Your weekly dose of Notre Dame news, opinion, and other stuff.
Top News
Notre Dame wide receiver Joe Wilkins announced on Monday that he’ll enter the transfer portal. The former 2018 recruit finishes his Irish career with 11 receptions and 2 touchdowns.
Notre Dame was named the Cheez-It Bowl National Team of the Week following the win over Clemson. Irish corner Benjamin Morrison was named the Walter Camp Defensive Player of the Week.
Coastal Carolina quarterback Grayson McCall is done for the rest of the season following a recent foot injury.
Jeff Scott has been fired at USF after less than 3 full seasons. He was 4-26 with the program.
Despite not breaking .500 in a season yet and currently sitting at 4-5, Missouri decided to give head coach Eli Drinkwitz a contract extension recently. The new deal takes Drinkwitz through the end of the 2027 season.
ESPN and CBS have signed a new television deal with Conference USA which will see the league move football games to mid-week starting in October from 2023 onward. The new contract is for 5 years and will pay members about $750,000 per year.
Clark Lea’s defensive backs coach Dan Jackson is stepping away from the program for the time being as an investigation is being launched after Jackson tweeted out support for the rapper Ye in the face of antisemitism allegations.
Clemson defensive end Xavier Thomas has missed a lot of time this year (he did not play against Notre Dame) and will have season-ending foot surgery this week.
Uniform of the Week
This isn’t the first time North Texas has been featured in the Rambler, and it may not be the last. In the past, we highlighted a throwback uniform and they did it again this past Saturday wearing these “Flying Worm” sets in a 52-14 win over Florida International. That’s a big win for the Mean Green, so keep wearing them!
This program has a wild logo history stretching back to the 1960’s. They really change with the times and adopt whatever the modern look is at the time as they cycle through logos over the years. The Mean Green flying worm logo comes from the early 1970’s into the early 1980’s and looked great on their lime green helmets with dark green trim.
Recruiting
Notre Dame picked up cornerback Karson Hobbs (0.8567) on Wednesday after he flipped from South Carolina. Full commit post HERE.
Jacksonville quarterback Colin Hurley (0.9867) committed to LSU and plans on reclassifying from 2025 to the 2024 class. The Tigers also picked up 2023 offensive tackle DJ Chester (0.9428) out of Georgia late last week.
Linebacker Anthony Hill (0.9901) left Texas A&M’s class this past Monday.
Edge rusher Colton Vasek (0.9451) has flipped from Oklahoma to Texas.
West Virginia picked up 4-star receiver Traylon Ray (0.8989).
YouTube Channel
What a season Jalen Hurts is having, and what a cool story for a quarterback who left Alabama and many didn’t think would have much of a NFL career even though he was selected 53rd overall back in the 2020 Draft. Philadelphia is undefeated coming off a bye in week 7 with Hurts carrying a healthy 107.8 passer rating, plus 326 rushing yards and 6 scores on the ground. When I saw him pop up on GQ’s video series My Essentials I had to check it out.
I thought about my “10 things I can’t live without” and I share some similarities with Jalen. Leaving aside obvious things like cars, phones, and laptops my list is below:
Chapstick – Classic/Original
Nalgene Bottle – 32 oz.
Lipton Diet Iced Tea – 16.9 oz. Peach or Lemon
Pilot G2 Pens – 10mm Blue Ink
Cetaphil Lotion – 20 oz.
Apple Watch – Series 4
Cholula Hot Sauce
Orbit Gum – Bubblemint
Beats Powerbeats Pro
Chipotle Burritos
I may have brought this up in a previous Rambler that I’m inseparable from Chapstick. I have multiples ready on my work desk, one in my car, one in each of my wife’s vehicles, extras by the entryway by our side door for quick use, and multiples in each bathroom, plus more on my dresser.
If I were a Notre Dame athlete today I’d be getting that Chapstick NIL bag. Share your 10 things list in the comment section.
Tunes
The Grateful Dead are probably the one band I really enjoy that I also have not ever taken the time to truly go on a deep dive and listen to thoroughly. I’ve listened to their best albums, gone through their Greatest Hits, but never embraced them beyond that. My first exposure to the group as a kid was the 1987 hit “Touch of Grey” and particularly the memorable video. I am pretty sure this was the first MTV video I remember watching as I was 5.5 at the time.
What a cool video. I credit this work for my wanting to play drums as a kid, too. Two drummers! And one is wearing a Celtics jacket (a nod to Deadhead lover Bill Walton then winding down his career with Boston and now I really feel old). The Dead played a really big concert this summer in Orchard Park and seemed destined for a late-career revival. Sadly, due to a lot of reasons that never happened. I always wonder how their image could’ve changed if they had an Aersosmith-like resurgence during this era. Amazingly, “Touch of Grey” was the band’s only top 40 hit.
