Your weekly dose of Notre Dame news, opinion, and other stuff.

Top News

Notre Dame’s opener against Texas A&M will kickoff at 7:30 PM ET on ABC with ESPN GameDay in attendance. The Purdue game on September 14th will kickoff at 3:30 PM ET on CBS.

Former Notre Dame cornerback Micah Bell has transferred to Vanderbilt.

Former Colorado cornerback Cormani McClain is transferring to Florida.

According to Brett McMurphy, the 2026 National Championship Game will be hosted by Las Vegas.

Fox has released 3 of their early season Big Noon games for the 2024 season:

Texas at Michigan, Sept. 7
Alabama at Wisconsin, Sept. 14
Michigan at Ohio State, Nov. 30

Virginia and NC State will play home-and-home games in 2025-26 that will not count as ACC games.

Missouri State is the latest team to make the jump to FBS which they will do for the 2025 season in Conference USA.

Richmond is joining the Patriot League for football.

The University of California Board of Regents is recommending that UCLA pay Cal-Berkeley $10 million per year for 6 years because of the Bruins decision to leave for the Big Ten and hastening the demise of the Pac-12 Conference.

Former Louisville placekicker John Wallace passed away at 31 years old.

Michigan has announced they will sell alcohol at football games in 2024.

Uniform of the Week

We’ve gone over the new NFL uniforms this off-season and now it’s time to look at the college ranks. Our bread and butter wheelhouse. It’s year 6 of the Neal Brown era at West Virginia and recently the Mountaineers released a new set of uniforms across their entire range. The changes aren’t super easy to notice but in recent years West Virginia was looking a lot like California on the field. Now, they’ve recaptured some of their old identity.

It’s back to basics. A thick collar stripe has returned. The WVU logo is on the sleeves which looks really nice. Now on the home blue uniform they’ve added “Mountaineers” for another nice touch. It’s all simple and clean which makes mixing and matching their colors really easy. I don’t love the somewhat large pointed stripe coming over the shoulders but it’s fine with the rest of the uniform looking so traditional.

Recruiting

Quarterback TJ Lateef (0.9133) committed to Nebraska.

Cornerback Cobey Sellers (0.9356) has given a verbal to Texas A&M.

Running back Dierre Hill (0.9471) committed to Oregon.

Corner Blake Woodby (0.9638) has decommitted from Ohio State.

YouTube Channel

Let’s talk socks with shorts. I have opinions but I’m also caught in between a generational gap with evolving tastes and needs. They may not be as important as shoes, but socks can make a big difference in how you look and feel. I recommend high quality socks (Bombas, Darn Tough, Feetures, Belaga) and especially the use of merino wool if you’re on your feet a lot in more active situations. Now with the styles:

No-Show: Largely a waste of time, in my opinion. They don’t stay on your feet and if you’re wearing boat shoes, for example, just deal with the sweaty/stinky feet through proper washing and Dr. Scholl’s powder. If I don’t want my socks to be showing, I’m going barefoot. And if it’s a situation where I don’t want to be barefoot…then I’m wearing different socks and/or shoes.

Ankle: The most controversial sock these days. These had been popular for decades but are now falling out of fashion. You should definitely favor the shorter version that shows part of your ankle bone as opposed to the slightly taller version that cover the entire ankle. If you’re not confident with your sock game, just wear ankle socks. And embrace black, especially with any darker colored footwear.

Quarter: This is a tough size that you have to commit to for it to really work. A lot of companies make what I consider to be a half quarter size, basically slightly taller than an ankle sock. Don’t wear those, instead commit to the slightly taller version. These are a great option if you want more protection but fear something taller or maybe you want something a little cooler in a warm climate. This style can also look sporty without the full crew style commitment.

Crew: Today, the crew sock is making a huge comeback, especially for the younger generation who are wearing these with everything to include slippers, slides, sandals, and Crocs. This can be tricky because a lot can go wrong. You need nice socks that fit well and it becomes more important to match with your entire outfit. Stay away from elaborate patterns.

Over the Calf: Absolutely never with shorts.

I’m wearing crew socks more than ever (long socks are a must with my cycling which brings tan lines) and getting comfortable with it in casual settings while rocking a pair of shorts. Never mix brands of socks with your shoes, keep the crew socks clean (if the white is fading throw them out), stay away from fancy designs (simple is better), and make sure the socks fit and stay up on your legs.

Tunes

One of the strangest people I’ve ever worked with was an insanely huge fan of The Velvet Underground. Cool band name, for sure. They are among the many groups of artists where you had to be there at the time for it to really make sense. TVU didn’t really obtain much fame in their heyday but many decades later they are considered pioneers are more popular. A lot of that has been the durability of Lou Reed’s musical career long after the group broke up.

