Notre Dame Fighting Irish defensive coordinator Al Golden won this year’s Broyles Award, given annually to the top assistant coach in the country. In a hilarious turn of events, he actually used his acceptance speech to throw some clear shade at ESPN analyst Desmond Howard.
Behind Golden’s elite defense, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish had a spectacular season, winning 14 games to clinch a spot in the College Football Playoff national championship game. However, there was one ESPN analyst who doubted them many times along the way.
As Golden pointed out during his acceptance speech on Thursday night, Desmond Howard picked against Notre Dame six times throughout the season, during which they won 14 games.
“And Des, thank you for picking against us six times this year. We won 14 games and he picked against us six times. It’s unbelievable,” Golden said with a laugh.
It’s worth noting that Howard – who is a graduate of the University of Michigan – actually picked Notre Dame to beat the Ohio State Buckeyes in the national title game last month. However, Ohio State obviously came out on top, beating Notre Dame by a final score of 34-23.
Based on his record when picking Notre Dame games, it sounds like Golden and the Fighting Irish would have much preferred Howard pick Ohio State in that game.
Notre Dame lost two games all season, the aforementioned loss to the Buckeyes in the national title game and an upset loss to Northern Illinois earlier in the season. Howard did not pick Notre Dame to lose either of those games, so he was wrong every single time he predicted Notre Dame to lose.
Clearly, Golden and the Fighting Irish took notice.
