Your weekly dose of Notre Dame news, opinion, and other stuff.
Top News
Notre Dame linebacker Nolan Ziegler has entered the transfer portal after 2 seasons in South Bend. The portal is now closed (graduates can still transfer at any time until May 1st in order to be eligible for the college football season in August) and will open again from April 16th to April 30th.
Former Clemson and Oregon State quarterback DJ Uiagalelei is transferring to Florida State.
As expected, tight end Brock Bowers is leaving Georgia and entering the NFL Draft.
Washington State quarterback Cam Ward has opted to enter the NFL Draft instead of grad transferring to another school.
Alabama edge rusher Dallas Turner is turning pro.
Eli Drinkwitz has signed a contract extension with Missouri through the 2028 season.
Brian Kelly has cleared out his defensive staff at LSU. Like, all of it.
Gene Chizik has been fired as defensive coordinator at North Carolina.
The Rose Bowl totaled 22.6 million viewers, the most watched non-NFL sporting event since 2018.
Uniform of the Week
I am consistently impressed with Missouri’s uniforms. Why aren’t there more black and yellow college teams? In FBS we have Iowa (boring Steelers knock offs), Appalachian State (very good), and Southern Miss (Adidas has ruined them) and I believe that’s it. My favorite thing about Missouri is that they mix and match colors nearly every game and do so pretty much better than anyone else in the country. Very few of their looks are average. Even when they break out the yellow jerseys it works, and that’s not always easy to do.
In the recent Cotton Bowl against Ohio State the Tigers opted for this all-black design above. Since they are a mini-Oregon in this way, Missouri has two different black jerseys. One set has yellow numbers in white outline with nothing across the chest. The other set above has white numbers with yellow outline and the italicized “Missouri” across the chest. It’s a lot of mean black paired with bright and strong striping. My only real criticism is preferring their Tiger logo on the helmet.
Recruiting
Defensive tackle Dominick McKinley (0.9862) flipped from Texas A&M to LSU.
Safety Braylon Burnside (0.9136) committed to Mississippi State.
The nation’s top 2025 running back Harlem Berry (0.9901) committed to LSU, as well.
YouTube Channel
Have you ever been to Niagara Falls? Outside of attending school from 16 until 23 I’ve spent my life within at least 90 miles of what I’ve always thought was one of the Natural Wonders of the World but apparently it’s not!? Western New York has been robbed. Since I’ve been so close to it for so long it does sometimes register a big yawn. However, the awesomeness of it all is great to take in once and a while. Also, the engineering feats with the electric power around the falls and through the Niagara River is pretty cool, too.
My folks live not too far from the southern start of the Niagara River and in 50,000 years the falls will have eroded all the way back to the 20 miles past their neighborhood and then cease to exist. If you ever look at the river it’s freakishly calm right up until you approach the falls. They divert more than 50% of the water above the falls to the hydroelectrical power plant and I’m not sure if that’s part of the reason? Then, as you get close to the falls all hell breaks lose and the rapids turn hellish. If you’re ever visiting and the Maid of the Mist is too much for you, check out the Whirlpool Jet Rides past the falls–that is an excellent time.
Tunes
The new Bob Marley biopic is coming out on February 14th. I wouldn’t consider myself a big reggae guy by any means but like many Americans I had a phase where I had Marley on a consistent rotation. I used to have the Live! album on CD from his 1975 show in London, plus the studio album Exodus which I think most people would recognize or call his best work in his career. Today’s song “Three Little Birds” comes off that album from the summer of 1977.
It wasn’t until I bought the greatest hits compilation Legend (originally released in 1984) that I truly understood the scope of Bob Marley’s music. Reggae or not, it’s one of the best greatest hits collections you’ll find from the era. According to Wikipedia, “As of 30 December 2023, Legend has spent a total of 814 nonconsecutive weeks on the US Billboard 200 albums chart—the second longest run in the chart’s history.” I did not see that coming! Can you guess the number 1 album on that list? It’s Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon.
Trivia
How many times did Iowa football have back-to-back 300 yard games in total offense over the last 3 seasons?
The Other Football
Liverpool broke the modern-era xG Premier League record for a single game this past Monday against visiting Newcastle. The Reds pumped out 7.27 xG in the 4-2 win besting the previous record set by Man City’s 5.87 xG set in 2019.
