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

3 News Stories

#1 It’s not really news but I found the recent ESPN article on the most unbreakable records in college football a fun read. Here’s a quick breakdown of the top 10:

  • Oklahoma’s 47-game winning streak
  • Barry Sanders’ 238.9 rushing yards per game in 1988
  • Florida State’s top 5 finishes from 1987 through 2000
  • Oklahoma’s 472.4 rushing yards per game in 1971
  • Florida quarterback John Reaves’ 9 interceptions against Auburn in 1969
  • Derrick Thomas’ 27 sacks in 1988
  • Oklahoma’s Antonio Perkins scoring 3 punt return touchdowns against UCLA in 2003
  • Marcus Allen starting 1981 with 5 straight games of 200+ rushing yards
  • Patrick Mahomes 819 total yards against Oklahoma in 2016
  • Nick Saban’s 100 straight wins over unranked opponents

Some of these are insane, no doubt. The rushing records appear super safe with the way the game is played today. I think the sack record and 3 punt return touchdowns in a single game are conceivable.

#2 Did you know that college administrators met in Orlando recently to hash out changes to the college football calendar and will be doing so again this week in Ashville? According to reports, it looks like momentum is gaining for one, and only one, transfer portal period. But when?

Some want to keep the 2 windows. Others want just one period that aligns more with the academic calendar in the spring. The new cap also starts on July 1st so having a spring portal right before the ‘new’ budget opens up makes more sense, maybe.

Also, it sounds like signing day is going to be moved up again. This was always going to happen once they created the Early Signing Period for December and we’ve talked about this extensively. Now, in the Cap Era there is a push for a new signing period–where programs can officially offer revenue sharing contracts–as early as the summer before a recruit’s senior year. Put another way, the current 2026 recruiting class for Notre Dame would be signing to the Irish in less than a month, potentially, in this example.

If that’s not enough, we may be seeing an end to the traditional spring practice. Especially if the spring transfer portal only option wins out there may be the flexibility to push some of your 15 spring practices into the summer. Basically into a more NFL model post-free agency.

#3 Another program is seeking to join the FBS hierarchy. The Sacramento State Hornets want to leave FCS and join college football’s highest division. The issue is that Sac State does not have an invitation from a conference and thus must apply via a waver as an independent. According to reports this week, the NCAA Football Oversight Committee is recommending to the D1 Council that this waiver not be approved. It’s tough out there!

The Hornets are currently in the Big Sky Conference and have made the FCS playoffs 4 separate times since the 2019 season. They are planning on moving to FBS starting in 2026, despite the reports they might get blocked.

Recruiting

Notre Dame is set to receive some commitments in the coming weeks as the summer sign up fun heats…uhh…up. On Wednesday evening, offensive tackle Grayson McKeogh (0.9096) committed to the Irish from outside the Philadelphia area.

Another Pennsylvania product safety Joey O’Brien (0.9667) is committing today, as well.

In the 2026 class, the Irish offered offensive tackle Charlie Thom (N/A) from Avon Old Farms in Connecticut. Notre Dame has also offered 2027 wide receiver Tyler Fryman (N/A) out of Kentucky and Penn State commit wideout Khalil Taylor (0.9646). If that’s not enough to get your juices flowing, long snapper Sean Kraft (N/A) was also extended an offer from Marcus Freeman.

USC won a recruiting battle over UCLA for Hawaiian linebacker Talanoa Ili (0.9616).

Oregon added 5-star safety Jett Washington (0.9846) on Thursday night.

Running back KJ Edwards (0.9786) committed to Texas A&M. The Aggies also added interior offensive lineman Samuel Roseborough (0.9375) this week as well as 5-star athlete Brandon Arrington (0.9931).

Defensive lineman JaReylan McCoy (0.9444) committed to Florida. The Gators also added cornerback CJ Bronaugh (0.9539) this week.

Alabama has reached into Nebraska for quarterback Jett Thomalla (0.9150). He was previously committed to Iowa State.

Offensive tackle Ekene Ogboko (0.9657) committed to Georgia.

Uniform of the Week

Boston College is the first college football team of the summer to drop new uniforms. Recently, head coach Bill O’Brien mentioned he wanted a return to something close to the Doug Flutie era uniforms and that’s the direction the team took with this new update. However, they are far from replicas from the 1980’s. They are sticking with no helmet stripe–something they’ve been doing often in modern times and that matches the older era.

No pants stripe definitely doesn’t match the Flutie era and is an interesting decision. As is that softer sandstorm gold/cream color that is pretty far off the Flutie-era mustard. The jersey shoulder stripes are the most prominent aspect to the throwbacks and they switched up the pattern from the 1980’s. That part is a head scratcher. Last year, Boston College’s athletic department was using New Balance but the football team still used Adidas. This year, the football team is now officially New Balance, too.

TV & Movies

We have a new Superman movie coming out this year. Starting with the 1978 release with Christopher Reeve in the title role, this will be the 7th standalone Superman movie, with a couple more featuring the Man of Steel in ensemble casts too. This new film features actor David Corenswet who, after looking over his filmography, is making a huge jump up in profile as the MoS. He is sort of a different looking Clark Kent, too. But the hair is there, as it always is for Superman.

People have thoughts about the new Superman suit. As you can see in the video thumbnail the “S” logo is a little different. I’m not a big fan of it because it doesn’t look like the letter. The new suit also departs from some of the bulkier and muscle-laden outfits we’ve seen from the James Cavill-era Superman. What I do like is a return to the royal blue and bright red colors with the underwear! Traditional Superman is so back!

Tunes

Maybe I should make this a running theme for a while. I’m back with another edition of “How was this song so popular?” Today we go back to 1976 and the brief breakout of 33 year old Gary Wright. A few months earlier, he had released the song “Dream Weaver” which I’m sure everyone has heard before. Wright would then release an album called The Dream Weaver which was heavily synthesizer based. The album cover is wild–Wright has his eyes closed with purple eyelids, it’s just 1970’s nonsense.

“Dream Weaver” became a big hit reaching no. 2 in the United States before the album opener “Love Is Alive” was released as the second single and also peaked at no. 2 on the charts. The strapped keyboards, outfits, and sweaty face from Wright is so uncool maybe it comes around back to cool? The song is a bit of a bop, to be fair. Still, if you told me that Wright struggled as an artist before and after this brief 1976 summer it would make sense.