Trivia
Can you name all 4 Notre Dame players to intercept a pass this season?
The Other Football
We have the round of 16 matchups all set in the Champions League and Europa League. Due to the World Cup, we won’t see these games start up again until mid-February!
Champions League
Leipzig vs. Manchester City
Club Brugge vs. Benfica
Liverpool vs. Real Madrid
Milan vs. Tottenham Hotspur
Frankfurt vs. Napoli
Dortmund vs. Chelsea
Inter vs. Porto
PSG vs. Bayern Munich
Europa League
Barcelona vs. Manchester United
Juventus vs. Nantes
Sporting vs. Midtjylland
Shakhtar vs. Rennes
Ajax vs. Union Berlin
Leverkusen vs. Monaco
Sevilla vs. PSV
Salzburg vs. Roma
The MLS Cup was straight up bonkers this past Saturday:
The game featured 6 goals, including goals in the 83rd and 85th minutes, plus 2 more goals deep into extra time. LAFC’s goalie would break his leg in extra time, too. No worries, the backup keeper came in and LAFC won in a shootout to take their first MLS title in only their 5th season since becoming an expansion team.
The USA roster for the World Cup was announced on Wednesday night:
GK: Ethan Horvath, Sean Johnson, Matt Turner
DF: Cameron Carter-Vickers, Sergino Dest, Aaron Long, Shaq Moore, Tim Ream, Joe Scally, DeAndre Yedlin, Walker Zimmerman
MF: Brenden Aaronson, Kellyn Acosta, Tyler Adams, Luca de la Torre, Weston McKennie, Yunus Musah, Cristian Roldan
FW: Jesus Ferreira, Jordan Morris, Christian Pulisic, Gio Reyna, Josh Sargeant, Tim Weah, Haji Wright
We will have a preview of the United States tournament hopes next week, as well as a full World Cup preview on the site.
Streaming
Today’s Grateful Dead song made me nostalgia for the 1980’s so I was trying to figure out which TV show made me feel the same way? I thought about ALF, Full House, Growing Pains, and Who’s the Boss? before settling on the intro (and just the intro) to Doogie Howser, M.D. I honestly don’t remember much about the show. Although, it debuted in September 1989 and ran for 4 seasons into 1993. So, technically it was more of a 1990’s show.
This intro just oozes 1980’s, though. The bopping synthesizer! The use of newspaper clippings. The high top sneakers and jeans! The scrolling text for actor names as their face freezes on screen. Look at Doogie’s shirt and tie combo to end this majestic television intro!
A Look Back
With Navy coming up on the schedule this weekend let’s take a look back at the 2015 game in South Bend. This was the first year in the AAC for the Middies. They would lose a painful game to Houston in late November that prevented them from playing in the league title game, and very likely winning the conference altogether. They had their chance and blew it.
Navy’s only other loss from 2015 was this game to Notre Dame. It came a week right after that crazy game at Clemson was there was a little bit of a deflated crowd situation in South Bend. But, this was a really good win against one of the best Navy teams of the century. My dad ended up having spinal fusion surgery earlier this year and I took him to this game. Afterward, he was quiet and we hurried up to eat dinner before he fell soundly asleep in our hotel. Looking back, the 4+ hours on those bleachers must have killed his back. Stadium seats are such a luxury.
18S Paddock Club
The penultimate race of the season takes us to the southern edge of the Sao Paulo metro area, home to an estimated 22 million people. This place loves F1 and we are coming off an absolute banger of a race here last year.
Like 2021, it’ll be a sprint weekend again. Last year, we saw Lewis Hamilton blitz through qualifying gaining pole by over four-tenths only to be disqualified afterwards when his DRS slot was deemed to large. Max Verstappen also picked up his $50,000 fine for touching Hamilton’s rear wing following qualifying.
Sao Paulo Grand Prix
Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace (Interlagos)
FP1 – Nov. 11th – 10:30 AM ET
Qualifying – Nov. 11th – 2:00 PM ET
FP2 – Nov. 12th – 10:30 AM ET
Sprint – Nov. 12th – 2:30 PM ET
Race – Nov. 13th – 1:00 PM ET
In just 24 sprint laps, Hamilton moved up from 20th and finished 5th using a car that has looked as fast and dominant as any in recent memory after they put in a new engine with the penalty already served from qualifying. On Sunday’s race, Hamilton gained the lead but was infamously overtaken illegally by Verstappen while the Dutchman did not receive a penalty from the stewards.
Eventually, Hamilton got Verstappen back for P1 leading to this all-time GIF from Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff:
Last time out in Brazil, Toto Wolff gave us this forever meme.Â
This weekend we have far, far, far less drama. But, the weekend could be soaked in rain which would offer some spiciness on a track known for great racing.
