Five Wide Fullbacks returns to the world with questions on Big Ten matchups, air conditioning in football helmets, the first head coach fired this fall, the team to watch early in September, plus an underrated 2024 Irish commit.
1) Hypothetically, let’s say Notre Dame joins the Big Ten in football from 2024 and you can choose 3 programs that will play the Irish every year. Which teams do you choose and why?
We obviously have to keep USC as 1 of the teams, so we’ll pick the Trojans. While choosing the other 2 teams my mind immediately jumped to trying to spread things out geographically. History be damned, I’m not putting Michigan and Michigan State on my list. That would be boring. Since we already have a western team I’m picking one from the east and one from the Midwest:
Penn State: This is a good rivalry for Notre Dame, it’s nice to play in Pennsylvania a lot, and it could help Notre Dame recruiting against the Nittany Lions for the future Nicholas Singleton’s of the world.
Illinois: I was going to pick either Iowa or Minnesota here but the former is too boring and the latter maybe doesn’t generate enough hype for Irish fans. I’m also not looking for a super tough opponent here (Ohio State, for example) and there are a lot of Notre Dame fans with ties to Illinois–plus we really don’t play this school enough.
2) Who is the most underrated of the current 2024 commits for Notre Dame?
I mentioned in both wide receivers Micah Gilbert and Isiah Canion’s commit posts that they have potential to move up the rankings and be cornerstone pieces to this class. They are decently rated right now anyway and might not even qualify for this answer.
I have a feeling the real answer is going to be Cole Mullins.
I hope we see him play more of a pass-rushing Vyper role in his senior season. If he does, I think we could see him really start a great development curve and be viewed as a top pass-rushing prospect in this entire class. If he’s still playing more of a hybrid linebacker role then I doubt he will become a mid-t0-high 4-star recruit or anything close to that, but he could still be underrated either way.
3) Taking a peek at the upcoming college football season, who is your pick for the first Power 5 coach fired?
I thought this was going to be a super easy question and it turns out it’s sneaky difficult. Of course, there may be a firing for cause or something wild like that. But if we’re looking strictly at performance and a coach who has at least been given some time I’ve got 4 options in increasing likelihood:
Jimbo Fisher, Texas A&M – Yes, the buyout would be ludicrous. If my math is correct, and Fisher were to be fired mid-season in October, he’d be owed somewhere in the ballpark of $75 million. I’m not sure even the Aggies are that crazy but their patience could be put to the test.
Justin Wilcox, California – I included Wilcox here because he’s entering year 7 in Berkeley and he’s 8 games under .500 since 2020. But, he also signed a new contract just over a year ago that has him coaching at Cal through the 2027 season.
Neal Brown, WVU – A lot of people liked this hire after Brown went 31-8 in his last 3 years with Troy. Now entering year 5 with the Mountaineers, the football program really seems to have fallen off the map. He’s only 3 games under .500 over the last 2 season which isn’t terrible but there was some buzz that he could be out this past year. His buyout was $20 million last fall and we’ll see how much that drops this year.
He gone?
Jeff Hafley, Boston College – Hafley got a vote of confidence and a new contract after the 2021 season but things were pretty quiet after the 2022 campaign. He’s only won 4 games in the ACC over the last 2 years and even though his contract runs through 2026 I have to assume his buyout is not that large.
4) There are videos showing LSU players trying on air conditioned-filled football helmets. What’s the next great technology revolution in football?
I’d just like to point out that the company supplying this is called TigerAire which is exactly how you’d expect it from a company near LSU. It looks like they are selling individual cooling units for a helmet at $185.00 apiece which doesn’t seem too bad of a price. But I also wonder how reliable they will be in such a violent sport, and also how much heavier it makes the helmet.
I’m not sure if I’d call it a revolution per se, however, I think the next big thing to come Notre Dame’s way is finally figuring out an effective grow lighting system to bring grass back to the football stadium. There was another set of data released by the NFLPA a couple months and it doesn’t look good for turf. Slowly but surely I think we’ll see turf fade away at this level of football and that hit home for me when it was announced the Buffalo Bills will switch to grass after 50+ years of turf once their new stadium opens in 2025.
But, as I remarked last year natural grass for Notre Dame is as much about the indoor practice facility as anything. That’s where the real challenges and technology needs will be in the future.
5) Which college football team are you most interested in seeing early in 2023 based on whether they are ready to take the next step into a top team?
For me, it has to be Florida State. They finished 2022 ranked 27th according to SP+ and that 2023 pre-season projection has them 11th nationally, just a sliver ahead of conference rival Clemson. The Seminoles finished 10-3 last year (winning streaks of 4 and 6 games sandwiching a 3-game losing streak) and are poised to make a lot of noise. They’d be a fun team to play the Irish this year but they aren’t on the schedule until a visit to South Bend in 2024.
We should know real early where they stand, too. Florida State opens up against LSU again* this time in Orlando and their trip to Clemson comes really quickly on September 23rd. We are going to know how things stand at the top of ACC before a program like Michigan has even played some decent varsity programs.
The Noles played Duquesne in week 0 last year but their win over the Tigers in week 1 felt like their real opener.
Brown and Hafley are definitely on my watchlist. I think Jimbo makes it at least through the Alabama game, and I don’t see Cal having any interest in paying a buyout right now (even if it is extremely small). I’m also watching:
-Tom Allen: things have cratered hard, his former QB is now a Heisman favorite at Washington, and they open with a weird schedule (OSU, Indiana State, Louisville, Akron). I could see them getting smoked by OSU and Louisville. Lose one of those other two, and I think IU has to consider moving on.
