Your weekly dose of Notre Dame news, opinion, and other stuff.
In the News
Raiders defensive end and former Penn State star Carl Nassib became the first active NFL player to come out as gay.
The College Football Playoff took its first formal steps to using a 12-team playoff in the future.
Wisconsin will be wearing all-white alternate uniforms for their matchup at Soldier Field against Notre Dame. Will the Irish respond with their own alternates?
The Supreme Court opened the door even further for NIL rights with a swift 9-0 opinion earlier this week. The NCAA appears ready to start enacting its own NIL rules very soon. The governor of Kentucky signed an executive order opening the door to NIL rights for college athletes in the state.
The Holiday Bowl has found a new home in baseball’s Petco Park.
Tennessee dismissed 2021 quarterback Kaidon Salter (0.933) after a recent arrest that followed up a team suspension from the spring.
The NFL officially rescinded the rule requiring only one shell for helmets, to go into effect for the 2022 season. Here come the throwback and alternate helmets!
From the Archive
We had 136 comments on the article HERE when Jeff Quinn was announced as the new offensive line coach back on January 23, 2018. People are really passionate about offensive line.
The Portal
Texas receiver Jake Smith (568 yards and 9 TD in 15 career games) is leaving Austin. Maybe someone for Notre Dame to look at? He’d have 3 years of eligibility remaining with the Covid year included.
USC has added quarterback depth with former Oklahoma State signal-caller Brendan Costello.
Auburn wideout Hal Presley is leaving the Tigers after signing for the 2021 class.
Helmet Talk
Do you remember after their National Championship when Florida State came out with new uniforms? The jerseys largely received the bulk of the criticism and rightfully so. But, don’t sleep on those new helmets, either!
I’m pretty sure FSU ditched these helmets fairly quickly, perhaps after a game or two* if my memory is correct? You can barely find any pictures of them anywhere and I remember the considerable backlash. For whatever reason, the school thought a creamy sand-colored helmet (with updated spear which they’ve kept I believe) with a purple-y facemask was the way to go. Bad choice.
*My research indicates they switched back to their old helmets for game 3 versus Clemson, the one where Jameis Winston was suspended.
Recruiting
Notre Dame received the commitment of California linebacker Niuafe “Junior” Tuihalamaka (0.954) and you can read our review of that HERE.
Michigan picked up a verbal from quarterback Jayden Denegal (0.904) out of California.
Running back Dallan Hayden (0.912) has joined Ohio State’s class. More running back dominoes are falling as Gavin Sawchuk (0.980) committed to Oklahoma. Arizona State also picked up a commit from Virginia tailback Tevin White (0.924), as well.
House of the Week
Today we take a trip to Fairfield County, Connecticut in the town of Redding just south of Danbury. The Google machine says this house was previously owned by Oscar-winning film director Barry Levinson but he sold the property in 2012 and the new owners renovated things in 2014. I can’t get a good look at the home or property from the road on Google Maps, but as always with Connecticut, it looks like a lovely area of the country especially in the warm weather.
Ah yes, the main home is pushed way back so that makes sense there’s not much from the street view. I could nit-pick some things I don’t like about the interior design but my goodness this home is fantastic and maybe my favorite to date. The main house looks like a lot of fun, the outdoor pool area is elite, and the music studio in the barn is outstanding. Plus, so much maple syrup!
Tunes
We were supposed to be treated to Peter Jackson’s documentary The Beatles: Get Back in September 2020 in theaters but the Covid pandemic put an end to that. Instead, this 3-part series (each 2-hours long) will be streamed on Disney+ starting on Thursday, November 25th on Thanksgiving and through to that Saturday. It’ll be just like The Last Dance except for music lovers!
I’ve always been adamant that the Beatles didn’t need to release Let It Be as an album (all the major hits were released as singles) but further the original Let It Be film released 5 days after the album was really a major disservice to the group as it painted things in the most depressing and negative tone possible for a band on the verge splitting up. Luckily, we’ll get to see much more insight into this period for the Beatles and watch them actually enjoy recording a lot of this time period. Happy and funny 1969 Beatles are back, baby!
On This Day in Sports
On June 25, 1999 the San Antonio Spurs won their first NBA title with a vomit-inducing 78-77 low-scoring victory over the New York Knicks in game 5 of the Finals.
At the Cinema
The Drive to Survive series on Netflix sucked me the hell in and now I’m a Formula One fanatic. I recently sat down to watch the 2013 film Rush with Chris Hemsworth starring as James Hunt and Daniel Bruhl as Niki Lauda. The movie largely revolves around the 1976 championship race and the aftermath of Lauda’s scary crash that nearly killed him and severely burned his head and face.
I thought the movie was solid and it got good reviews, too. I wasn’t a huge fan of the ending though for a couple reasons. The final race in Japan is utterly confusing and feels weirdly anticlimactic for something that was far from it. It also ends fairly abruptly (it doesn’t even show Lauda’s 1977 championship before leaving Ferrari after losing ’76 by a single point to Hunt!) and I was waiting for a little more drama to unfold but it didn’t come. It felt odd to just stop the movie without anything from 1977 and basically say, “Yeah, Hunt was wild and died young.”