As we head to the 1st weekend of 2024, the top of the EPL looks like this:
Liverpool – 45 pts
Aston Villa – 42 pts
Man City – 40 pts
Arsenal – 40 pts
Tottenham – 39 pts
Manchester United forward Jadon Sancho is reportedly heading back to Dortmund on a loan this month.
United States goalkeeper Zack Steffen is headed back to the MLS with the Colorado Rapids on a transfer from Manchester City.
Wayne Rooney has been fired by Birmingham City after losing 9 times in 15 games.
TV & Movies
Like many, I’ve read a million times how Tom Cruise was not big enough to play the role of Reacher in the movie/television series. I question how many people have actually read the original Reacher books, but the point remains. Without lifts, Cruise stands in at 5’7″ and if not for Hollywood trickery would be shorter than most people he’s fighting in the movies. So that’s why more people enjoy the streaming Reacher series with beefy actor Alan Ritchson.
He’s apparently 6’2″ which is still a few inches off canonical Reacher, but Ritchson makes up for it with absolutely massive muscles. Which brings up the opposite problem of Tom Cruise (and kind of why I like the movies) in that who the hell is messing with Ritchson when he looks like he could pretty much kill anyone with his hands? And yet, a lot of the series has him facing off against very normal humans. They try to make up with it with Reacher squaring off against multiple people at once, but still.
A Look Back
Brandon Aubrey for NFL MVP? Maybe not, but if he continues on his current trajectory and the Cowboys could maybe overachieve in the playoffs for once this could be a Disney movie waiting to be happen. From 2013-16, Aubrey was a defender on the Notre Dame soccer team, had a cup of coffee in pro soccer for a couple years, then went to work as a software engineer. One day, he decided to train as a football placekicker, signed with the USFL Birmingham Stallions, and made 32 out of his 37 field goal attempts in the regular season and 5 out of 7 in the playoffs.
This past summer, he signed with the Cowboys and…he hasn’t missed a field goal yet in 2023 (35 for 35). Right now, he’s 1 of 7 kickers to have a 100% success rate through 16 games and with the expanded schedule he’s looking to become the 1st kicker to be perfect in a 17-game season. Heading into this weekend’s action, only Mike Vanderjagt for the Colts in 2003 has made more field goals (37) in a season without missing. Aubrey has missed 3 PAT’s so far, though. But, he’s 9 for 9 on field goals over 50 yards which is crazy.
18S Paddock Club
Reviewing the 2023 season for each team on the F1 grid…
Haas
Place: 10th/10
Points: 12
Niko Hulkenberg: 9 points
Kevin Magnussen: 3 points
I struggle with this “American” team on the grid because Haas seem so content to be uncompetitive and their Frankenstein team setup with staff in North Carolina, Italy, and England while being tied to the Ferrari power unit isn’t yielding results, nor offer hope for the future. Haas are just there participating. Plus, Gene Haas refuses to sell the team to someone like Michael Andretti who is willing to sink hundreds of millions to get into Formula One and try to win.
2022 had some bright spots for sure, and 37 points felt awesome for the team. Slumping back to last place and only 12 points in 2023 was a disaster.
I’m not sure where the answers lie or what’s to look forward to in 2024. Their relationship with Ferrari brought them good results in the new 2022 regulations but the further away from their initial look-alike car they became to Ferrari the less competitive they’ve been. Plus, their tires continue to burn up during races worse than anyone else on the grid.
Team principal Guenther Steiner has made it clear he isn’t interested in young drivers anymore. Niko Hulkenberg will turn 37 this year and Kevin Magnussen is no young pup while turning 32 in 2024, as well. It was a really tough year for the latter who was beaten pretty badly in qualifying by his new teammate and you wonder what the future holds.
If I had to guess, Haas will stay put until the new regulations in 2026. Both of their drivers are out of contract after 2024 and there’s no way they’re ditching both of them. It’s possible another veteran comes on the market, or they take a promising F2 talent, but we’ll see.
Trivia Answer:
Zero
Counterpoint: All black and gold uni’s suck. And Mizzou’s field is an abomination, especially the dumbass yard numbers.