-Dana Holgorsen: it would be weird to move on from him right at the start of their Big 12 tenure, but if they lose to UTSA to open the season and get smoked by TCU in week 3, could the administration start to panic? Maybe the loser of the WVU/Houston matchup in Week 6 is starting to look for a new coach.
-Pat Fitzgerald: it would seem there’s pretty much no chance they move on from him early, but the school is dead set on becoming more relevant in sports. They’re planning huge investments in athletics in the coming years. I wouldn’t bet much money on more than 1 win in their first 5 games. If they somehow get upset by UTEP in there too, it might make sense to move on, with a chance to play against Howard, Nebraska, and Maryland as the first games for an interim coach.
I aaaalmost put Allen on my list, too. These are his buyout figures that I grabbed from the Indy Star:
Dec. 1, 2022: $25.5 million.
Dec. 1, 2023: $20.8 million.
Dec. 1, 2024: $7.95 million.
Dec. 1, 2025: $5.4 million.
Dec. 1, 2026: $2.75 million
Ha oh. Well unless Mark Cuban gets interested in football, that’s probably too steep.
The Memphis head coach is probably on the hot seat. With Cincy, Houston, and UCF headed to the Big 12 Memphis needs to win the AAC. Anything less than contending for a title in the AAC this year may have him fired.
1) Hypothetically, let’s say Notre Dame joins the Big Ten in football from 2024 and you can choose 3 programs that will play the Irish every year. Which teams do you choose and why?
SC, UCLA, and Northwestern. I have no interest in playing actual B1G teams, so let’s play the California teams and a game that’s convenient for me personally.
3) Taking a peek at the upcoming college football season, who is your pick for the first Power 5 coach fired?
Neal Brown has quietly been very bad at WVU; he’s under .500 over four seasons and has won a single bowl game. Playing Penn State and Pitt OOC won’t help. I’m pretty confident he’ll be the first to go.
Dark Horse Candidate: Mel Tucker’s buyout is colossal, but Sparty has the feeling of a program that’s about to undergo a Johnelle Smith-style meltdown — 4-win season with fights and off-the-field scandals galore. They were pretty close to that last year, and I think it’s going to get worse this year. If he gets blown out by Michigan, I think he might get axed.
Do you work/live close to Northwestern for those sweet, sweet Saturday night Chicago dinners?
I live a few miles south of campus! Just think, we could have an 11:00 a.m. kickoff and be at Gibson’s by 4:00 p.m. for well done steak and ketchup.
My three would be Northwestern, USC, and Rutgers.
Rutgers? Every year? Yuck.
I guess I’ll say it, should be USC, Michigan and Purdue. But I guess luckily it looks like the possibility of needing to join a conference quickly receded as quick as it came about this last time thanks to the 12-team playoff offering considering space to qualify.
Can’t blame you for wanting to relive the majesty of the Pinstripe Bowl.
Northwestern feels like navy 2.0 to me. It’s always been hard for me to get remotely excited about playing them. I like the idea of avoiding traditional big 10 teams though. I’d maybe opt for Nebraska instead. though I see why that might not be the most ideal rivalry. So I guess my picks would be usc ucla and nebraska.
I like where your head’s at with the California schools. ND might even be able to negotiate something where they alternate those being the Thanksgiving weekend road games.
I have no particular care for who the 3rd team would be under this scenario, though I’d certainly prefer it not be Michigan. They’d probably give us MSU or Purdue. I could see ND/Michigan as not annual being mutual; UM could easily say, because they already have MSU and OSU every year, please don’t also give us ND because God forbid we play 3 mostly guaranteed real opponents every year.
Adios, Stanford. UCLA, come on down!
I’d schedule B10 teams who haven’t settled millions of dollars on sexual abuse/rape lawsuits. I’ll have to research that to see who qualifies.
MSU having another season so bad they have to fire Tucker already is my dream. I hate that program with a burning passion, and that would be the funniest thing I can imagine happening in college football this season.
I felt like for a while MSU fans would try to win arguments by just mentioning Tucker was their coach. It never made sense to me.
They all invested in his NFTs and were trying to pump the price!
3) Taking a peek at the upcoming college football season, who is your pick for the first Power 5 coach fired?
Neal Brown’s buyout is $16.7 mill. Wilcox buyout in his extension is $19.5 mill. Jimbo’s buyout is $76 mill. Hafley was extended at the end of the ’21 seaon with very supportive comments from the AD. I would have chosen Tom Allen, Indiana, but his buyout is $20 mill.
How about UCF firing Malzhan for $2 mill and poaching Sean Lewis from Prime Time?
5) Which college football team are you most interested in seeing early in 2023 based on whether they are ready to take the next step into a top team?
Texas.
Otherwise, I’ll lower the bar a bit to being interested in the first month to see whether they are ready to contend –
— Pitt in ACC;
— Cincy in B12;
— North Carolina since they start off with S.Carolina App St, Minn, Pitt;
— Florida w. Utah and Tenn in their first three games
I feel like Dino Babers is one clunker of a season away from being canned. I guess he got lucky that his worst season was COVID year, but they haven’t won 8 games since 2018.
Hafley’s replacement is only 40 miles down I90 from Chestnut Hill. I wonder how much of that scuttlebutt he hears ? He better win Sept.9 or it’ll get deafening.