Your weekly dose of Notre Dame news, opinion, and other stuff.
Top News
Former Notre Dame offensive lineman Zack Martin was given a 99 rating in the new Madden 24 video game–the first in 20 years to do so at his guard position. Martin is also threatening to hold out with the Cowboys in search of a new deal.
Former Notre Dame corner Isaiah Rutherford is transferring to UMass after 2 seasons with Arizona.
Clark Lea has received a contract extension at Vanderbilt through the 2029 season.
A new bill in the Senate this week proposes national guidelines for NIL, more health care for athletes, long-term guarantee of scholarships, greater financial transparency from schools, and a new rule where athletes can declare for a pro draft but return to college within 7 days after the end of the draft.
Several ex-Northwestern players have hired a prominent civil rights attorney amid the hazing problems that cost Pat Fitzgerald his job last week.
Former Tennessee head coach Jeremy Pruitt has been given a hefty 6-year show-cause penalty from the NCAA. He is appealing the decision.
The state of Michigan is allowing alcohol sales at college sporting events.
College football reporter Ross Dellenger has joined Yahoo Sports.
The SEC coordinator of officials has provided the very important news that the horns down salute will not be penalized when Texas moves to the league in 2024.
The Allstate Crossbar Classic is the new annual matchup that is coming–in 2023 it will be the Alabama vs. Texas matchup.
Uniform of the Week
Is there any hope for Rutgers? If you look at these uniforms below and imagine they were a dominant high school team from Ohio, would the look be considered better and more fresh? We all project winning and losing onto uniforms and Rutgers has been drowning in misery for the majority of their existence. So, to me their uniforms are terrible.
Here’s my thought…Rutgers needs a full re-brand. Drop the Scarlet Knights name and drop the school colors. Change it all. Come back anew with a crazy new nickname and wild colors like anthracite, volt yellow, and light blue. Go wild with something that is unmistakably fresh and new. Even if a lot of people hate the result, it’s better than being Rutgers today.
Recruiting
Safety Malcolm Ziglar (0.9204) has committed to North Carolina.
Tight end Caleb Odom (0.9637) committed to Alabama.
Top wideout Mike Matthews (0.9944) has committed to Tennessee.
Auburn grabbed a commitment from corner Jalyn Crawford (0.9339).
Safety Micahi Danzy (0.9252) has committed to Florida State.
Arkansas got a huge commitment from corner Selman Bridges (0.9602).
Defensive lineman Artavius Jones (0.9320) committed to Miami. The Canes also added athlete Joshisa Trader (0.9866), as well.
Wisconsin added running back Dillin Jones (0.9297).
Wide reciever Keylen Adams (0.9277) committed to Virginia Tech.
Interior offensive lineman Preston Taumua (0.9169) gave a verbal to Nebraska.
Oklahoma added wide receiver Zion Ragins (0.9196) this week.
Georgia lost a commitment from top safety Jaylen Heyward (0.9593).
YouTube Channel
I’ve reached the age where I’m not watching Saturday Night Live anymore. I believe as is tradition in the United States I am legally obligated to comment that SNL was “better back in my day and I’ve heard it’s not that funny anymore” despite not catching any skits. Any of the stuff I do see usually comes across while I’m surfing YouTube for the Rambler. For example, this clip from back in March 2023 titled “NFL Gives Back.”
“Look, I love my little boyfriend” line is so funny. “Sometimes I wanna be with a man who looks like he could throw my ass over a house” was even funnier. Ah, they made fun of blue-light glasses. I picked a pair of those up during the height of the pandemic while working from home and I found that they made my eyes hurt. Blue light glasses are a scam, right?
Tunes
SZA is on fire as an artist right now. She finally scored her first number one single (as a solo act) with “Kill Bill” off her 2nd album SOS that was released back on December 9th of 2022. A bunch of singles preceded the album and they released “Kill Bill” as a single earlier this year to a lot of acclaim. I’m a music nerd but stuff like how the producers constructed the song is fascinating to me, from the Wiki page:
Modulating between the keys of B-flat minor, E-flat major, and A-flat major, “Kill Bill” incorporates prominent, basic eighth notes and is built around a midtempo, groovy rhythm and a detuned melody…Production began when Bisel, in his Los Angeles home’s Ponzu Studio, played some chords on his Prophet-6 synthesizer. With it, he used Ableton to sample the synthesizer’s flute-like sound. Under the working title “Igloo”, “Kill Bill” had roughly three to six different demos from which Bisel and Lang had to pick for SZA. After adding a bassline from an electric guitar tuned down an octave, Bisel was unsure where he wanted the song to go. He sent the Ableton clip to Lang, who gave him the beats in return. For these demos, Lang added more bass, alongside some guitars and a boom bap–style drum machine; they preferred the beat with the most retro, boom bap influences.
The hook in the chorus going D-flat, B-flat, C, D-flat, A-flat, G (“I might kill my ex”) to G, F, E-flat, B-flat, C (“Not the best idea”) reminds of a song that I cannot place. That structure seems so familiar but I haven’t found anything on whether or not the producers lifted that from somewhere or if its a sample. Or, maybe they just used a nifty chord progression for modern R&B?