The last generation of cars could follow pretty well in the tight and twisty sector 3 last year setting up a ton of overtaking opportunities from turn 12 down the long run to turn 1 and the Senna ‘S’ chicane. With a wet track we could see some fireworks into turn 1 all weekend long.
3 Questions for Brazil:
1) Can Checo Perez be stopped with this Black Panther helmet?
Red Bull seem half-heartedly supporting Sergio Perez in his quest to finish 2nd in the driver’s standings now that Verstappen has locked up the title for the team. The Mexican finished on a podium spot (3rd) in his hometown race last time out, and thanks to Ferrari turning down their engines and not being competitive, he’s now nursing a 5-point lead over Leclerc for 2nd place.
Perez has worn several unique one-off helmets this year and is coming with another outstanding effort for Brazil in association with the Wakanda Forever movie. The last time Checo wore a primarily gray helmet he ended up winning at Monaco this year!
2) Will recently acquired Brazilian citizenship propel Hamilton to a win?
Sir Lewis attended a ceremony in Brasilia’s Chamber of Deputies this week to be awarded honorary Brazilian citizenship. The location of his first title-clinching season, Interlagos has always been a big part of Hamilton’s career, plus he grew up idolizing Brazilian driver Aryton Senna.
Since his debut in 2007, Hamilton has won at least 1 race every season and only has 2 more to go in 2022 before that streak comes to an end. A win here in Brazil would be a very special moment.
3) Is there no turning back with the sprint races?
Several drivers came out this week, including reigning champion Verstappen, with some pretty harsh criticism of the sprint races. This isn’t the first time, either.
The short races appear profitable to F1 because why wouldn’t replacing a practice session with that bring in more viewers and money? The sprints themselves have largely been dull and processional, with no drivers really willing to push too hard for fear of ruining their race on Sunday.
Still, the sport is jumping from 3 to 6 sprints next year. However, they are becoming increasingly unpopular in the paddock.
Trivia Answer:
Benny Morrison (2), TaRiq Bracy (1), Marist Liufau (1), and Brandon Joseph (1).
>Notre Dame wide receiver Joe Wilkins announced on Monday that he’ll enter the transfer portal. The former 2018 recruit finishes his Irish career with 11 receptions and 2 touchdowns.
By the end of the season the WR’s left standing are going to be:
–Matt Salerno
–The hands-less body of Lorenzo Styles
–Tyler Eifert’s walk on little brother
–Holden Staes split out wide as a jumbo blocking WR
While scrolling through the roster last week, I discovered that Matt has a younger brother who is a walk-on kicker for the Irish. We’ll probably see him split out wide pretty soon.
Chris Finke Jr. Jr.
Can any of the long snappers catch?
The holders certainly can
A lighter, speedier Styles!
“Things I can’t live without”
1.Rosary
2. Pocket knife
3. Boots
4. My utility/car trailer
5. Gloves
This is harder than I thought. (Not sure I can come up with 10) These are the things that I use every day or consistently enough that without them something would be missing or very inconvenient. I tried to follow the same rules as Eric. Suspending those I’d add in my pickup and phone GPS.
We need product details on the boots and gloves, pocket knife too.
It took me a couple days to fill out my top 10 list, not gonna lie.
Boots for work are Whites 12in loggers everywhere else Justin slip-ons, knife is currently a CRKT trajectory, but have used many Kershaws. For gloves it really depends, for general use I go with Tillman driver gloves, for welding black stallions, for winter use I have some Cabellas guide gloves, for paddling/water activities I use NRS. There isn’t much I do without gloves on.
Guys who carry knives on them is a thing that I’ve experienced a lot more than I thought I ever would. Outside of a survival situation – in which case, I’m already dead – I can’t put myself in a situation where I need a knife RIGHT NOW. I own many utility knives, but I keep them in the most likely places I’ll need to use them – garage (x2 knives), basement. kitchen. I’m never that far away from any of those knives, or a pair of scissors to need to bulk up my pockets.
I think its a result of the nature of work I do where I’m never in close proximity (out in a plant) to where a knife would be but constantly having a need for one has conditioned me to always have one. I have to be careful when flying because if I’m not conscious of leaving my knife at home I end up losing a knife and filling out lots of paperwork.
I’m just a salt of the earth office worker
– You omitted a word there, friend.
I was the same way until about March 13, 2020. Not leaving the house for 15 months really cleared up my chapstick (eponym) usage. A Blistex man, myself. I still f around with it once or twice a week when I’m in the office, but I’m no longer carrying some in my pocket, car, gym bag, desk, nightstand and kitchen. As the temperature and humidity start to drop, I might fall back into my old ways.
I am 100% team Qdoba. Their chips and queso are magnitudes better than Chipotle, plus they don’t load their rice with cilantro. I don’t do burritos at either place (bowls @ Chipotle, nachos @ Qdoba). I only get burritos at Pancheros, where they hand press the tortillas when you order them – and they mix up the burrito before wrapping it up, so you get a better mix when eating it.
I don’t have any Pancheros near me.
I *think* I’ve been to Qdoba once, but I can’t be sure. I used to be a chicken salad bowl guy at Chipotle but now I’m exclusively burritos. I was grossed out by cilantro until about 30 then I….love it? Very weird.
I don’t think I’ve ever heard of the cilantro aversion switch. I thought it was more of a chemical composition, which I assumed was more of a binary thing. Still baffling to me that places just pretend like there isn’t a significant portion of the populace that is repulsed by cilantro and toss it into everything, with no hesitation.
You misspelled Chili Lime Cholula. That’s the essential one. Chipotle Cholula is a situational sauce.
Just squeeze a lime on it, my man.
Salsarita’s is the only chain burrito place worth going to and Texas Pete is the best (non-sriracha) hot sauce.
These are facts.
Is it me or is something going on the last couple of days with the comment section in terms of look/formatting?
Oh, yes.
Something funny is going on where WordPress and/or Discuz is displaying things weird. It seems to fix itself, but come back occasionally.
I also changed the style of the comment section while looking for solutions. So two things going on at once.
Ok, good. As long as I know it’s not me! It was the going back and forth for a bit that threw me too.
And I’m glad to confirm now that the new comments still show up orange so I can easily find the new ones. With the new look I wasn’t sure that was happening.
https://twitter.com/newheightshow/status/1590368152973873152?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1590368152973873152%7Ctwgr%5Ed7c54cdf81f1e9fcac92b652a072d91290c64401%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.arrowheadpride.com%2F2022%2F11%2F10%2F23450233%2Farrowheadlines-travis-kelce-would-rather-risk-a-lightning-strike-than-play-on-turf
I have not listened to much folk music, more like never at all. The only Dylan song I liked was Jimi’s version – so the Grateful Dead were never in my rotation. I think I knew Jerry Garcia more from the ice creamic pun than anything else.
I was an 80s kid. My parents and Nancy Reagan told to me to say no to drugs, and the lore of the Dead was soaked in them. So never any interest.
-Side Note & edit, this never extended to Willie Nelson, I am not logical.
I remember this video because it might have been their only one on MTV BITD. I was never sure if the obvious strings on the skeletons were symbolically intentional of protesting control of various types, were there for increased campiness, or they just could not figure out how to shoot it without them while still recreating the look of the lighting from the live version. The song itself was memorable enough for the twist on silver linings.
Lately have had a lot of The Dead South and some more pure bluegrass creeping into the musical rotation. Then this Rambler comes up.
I never noticed how much movement and push the bass gives here. The bassist, with his sweet-ace 80s headless bass, was pretty awesome. Is that indicative of the rest of their music? Essentially that the two guitarists are more an accompaniment to the two drummers and the songs are all carried by keyboard and bass?
Again, totally, intentionally ignorant of decades of Dead music. Maybe it is just this song or this period, but it is interesting.
Anywhooo, been in hibernation for a month. Anyone want to fill me on how badly we destroyed of Stanford? It would save me from looking through the archive.
Thanks again
Yup, we killed Stanford it was awesome no need to go back and check it out though.
I was excited to see the cover picture for this article. I’d consider myself a mid-level deadhead. I never got a chance to see them live (too young), nor any of the post-Jerry iterations. But I do listen to them quite a lot, and have favorite shows and favorite renditions of many songs. For unsolicited advice on how to dig into the Dead deeper:
If you’ve never heard it, check out the 1980 album Reckoning. It is an all acoustic set and is just fantastic. It’s also the only Dead that my wife will willingly listen to. Europe ’72 and ‘Skull and Roses’ are great live collections, that most people who have tucked into the band somewhat will have heard.
If you want to try digging into some full shows, some of the best would be 8/27/72 Veneta OR (available on Spotify as an album called ‘Sunshine Daydream’), 5/8/77 Ithaca NY (also search Barton Hall or Cornell), and the live albums ‘Grateful Dead Go To Nassau,’ which is selected from two shows on 10/15-16/80 at Nassau Colisseum in Uniondale, NY, and Hundred Year Hall, which covers most but not all of 4/26/72 Frankfurt show.
All of those recordings are going to have excellent sound quality and are pretty consistent in terms of the band being in good form. You may not like every song, but they’re good places to explore the form of listening to a full show
Great recs, thank you!