A.J. Voelpel: My fourth grade teacher once told me the only way to reach goals is by setting them. Well then after another 4-3 record against the spread-- which raised my season total to 47-29-- I’m making it a point to finish 20 games over .500. I’m two back of that mark and will do everything in my prediction power to hit it.

Coach Brian Kelly of Cincinnati certainly did not rule out a Golden Dome in his future when finally asked about it at a teleconference on Monday.

Sometimes when you get chatting to a person who has emigrated from Ireland, you can catch a glimpse of the country’s own evolution over the last thirty or so years. That’s very much the case with Buncrana, County Donegal man Turlough McConnell, whose writing and music took him first to Dublin and then on to New York.

AJ Voelpel: I had to cool off at some point. Does A-Rod hit a home run every time he’s up? I went 3-4 against the spread last week, bringing my season record to 39-23 (20-7 over the last four weeks). Of course, there was the birdie; predicting Oregon to beat USC by double digits, and the bogey; taking VT to smoke UNC on Thursday night.

The Fighting Irish will look to finally beat an opponent by more than four points, in a home game that’ll be played 1,300 miles away from the Notre Dame campus at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas.

The Irish might be on a bye week, but there is plenty of college football going on this weekend, and AJ Voelpel is back with his picks for the best seven games on the schedule.

AJ Voelpel is back with this week's list of movers and shakers in his top dozen college football teams.

IrishCentral caught up with Notre Dame’s mascot, leprechaun Dan Collins, whose job in the tight 33-30 Fighting Irish win turned out to be a real workout.

IrishCentral's AJ Voelpel with this week's movers and shakers in his top dozen teams in college football.

The New York Jets and New York Giants have said their new stadium at the Meadowlands will be one of the greenest in the country. While they were talking about the environment, an announcement today about the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame makes the new arena even greener. And a bit orange, too.

Former Fighting Irish quarterback Joe Theismann did not mix his words when he told USA Today what was needed from the Notre Dame football team this season. “Ten wins in a minimum,” said the former slinger.

There aren't too many Irish World War II heroes. But in December, a new video game is going to rewrite history.

Notre Dame's Fighting Irish will take on Army's Black Knights at new Yankee Stadium on November 20.

The Fighting Irish are coming to the Bronx. According to IrishCentral sources, the Universiity of Notre Dame is ready to sign a deal to play the U.S. Army Black Knights in 2010 at Yankee Stadium.

Notre Dame’s season this year will depend on how well junior quarterback Jimmy Clausen performs. The California blond QB is bigger, taller, and stronger than his freshman and sophomore years -- but the big questions will be can he have a Heisman type year and live up to the hype that has surrounded him since

Notre Dame holds some Irish surprises. When I was preparing a lecture on Eamon De Valera’s visit to the university during his 1919 American tour, I discovered that on the stop he viewed the Civil War sword of Thomas Francis Meagher. Known as a leader of the failed Young Irelander rising of 1848, Meagher championed a republican movement that sought to free Ireland by any means necessary. Not only does Notre Dame hold Meagher's sword but it also holds a battle flag of the famed Irish Brigade

Give me a “T”. Give me a “W”. Give me an “I”, two “T”s and an “E” and a “R”. What’s that spell? Notre Dame's 21st century way of connecting to fans. Or Twitter. Football fans can now receive breaking news and up-to-the-second updates on their favorite Irish college football team. These Tweets (Twitter messages) are provided by the face of Notre Dame football himself, Charlie Weiss. And he is not taking this new technology lightly. (http://twitter.com/NDHFC)

Notre Dame’s latest Leprechaun is a 20-year-old with a deep knowledge of his own Irish roots and the Irish tradition that permeates throughout his university.

Bryan Fitzgerald looks ahead to this weekend's Final Four games at the Ford Field In Detroit.

Bryan Fitzgerald previews the Sweet 16 round of the NCAA basketball championship tournament.

Everywhere He Wants to Be

by Niall O'Dowd

He travels the globe putting sponsorship deals together and whether it's the soccer World Cup in South Africa or the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs or the Olympics in Beijing, Visa's Michael O'Hara Lynch will be there.

Michael O'Hara Lynch is everywhere you would want to be. As head of Visa event and sponsorship marketing he flies to World Cups, Olympics, Super Bowls and every other major event on the planet.

THIS column usually dishes out the plaudits at Thanksgiving every year. This time, however, I'd like to plant my tongue firmly in my cheek.

Thanksgiving really is my favorite American holiday.

SOUTH BEND, Indiana - Sometimes a place can feel like heaven on Earth. Notre Dame on a cool fall football weekend comes pretty close.

Last weekend the old campus never looked better.

The Maras and the Rooneys

By Tom Deignan

The long and enduring relationship of two Irish-American sporting families.

When the New York football Giants capped a spectacular drive in the final two minutes of Super Bowl XLII, to become underdog winners against Tom Brady and the heavily favored New England Patriots, you have to believe Dan Rooney was among those cheering loudly.

True, Rooney is not affiliated with the Giants organization.

Obama Missing Out on Irish

STRONG words from Irish Echo columnist and famed musician Larry Kirwan last week about the failure of the Obama campaign to reach out to Irish Americans.

Kirwan was voicing what several Irish Americans have been saying privately, that there seems to be almost no effort by the Obama camp to work with Irish Americans on issues of concern.

He has given no indication he will attend the Irish American Presidential Forum organized by John Dearie and, as Kirwan pointed out, passed up several opportunities over the St.