Trivia
Which opponent in 2015 saw Will Fuller produce his highest single-season receiving yardage of the year?
The Other Football
Mexico won the Gold Cup 1-0 over Panama this past Sunday. It was the 9th title for El Tri.
Bayern Munich beat 9th-tier German team FC Rottach-Egern 27-0 in an exhibition game on Tuesday. Before the match, Bayern announced the signing of defender Kim Min-Jae from Napoli for $55 million.
Leo Messi is training with Inter Miami. He’s expected to make his MLS debut on Friday when the club hosts Charlotte. By the way, these training kits for Inter Miami are terrible.
Don’t forget the USWNT opens up the World Cup this Friday at 9:00 PM ET against Vietnam on Fox. So far, the tournament hosts have won their opening matches as Australia defeated Ireland 1-0 and New Zealand beat Norway 1-0, as well.
The sportwashing continues as Man City will get paid $38.7 million (roughly twice his value) for 32-year old winger Riyad Mahrez to join Saudi Arabian club Al Ahli. Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson is reportedly signing with Al Ettifaq for $15 million.
TV & Movies
I was putting some km’s on my new Schwinn IC3 bike this week and fired up the new Netflix series Quarterback while I was riding. So far, I think the series is terrible. Marcus Mariota is super laid back and seems like a very chill dude but not someone worth investing much time in from a personal perspective. Kirk Cousins actually has received plenty of praise from the show but I cannot in good faith look at him as anything other than a huge dork–and the Michigan State allegiance has never helped.
I have a hard time relating to Patrick Mahomes or enjoying his personality. He’s 27 years old and will turn 28 in September and I think there’s a massive generational gap between me and him. To me, he still seems like a young 20 year-old in the way he moves about the world and interacts with people. And you look at his life with his wife and it all seems very social media-y in a way that isn’t present with the other 2 quarterbacks. To be fair, he’s way more famous than Cousins and Mariota.
A Look Back
As luck would have it another “Greatest” video popped up for me like last week. This time we are looking at Notre Dame’s greatest kick and punt returns. A topic that has always been at the forefront of Fighting Irish history.
2000 Nebraska – Very few players have ever run faster in Notre Dame Stadium than Julius Jones on this kickoff return. He was flying!
2000 Nebraska – Getherall’s short area quickness was unreal.
2009 Pittsburgh – I always smile when I see Golden Tate highlights.
1953 Penn – Not great angles from the Quakers on this return!
2005 USC – A great example of pure will to score by Zbikowski.
1988 Michigan – Ricky Watters, maybe the most underrated great player in Irish history?
1990 Miami – How is this Rocket return only no. 4 in the countdown!
1973 Alabama – Al Hunter looked like a bulkier Rocket out there.
1989 Michigan – They packaged both of Rocket’s return into the no. 2 slot, interesting.
1986 Michigan State – Tim Brown probably wouldn’t have won the Heisman in today’s world, there I said it.
18S Paddock Club
After a week off, Formula 1 is back in the outskirts of Budapest for the Hungary Grand Prix as the European portion of the calendar continues. Last year, Verstappen locked up on his first qualifying run and then had power unit problems on his final run while George Russell grabbed an exciting pole. The Hungaroring has traditionally been a track that is incredibly difficult to overtake although the new regulations worked well here last year and Verstappen was able to cut through the field for a win despite starting P10.
In addition to Russell’s pole last year, both he and Lewis Hamilton filled out the podium places in last year’s race. Perhaps this will be a strong track again for Mercedes.
Round 11 of 22
Hungarian Grand Prix
Date: July 23rd
Race: 9:00 AM ET
Location: Mogyoród, Hungary
Circuit: Hungaroring
Laps: 70
Tire Compounds: C3, C4, C5
Track Evolution: 4 out of 5
Asphalt Abrasion: 2 out of 5
This race will also be the return of Danny Ricciardo who will be driving in the AlphaTauri opposite Yuki Tsunoda. Surely this will be among the week’s most watched battles. The AlphaTauri car is perhaps the worst overall car on the grid so this won’t be an easy situation for Ricciardo to walk into, either. He struggled with the brakes on the McLaren and guess what is the weakest part of the AlphaTauri!??
He’s back!
After a good followed up by a great race, McLaren are now firmly in the spotlight. However, this track is not expected to suit the MCL60 that well with such a reliance on slower corners. Their car was phenomenal in the medium to high speed corners in Silverstone and pretty average to poor in the slower corners.
F1 is also doing an Alternate Tire Allocation weekend and forcing teams to use hard tires during Q1, medium tires during Q2, and soft tires during Q3. This was initially set to debut for the Imola race before the massive floods caused the cancellation back in the spring.
Trivia Answer:
Pittsburgh, 152 yards*
*Eat it, Narduzzi
On the two Rocket returns against Michigan (#2), Rodney Culver deserves a Best Supporting Blocker Award.
I love how old timey announcers call our every 5 yds. In the Al Hunter return the announcers starts at the 15 and calls out every 5 yds, that’s 18 yd line updates! It’s pretty obvious he’s going to score a TD around the 50, but he can’t even mention that because he has to mention each yard line.