Today’s song features Nico, the German bohemian featured on the band’s first record. She led a pretty complicated life and was addicted to heroin for nearly 2 decades. That does not sound like fun. However, she passed away after hitting her head while riding a bike in Ibiza. As always, remember to wear a helmet at all times on a bike!

Trivia

I totaled the 3rd most receiving yards ever in a college football season and am the only player in the top 6 of these rankings from a Power program. Who am I?

The Other Football

The Premier League title will come down to the final day on Sunday. Thanks to a 2-0 win over Spurs (job done, lads) we have Manchester City with a 2-point lead ahead of Arsenal. The Cityzens will face West Ham at home and Arsenal will face Everton in London to conclude the season. Arsenal do hold a +1 goal differential which could play a role if City draw West Ham.

The EPL teams will be voting next month to scrap VAR for the 2024-25 season.

Juventus beat Atalanta 1-0 on Wednesday to win the Coppa Italia.

Feyenoord manager Arne Slot is expected to be announced as the new Liverpool manager with the impending retirement of Jurgen Klopp.

Canada has hired Jesse Marsch as its new manager effectively immediately on a deal through July 2026.

Oliver Giroud is joining LAFC on a free transfer from AC Milan.

TV & Movies

The fifth installment of the Mad Max series is coming next week with the opening of Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga on May 24th in the United States. This will be a prequel to the 2015 film Fury Road that was a masterpiece. A couple weeks ago I criticized James Cameron for wasting time with the Avatar series and the Mad Max series is something that he’d be really well suited to help create in the future. But alas, the money isn’t quite the same.

Anya Taylor-Joy is set to play Furiosa after Charlize Theron nailed this part in Fury Road. The new movie is set 15 years in the past and will chronicle Furiosa being kidnapped from the Green Place and trying to escape the Biker Horde. I’m also interested to see how Chris Hemsworth does in this movie, too. He’ll be the villain, so we think.

A Look Back

“We just got Kirk Cousins!” These words wouldn’t have made much sense about 6 or 7 years ago. Back then, Cousins was a firmly mediocre quarterback languishing on a depressing Washington (then) Redskins team. This off-season, he hit free agency again and signed a 4-year deal with the Atlanta Falcons for $180 million with $100 million guaranteed. That will take Cousins to nearly $400 million in career earnings by the time he sees this contract out with Atlanta. Just 6 weeks after signing Cousins to this healthy deal, the Falcons drafted 24-year old quarterback Michael Penix, Jr. who will be signing a 4-year deal worth $22.8 million (nearly a $6 million cap hit annual) as the no. 8 overall pick.

Falcons GM Terry Fontenot had this to say following the aftermath of this year’s NFL Draft: “If you believe in a quarterback, you have to take him. And if he sits for four or five years, that’s a great problem to have because we’re doing so well at that position. So, it’s as simple as, if you see a guy you believe in at that position, you have to take him.” Just think about Atlanta having to re-sign Penix in 2028 when he’s played in 3 career games because the team is now ready for their 30-year old former 1st round pick to finally play his real rookie season.

18S Paddock Club

Formula 1 returns to Imola for the first time since 2022 after last year’s race was cancelled due to devastating floods in the Emilia Romagna region of Italy. This might be the penultimate grand prix at this track for a while as the contract runs out in 2025 and all signs are pointing to it not being renewed with F1 seeking out races in other locations instead of 2 dates per year within Italy.

This race preview will be centered around the upcoming massive Ferrari upgrades.

*Ferrari have reworked the sidepod inlet to an overbite, changed their bypass duct on the chassis, brought new halo vanes, a new sidepod height and undercut, reworked the engine cooling outlet locations, designed a brand new floor, and lastly created a new rear wing. In the cost cap era of F1 these are absolutely audacious and expensive upgrades that hopefully allow Ferrari to be more competitive against Verstappen and Red Bull.

*Alex Albon has signed a new long-term contract with Williams. He was reportedly on a current deal with a team-option for 2025 so this is a significant investment by Williams, and a curious decision from Albon who likely gives up hope on the 2nd Red Bull seat for the next few years. He was rumored to be talking to other teams but staying at Williams was always the odds on favorite decision.

*This weekend’s race could be a preview of the rest of the season. Can McLaren be near the top coming off the first victory for Lando Norris? How will teammate Oscar Piastri fare with all of the McLaren upgrades that Norris had in Miami? It’s been a while since we saw 4, 5, or 6 cars fighting near the top and it would be a welcome change.

Trivia Answer:

Michael Crabtree, Texas Tech