LMFTFY- “All maize and blue uni’s suck”.
Faurot Field is elite, visually.
I 100% agree, on the really bad side of elite
It’s OK but not great in person. Weirdly, the open end faces a parking garage and hospital, whereas if they faced it the other way, it would have a nice view of the woods and hills around Columbia.
As for Mizzou’s uniforms, they’ve managed to make them also OK, which is progress. The uniforms circa 2013-2014 were hideous.
Easiest trivia question yet. Here are some more Iowa trivia questions, but just 2023.
Did Iowa have more games over 300 yds or under 100 yds of total offense?
ND averaged 21 first downs per game. How many games did Iowa have more?
Did Iowa have more games OVER 150 pass yds or UNDER 10 completions?
How many games did Iowa have the same number of turn overs as first downs?
How many times, during their 10 win season, did Iowa have more total offense than their opponent?
In case anyone is wondering, or even reading these comments at this point.
The horror, the horror
There is an alternate universe (a highly speculative one) where Aubrey played football at Notre Dame and the 2014 Florida State and 2015 Clemson games have different outcomes because he theoretically hits 50+ yard field goals
*through gritted teeth* it’s just so great to see former Irish players succeed on the Cowboys
BK truly living the full LSU experience this week, firing his entire defensive staff and paying out record assistant coach buyouts while getting a 5-star to commit.
He’s replacing two coordinators and a Heisman-winning QB all at the same time. That must be fun.
BTW, Kelly’s record at LSU is one game better than Freeman’s, and Freeman’s recruiting class is one spot better than Kelly’s.
Something something Tesla southern gumbo alignment something.
But he had to replace all these players and rebuild from Ogeron (just ignore the five stars that stayed and all the receiver talent)!
After Will Howard visited USC and Miami, he has chosen Ohio State on a visit this weekend. USC seems to be going with Miller Moss. Miami after losing Tyler Van Dyke to Wisconsin may be one of those without a seat when the Portal music stops. Targets K.J. Jefferson chose UCF and Cam Ward decided to enter the NFL draft.
Eleventh Warrior, an Ohio State blog, torched the state of their program in an article after the losses to Michigan and Missouri to spoil their undefeated season.
WE ARE NOT OKAY
Kyle McCord says he left there due to “business decisions” by both parties. McCord has transferred to Syracuse after visiting Nebraska and Miami.
Maybe Kyle McCord just really, really likes the late 90s.
Huh, in the books Reacher is usually fighting big dudes, like the local hired muscle. In the movie with Cruise I believe the guys he beats up in the opening scene are former Nebraska offensive linemen in the books. Count me in the camp of not liking Cruise for that role. Also, Reacher is always calm, and Cruise always has this intensity and energy inside of him.
Liam Neeson, 6’4″ was the guy for Reacher, just a little too old. But that Jedi/Taken vibe would have been perfect.
Tricky part about Reacher is that the actor talked about how he has to train for hours every day to look like that. I guess Reacher doesn’t have a lot else to do in his free time besides walk around and work out, so I guess it checks out.
Alan Ritchson also denied ever using steroids, “but testosterone therapy was huge for muscle growth.” Aka, steroids were huge for muscle growth. Shocking number of Hollywood action stars on steroids.
The fact that he showed up to Season 2 bigger than Season 1 had me cracking up. The amount of juice he has to be on is mindblowing.
That being said, the show is very enjoyable. I think I might be the only person who actually enjoyed the movies AND the TV show.
I’ve only seen clips from the show (Ritchson does a great job), but I like both the movie and the books. Reacher is just a really fun premise that you don’t see too much. I love a good cerebral detective, but a mystery is even more fun with some brawling thrown in.
A side note. I always found it funny that Child/Grant is a Brit with law degrees and yet writes about an American MP with a French mother.
What’s up with Ziegler? Just getting passed on the depth chart by better guys?
Mental health issues — from what I have read, this apparently led to situations where he was not exactly being positive about ND football when he was around recruits who were visiting
Yeah obviously mental health issues are a bummer in the first instance, but in particular it’s a bummer he was down on ND because he grew up a huge fan and seemed to be living the dream when he committed. Hopefully he finds a situation that makes him happy.
Aubrey missed 2 field goals in the regular season finale 🙁