Hot Take
The entire Fast & Furious movie franchise is severely dumb. I’m ready for these arrows.
Trivia
Two players from Notre Dame scored rushing touchdowns in 2020 while not playing quarterback or running back. Who were they?
Trivia question meaning former ND players in the NFL scoring a rushing TD while not being a RB? I know Claypool had a couple rushing TD’s. Not sure on the other, maybe someone like Guyton?
Or trivia question as in 2020 Notre Dame non-RB/QB rushing TD’s for Notre Dame? I remember Skowronek had one. I don’t know about the other, I don’t think Lenzy scored on one last year but that’s the only thing in my head.
Not in the NFL, just last year for ND.
Looking back on the comments on that Jeff Quinn article is hilarious.
Nobody watches the Fast and Furious franchise to learn something. It’s entertaining. It’s fun, it’s funny, some of the action shots are great, and it’s got the most diverse cast of any major movie franchise I can think of. If I want to watch something fun, Fast and Furious is my choice. If I want to watch something that will likely leave me sad and depressed even if it has a somewhat happy ending, I’ll watch Notre Dame football.
Avery Davis and Lenzy for the trivia question? Honestly that’s a wild guess and I don’t actually have a specific memory of either of them scoring a rushing TD.
ND Football catching strays in service of F&F!!
In today’s ND existential dread: There’s an ND season preview out there today about Kyle Hamilton being an elite draft pick, and it just made me terrified for a scenario we end up 5th in CFP rankings and play Oklahoma in a New Year’s Day Bowl, and Kyle Hamilton sits out to prepare for the draft. Go Irish!
He def is going to and should sit out any non-playoff postseason game, right? In the words of Paulie Wallnuts, “word to the wise kid, remember
Pearl HarborJaylon Smith”.I’ll never fault a first round pick for going that route after all Jaylon had to go through and all he lost (and could have lost!)
It would suck to not have him, but hey, ND didn’t have Hamilton for the 2nd half vs UNC and that was one of their best defensive halves of the year, against all odds. So who knows.
I would never fault him, and if I knew him, I would encourage him to sit out. But in my viewing lifetime, I haven’t seen us win a major postseason game. Sure would be nice to see that happen, and I would feel pretty dejected going into that game without our best player.
Nothing wrong with that, I totally get it and would be in the same boat. But, ya never know. It’s a team sport. Maybe it’ll be the emergence of Khari Gee! Or Foskey and Boetlo will get after the QB so much it won’t matter.
FSU’s uniforms are a good example of why all football uniforms should have bright, bold, high-contrast colors and clean, simple lines. Dark maroon and tan with intricate shoulder designs that can only be seen up close? No sir.
It should be a law, IMO.
Drive to Survive sucked me in too! I’m with you there.
Currently glued to FP2 in Austria, so yeah haha!
Somebody is watching the Fast and Furious movies, but it’s not me.
On the trivia question, I think Skowronek got one on a jet sweep, although it technically may have been one of those handoff “passes”. The way the question is worded makes me think the second touchdown didn’t come from a receiver, but the only other option would be a tight end and I don’t remember any rushing touchdowns from them. I’ll guess it was Davis, although I have no recollection of it if it was him.
For trivia I’ll guess Skowronek and Brock Wright
I know Skowronek did – that call against North Carolina was badass – but I’m forgetting the other one and will have to look it up.
Skoronek is definitely one and I’ll guess Avery Davis
Fast Five is a great movie.
TRIVIA ANSWER:
Ben Skowronek
Jafar Armstrong
Ahh, good question. Feels like a while since Armstrong did anything.
Shame it never got to be Tremble on a “fullback” dive (but I guess C’Bo vultured most of those TDs from in close that Kyren didn’t finish off himself)
The two Italian guys who let Lauda drive their car crack me up every time.
I haven’t seen any of the Fast & Furious movies after the one that had Gal Gadot. And of those (4?) that I’ve seen, I don’t think I could give even a brief synopsis of any of them from memory except Tokyo Drift
Each movie is just family living life a quarter mile at a time
The Fast Franchise is glorious. I am in no way a discerning movie goer. There was a theater across from my work that had $5 movies every Tuesday. I saw basically everything that came out between 2017 and covid. That said, Fast movies are probably the only ones that I would actually consider paying full price to see in a theater.
Since like the fifth one, whenever they started completely ignoring the even the most basic tenets of physics, no one has ever left a Fast movie disappointed. You get EXACTLY what you are looking for.
How can you not love a franchise that has our future president say Daddy’s gotta go to work, then pulverize a full arm cast simply by flexing????
What is art, if not something designed to delight the soul?
I think these quotes aptly apply to the fast franchise: