GO IRISH!!! 

With the Fighting Irish set to take on Florida State in the Champs Sports Bowl tomorrow, I started taking a look at the teams stats to see if anything stood out as a key to the game: not surprisingly, it was turnovers. Much as Notre Dame has suffered because of its propensity to turn the ball over, it’s clear the Seminoles have benefited from just the opposite. Breaking things down a little further, it looks like this:
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Welcome to Twittermania! This is the place where you will find the best #NDFB tweets (and just about anything else of the awesome nature) on the @TheSubwayDomer Twitter timeline. There is now a running total, a scoresheet if you will, that is located in the menu bar above, or by following THIS LINK.

It's a great way to hand out the ultimate prize of GLORY, and it will also keep all the guys at HLS on their toes.  

This week, the "field" is a little narrow due to the Blackhole of Yule. It is what it is. 

Let's jump to the Top 5: