Your weekly dose of Notre Dame news, opinion, and other stuff.
Top News
Hey, Notre Dame has a new men’s basketball coach in Micah Shrewsberry who just finished up his second season at Penn State for 2022-23.
Drue Tranquill has signed a 1-year deal for $5 million with the Kansas City Chiefs after spending 4 seasons with the Chargers.
Tony Jones, Jr. has signed with the Denver Broncos.
Notre Dame announced that the “Irish Wear Green” game will be held during Ohio State’s visits to South Bend on September 23rd.
Notre Dame has announced Kevin Reihner as a senior offensive analyst. Reihner had been the offensive line coach at Old Dominion for the past 3 seasons.
Ohio head coach Tim Albin received a 2-year extension through 2026 and a pay bump up to $700,000 per year.
Alabama defensive back Tony Mitchell was suspended from the football program following an arrest in Florida where a police chase saw Mitchell go 141 mph. The police found just under 8 ounces of marijuana, a concealed firearm without a permit, and more than $7,000 in cash inside the vehicle.
The Pac-12 continues to negotiate their new television deal with ESPN, Apple, and Amazon all involved in the proceedings.
Uniform of the Week
To this day, when I think of Iowa State I still think of Seneca Wallace. Looking back at his numbers for 2001-02 they aren’t even that good but I remember Wallace being super dangerous and really fun to play with in the NCAA video games. It was also an era of cool uniforms for the Cyclones. These days, Iowa State is trotting out some of the worst alternate uniforms in the country and when they’re not doing that their standard uniforms look like the Faygo version to USC’s Pepsi.
I won’t apologize for liking the old Cardinal in a cyclone logo, either. These days, Iowa State has perhaps the most generic and boring logo in the country. Plus, remember the navy blue trim on their uniforms!? Look at that blue drop-shadow on the numbers! The blue facemasks! The block I logos across the collar! Iowa State with something interesting!
Recruiting
Our former friend Brandyn Hillman (0.9201) committed to Michigan after asking out of his letter of intent with Notre Dame.
Colorado reached into Indianapolis to gain a commitment from quarterback Danny O’Niel (0.8759) this week.
Archbishop Moeller running back Jordan Marshall (0.9548) committed to Michigan.
Florida quarterback Davi Belfort (0.8887) committed to Virginia Tech.
Safety Demello Jones (0.9462) joined Georgia’s class.
YouTube Channel
I would highly recommend following Animagraffs on YouTube if you haven’t already. They’ve only made 16 videos in 4+ years but most of them have come over the last 12-18 months and I think we’re going to continue to see some cool content coming in the future. Their most recent upload takes a look at an 18th Century sailing battleship, specifically a model based on the HMS Victory that sailed for the Royal Navy from 1765 and is still technically in commission today. I found this video absolutely mind blowing.
I shouldn’t be surprised by the wooden frame design because that’s one part that is easier to comprehend with a ship this size, but it always does shake me. I never would’ve guessed so much stuff would be on the bottom of the ship, but I guess it makes sense. In general, the scope of all the stuff on the ship is kind of overwhelming. A captain of a ship must have been the smartest person in the world to know everything going on, how it works, plus managing all the workers! And my goodness, so many ropes! I would’ve guessed maybe a hundred, not the approximately 7.6 million ropes as seen on this ship. It’s like they needed a Grand Wizard of Ropery on these ships.
Tunes
I first listened to Silverchair’s 1995 major debut album Frogstomp during a layover at O’Hare Airport on a roller hockey trip coming back from Las Vegas. That’s all a true story, it was the 90’s and a wild time. A friend on my team brought the CD with him and during the long break in the airport I banged out all the homework that was going to be due when I got home while listening to this album numerous times. Silverchair’s first 3 albums all made a decent amount of noise in the alternative rock and mainstream rock community but their debut single “Tomorrow” saw them at their peak powers.
This is a near perfectly constructed rock song for the era. The transition from the bright guitar tone to the awesome distortion is great, and then leading back to an interlude with the brighter guitar only to switch back to distortion and build up to chorus is so unique. As many people may know, the band members were 15 years old when they wrote this song and lead singer was that age when this vocal track recorded. Fifteen!!! They were literal kids when they became a huge rock success and one of the biggest musical acts from Australia.
Trivia
What is the most worn sneaker in the United States?
The Other Football
Bayern Munich have fired manager Julian Nagelsmann less than 2 years after being appointed. In his place, they are hiring Thomas Tuchel.
Roy Hodgson has been appointed the manager of Crystal Palace until the end of the season as the Eagles look to avoid relegation. The team sacked manager Patrick Vieira late last week.
Arsenal beat that Palace team 4-1 over the weekend to remain top of the EPL table. The Gunners are 8 points ahead of Manchester City with one game in hand.
Harry Kane scored his 54th goal for England on Thursday in a 2-1 in over Italy to move into 1st place in Three Lions history.
The deadline for bidders for Manchester United’s ownership was set to end on Wednesday but there was extension granted by the bank handling the business on behalf of the Glazer family.
Former Real Madrid and Arsenal midfielder Mezut Ozil has retired at the age of 34.
Streaming
I found this video “Everything Wrong with The Martian” and while it looks like it’s this guy’s schtick to criticize film’s in even the most superficial way, I have to say, this makes me want to watch the movie all over again. Matt Damon is also in the upcoming movie Air which I’m really looking forward to seeing whenever it hits the streaming services.
What is Damon’s best movie and/or performance, by the way? He was great in Ford vs. Ferrari which I just watched. Of course, the Bourne franchise looms large in his legacy along with Good Will Hunting. He had a nice part in True Grit, as well. He’s a piece of the Ocean movies. Then there’s The Departed, or The Talented Mr. Ripley, or Rounders, or Saving Private Ryan. This guy has quite the IMDB.
A Look Back
I’m thinking back to Senior Day in 2012 and one of the best Senior Day’s in modern Notre Dame history. In terms of fun, this game certainly had plenty of it. Everett Golson balled out and did so well enough to get Tommy Rees AND Andrew Hendrix some snaps. TJ Jones, Tyler Eifert, John Goodman, and Theo Riddick all had at least 50 yards receiving, while the first 3 all caught touchdown passes.
This was a great annihilation of Wake Forest when the Irish were no. 3 in the country and the chance to actually make it to the BCS National Championship really came into focus. We had that trip to USC coming up the following weekend to try and make it a perfect regular season (uNDefeated if you will) only to see Kansas State and Oregon both lose later this Saturday evening. We were no. 1 (for a while at least).
18S Paddock Club
It was a Red Bull 1-2 again in Saudi Arabia. As a prominent college football head coach once said, “get used to it.” This was supposed to be a track where other teams could inch closer to Verstappen and Perez and instead the Red Bulls showed their true pace to pull away from the field.
There was some hope as Verstappen suffered a broken right drive shaft in Q2 making him start in 15th place. However, the reigning world champion worked his way through the field and by lap 17 had taken 4th place before a Safety Car (that should’ve been a Virtual Safety Car) came out from Lance Stroll’s broken Aston Martin.
Checo Perez got beat to the first corner by Fernando Alonso in the other Aston, but it took just a few laps for Perez to re-gain the lead.
After the SC re-start, Perez built an impressive lead over Alonso and eventually held off the charging Verstappen. Both of the RB cars left the field in the dust. For the 2nd straight season, Perez took pole in Jeddah but this time he took home the victory. Verstappen pipped the fastest lap on his very final lap to retain a 1-point lead in the championship.
Other race notes:
- Aston Martin is the clear no. 2 best car right now. Also, the Red Bull is so dominant that a couple mechanical DNF’s from Verstappen this year could really make a Perez world championship possible.
- Mercedes aren’t challenging but are mostly okay pace wise during the race. They seem to be coming to grips with looking toward 2024 with some updates this year making them more competitive at the top.
- Ferrari look completely lost and this will continue to be one of the major storylines for 2023. After believing they’d challenge Red Bull, they might finish 4th!
- Alpine have made a step forward but it’s being overshadowed by the ascendence of Aston.
- McLaren’s terrible year continued with Piastri suffering front wing damage in a collision on the first lap, with debris from that collision then damaging Norris’ car, too. Piastri actually performed well getting into Q3 this past weekend but there’s no doubt Lando Norris has been going through an awful start to 2023.
Trivia Answer:
The Nike Air Force 1.
Hah, I knew the sneaker company. Didn’t know which shoe though.
I find the CinemaSins shtick obnoxious at best, actively harmful to your ability to critique and enjoy film at worst. I prefer the How It Should Have Ended videos for movie spoofing. Witty and enjoyable animations!
Best Matt Damon is Eurotrip
Best Matt Damon is Team America
I heard “Scotty Doesn’t Know” out in public recently. 95% certain it was the grocery store, because I don’t go many places.
I immediately scrolled down to make this comment. I’m not even made someone beat me to it (by 10 hours), as long as it is recognized.
Hence the term, “You’re here to learn the ropes” has more cogency?
Lawrence Pilkford from a farm in Gloucester hopping onboard in 1794…
I think on a boat they’re technically called sheets
The announcing in that Wake Forest highlight clip is so bad.
Also, it reminded me how I always wanted Cierre Wood to get more touches. He just looked like a great RB (was always scampering away from people). And was a much better runner than Riddick. He also had 20+ catches in both 2010 and 2011, so not a bad receiver.
But, he just couldn’t compete mentally with Riddick. If Wood had the same mental makeup as Riddick (I don’t know if it was drive, attitude, discipline, or what), he could have been great. Really wish Wood would have come back for 2013. If he stepped into a leadership role as the lone top dog, could have been a great season for him, and probably more explosive for us than McDaniel.
If THAT’S the one wish you have for revising Cierre Wood’s history….
What else of his career would you want to revise? He was suspended for 2 games in 2012, but we won those and he went on to avg 6.5 y/c that year, so mostly no big deal.
It was a while ago, so I could definitely be forgetting things, but he played in 13 games as a SO and JR, so no other suspensions (and averaged 5.1 ypc both years). Was his FR year a behavioral RS rather than depth chart? We had Allen, Hughes, Gray, Riddick, and Tate all over 25 carries that year, so I assume he was just buried.
Unless I can revise him into having like 25 carries, 250 yds and 5 TDs against Bama.
Kind of related: Wood and Austin are the 2 guys who stand out to me as had more eligibility, didn’t get drafted, would have been very good the next year, and we had a huuuge need at the position, even in hindsight. Granted both were already SRs and probably had no desire to come back irregahdless of their NFL future.
Just do a quick google on him
Oh. Yikes.
I could only get through 6 minutes of the Everything Wrong with the Martian. As a book/movie that is like 90% science and takes place on Mars, I feel like it should be easy to pick apart. But, instead, it comes across as the guy complaining about directorial decisions he doesn’t like, rather than anything actually wrong. In the first 6 minutes, they call out about 3 things that are actually wrong with logic or tech/science.
This was my first Everything Wrong with… Youtube video and will not be watching again. I generally like these videos that pick movies apart, so this should be in my wheelhouse. But this flopped. I think the Pitch Meeting series does a better job calling out what’s wrong in movies. Also, love the Honest Trailer series. It does make me want to watch the Martian though.
From last week in OTHER other football news, St. Louis City SC set a record for most consecutive wins for an expansion team to move to 4-0-0 and atop the table with 16 points! LAFC and Seattle played to a scoreless draw to stay at #2 and #3 out West, and when St. Louis comes back down to earth, expect those two to stay on top.
Out East, Atlanta continues their hot start by thumping Portland 5-1 to move to 3-0-1 and the second best record in MLS.
In other OTHER football news, rough week for Jack Coan of the Brahmas. After getting relieved of his starting duties, he came on after an injury and managed to go 7-15 for 42 yards and two INTs while San Antonio gave up a four point lead. No bueno. Alize Mack only 1 catch for 5 yards, the QB production probably not helping.
USFL rosters are filled out, including Dexter Williams, Te’von Coney, and few other former Irish.
Finally, in a glorious mashup of other football news, former ND soccer player Brandon Aubrey will be your starting placekicker for the USFL’s Birmingham Stallions!
Reportedly, the Big initially wanted Oregon to pair with USC rather than UCLA.
In one assessment, Oregon’s fanbase ranks #7 ahead of six SEC schools. Alabama’s fan base ranks 8th. Notre Dame’s fanbase is #2, only trailing Ohio State’s. A media deal that included the Irish or for an independent ND would be lucrative.
The Pac 12 media deal is estimated to be 10% less than the Big 12’s with a possible fourth entity interested in joining and about half that of the Big 10’s and SEC’s media revenue per team.
Nit to pick on the Animagraffs.
He called it the “Forecastle”. It is pronounced “Fo’c’sle”.