Maybe a throw back to radio influences in broadcasting? Almost like they don’t get ahead or analyze what is impending at all and were caught up on calling the details as it happened as if the viewer wasn’t also watching it with their own eyes.
Well anyways here’s our NBC sideline reporter with an interview with an opposing player’s parents during a critical drive right before halftime.
Remember that time we played Rutgers in a bowl game?
…that’s all I got
New York’s biggest bowl game
That was actually a fun day of bowl games. ND won, Miami got absolutely creamed, and then Michigan lost the Chicken Wings Bowl to Kansas State
I was at that game with my then-freshman brother! We took the Megabus from Philly and did a few touristy things beforehand. It was fun! Only bowl game I’ve been to.
The perfect summation of that season. The Tommy Rees offense couldn’t score and kept having to settle for field goals, Rutgers was never a threat to win the game because the defense just sat on them, and an offensive lineman gets the game MVP award. So glad that electricity was the follow up attempt to capitalize on an undefeated regular season.
ok yes but beating southern cal by just farting on their head for an entire half was hilarious
My always #1: Remember the six that wasn’t
https://125.nd.edu/moments/rockets-return-that-wasnt-1991-orange-bowl/
Otherwise Rocket in the Miami game for big stage and importance to the game. Every point mattered.
And Zibby for the best mix of toughness, speed and angles.
Except of course the Rocket return that wasn’t was actually a better mix of toughness and speed, and the impact would have arguably been as big as the Miami return since the natty was actually on the line right there for Colorado and maybe for a share of the title for ND.
Thanks Eric, for this and thanks all for the comments. I was at half of these, including J Lattner when I was 6, which I just remember how cold it was and how much fun to cheer and get warm. The Sugar Bowl vs Bama, my dad was therewith me, his birthday was New Year’s Eve, and when Hunter ran this back he shouted, “Bourbon all night on Bourbon Street” or words to that effect. (which we did do.) Rocket vs Miami, you all notice that little slip at the beginning? Right in front of me and I thought he was going down, but in fact it kind of set up him getting through the first wave of would be tacklers. Highly sweet to beat the Convicts and d__n Jimmy Johnson, he was super upset, I remember seeing him throw something.
Amen on Zibby being tough — as nails.
All in all, a great stroll down memory lane.
Let’s hope one of our frosh flashes can pull one out this year!
My day job is actually as an optometrist. Gotta make those $$$ to pay for my premium 18S subscription…
I’d say blue light glasses aren’t a scam, but I think they are overhyped. I don’t buy that the visible blue light that they block causes any significant health problems. A decent pair of glasses is already blocking actual UV radiation, which is more damaging since it’s higher energy. And I haven’t done the math, but I’m guessing 5 minutes of touching grass in actual daylight puts a lot more blue light energy into your eyeballs than staring at a screen all day.
For eyestrain, it’s hit or miss. Some people love them, most people don’t notice a big difference, a few people hate the color shift. I think they’re worth trying if you have a computer intense job.
As far as helping circadian rhythm by dampening blue light exposure at night, it’s a lot simpler to just put your phone down and hour before bed.
Until Rutgers changes their name to The University of New Jersey, they are doomed.
-With the Big changing to nine conference games and eliminating a buy-in win, it will be worth watching to see if it impacts the number of teams that go to bowls.
-Oliver Miles, S, committed to Texas Tech in case that has previously has not been noted
–Northwestern’s baseball coach was also fired by the new AD, Derrick Gragg, for a reportedly “abusive ” environment. An investigation was completed back in February into complaints but nothing was done under the prior AD. Their Hitting Coach, Pitching Coach and Director of Operations have quit.
-Nigel Glover, S, and one of NW’s top commits in 2023 has entered the Transfer Portal
-After Rocket’s first return for a TD, Bo refused to change their coverage, which may well have contributed to Rocket’s second. This was Bo’s third loss in a row to ND and he lost the next year to the Irish. In another era, Berman would have said “He…could…go…all… the..way.” Ninety thousand plus fans went silent.
–Oregon again has recruited some of the top players (five of the top 41) in California and Stanford has gained three commitments in California’s top 33 players (Rivals rankings)
-I’ve enjoyed watching Netflix’s “Quarterback” and am up to the Playoff episode. The three QBs are all different personalities and with different storylines personally and team-wise. The hits they take game after game, their competitive natures, the insight into their families, the impact on their families and community involvement and the ups-and-downs for each during the season. I’m sure the Playoff episode has Mahomes pulled from the game for his ankle injury and returning, Cousin’s first round loss and Mariota leaving the team when he was pulled for Ridder and end up getting knee surgery near the end of his one year contract. He’s now backup with the Eagles. (Book is fourth string to Tanner McKee at the moment)
I remember when Mahomes suffered a dislocated knee, which was put back in place on the field. As an aside, in addition to he and his wife investing in KC sports teams – Royals, KC Current (women’s soccer), and Sporting KC (men’s soccer) the 15 and the Mahomies Foundation has provided 136k meals and over $2.5 million in charitable grants to 101 organizations in just two years.One example (link)