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

Top News

Right before last week’s Rambler dropped we had news of Tommy Rees in talks with Alabama to become their next offensive coordinator. He gone.

Freshmen safety Adon Shuler is out for spring practice after having shoulder surgery.

The Tide are expected to hire Kevin Steele as their next defensive coordinator.

Reports are that the Big 12 has come to an agreement with Texas and Oklahoma about departing the conference after the 2023 season but that ESPN and Fox are unhappy with the situation and holding up a potential exit deal.

Also in the conference rumors, there are reports that the Pac-12 are in talks with San Diego State, SMU, and Fresno State as the league looks to add more television markets as they finalize their new television deal.

Florida State has boosted head coach Mike Norvell’s contract up from $3.75 million to $8.05 million per year through the 2029 season.

Defensive coordinator Lance Guidry coached a strong Marshall defense in 2022, jumped to Tulane this off-season, but is now headed to run the Miami defense for 2023. The Hurricanes will have to pay Tulane $500,000 for a contract buyout.

Boston College recently fired offensive line coach Dave DeGuglielmo which begs the question what took so long?

In the aftermath of Ed Reed leaving the program, Bethune-Cookman is set to hire alum Raymond Woodie who was the outside linebackers coach and recruiting coordinator at FAU.

Uniform of the Week

I’m surprised Rice still plays football the the FBS level. They are the 5th smallest school in FBS and the 2nd smallest non-academy behind Tulsa. They’re the most difficult school to gain admission into in Texas and specialize heavily in science and engineering research. Not set up real well for football success! They have also been killing me with some of the most bland uniforms (see header photo) in college football in recent years. Someone at the university thought it would be cool to have blue jerseys with no TV numbers or nothing on the shoulders. Something needs to change.

Back in 2006, Rice was rocking this outfit from the folks at Adidas. If you can mentally remove the gray USC-like shoulder stripe and the wide piping down the flanks this is a really nice uniform. Even the helmet logo is a step up for them. I’m a big fan of programs who have so little history and tradition mixing things up with fresh uniforms. Rice going with boring blue and white in the modern era is the worst example of adding insult to injury. Give those engineers a little something extra to play for and get excited about!

Recruiting

Notre Dame got a verbal from Texan cornerback Leonard Moore (0.8826) last weekend. You can read the commit post HERE.

Quarterback Walker White (0.9382) committed to Auburn.

Coach Prime got a verbal from Louisiana athlete Ju’Juan Johnson (0.9172).

A big recruiting win for SMU as they get a verbal from wide receiver Jamyri Cauley (0.9327).

Athlete Jacob Oden (0.9344) committed to Michigan.

In-state receiver Mazeo Bennett (0.9187) committed to South Carolina. The Gamecocks are off to a hot start in 2024 and currently have the #5 class in the nation.

YouTube Channel

My older brother got a Nintendo in the late 1980’s and I don’t remember him having many games outside of Super Mario Bros. and Duckhunt which came with the console, if I remember correctly. He must’ve rented games a lot and returned them, often not letting me play. So perhaps I’ve blacked out all of that pain. What I do remember is going to my dad’s cousins (who were much younger than him so closer to a cousin to me) and playing Tecmo Bowl in the basement of their parents house.

I don’t ever remember Tecmo Bowl being a massive arcade game prior to its release on console. That thing looks like a beast. What really changed the game was Tecmo Super Bowl which released in late 1991. Adding the actual teams and more players while being able to play an entire season was groundbreaking. Kids these days will never understand the overwhelming joy in the early 1990’s when all these sports games were coming out and you could play (and save!) full seasons with real players and teams.

Tunes

Greta Van Fleet is a good example of how rock is dead. I mean that in the sense of it really seems like GVF are cosplaying as rock stars. I know that’s unfair because musically this band does have the chops. They are just so damn weird. First, the singer, guitar, and bass player are all brothers. Look mom, we’re on stage together! And then Josh Kiszka’s voice is a mixture between Robert Plant and Geddy Lee on steroids. Their somewhat limited sound (most of their work has been as if they are trying to copy Led Zeppelin’s Physical Grafitti) plus that shrieking voice is why I can only listen to a couple of their songs and then I’m done.

Recently, Kiszka’s weirdness went a viral when a clip from their 2019 Saturday Night Live performance of “You’re the One” was widely mocked and imitated on TikTok. Just watch this guy’s mannerisms, faces, and the way he moves his mouth when performing. The TikTok part specifically is from 2:52 until 3:05 and is hilarious to repeat over and over. Stop being so weird!

Trivia

Who was the last Big Ten team that Notre Dame defeated who would go on to finish the season ranked in the AP Poll?

The Other Football

Once again, Manchester City is embroiled in Financial Fair Play accusations. The Premier League have filed more than 100 breaches from the 2009-10 through 2017-18 seasons following a 4-year(!) investigation. The matter will go to an independent commission and City could be facing fines, points reductions, or relegation from the EPL. The defending English champions had their previous 2-year ban from UEFA competition overturned and will be appealing this pending decision, as well.

American manager Jesse March has been fired by Leeds and they’ve yet to appoints a new boss. They sit squarely in the relegation zone and are clearly panicking. The team blew a 2-0 lead on Wednesday night and allowed Man United to draw 2-2 at Old Trafford.

The Sean Dyche era got off to a splendid start this past weekend as Everton beat top-of-the-table Arsenal 1-0. Way to go, Sean!

The embroiled City couldn’t gain ground on Arsenal for 1st place after Harry Kane’s club-record 267th goal saw Tottenham win 1-0.

The Mexican national team is hiring Tigres head coach Diego Cocca. He had just recently signed with Tigres after managing Atlas for 3 seasons.

The chief executive of A22 Sports Management says a future European Super League (ESL) could include 80 teams and not have clubs grandfathered in to the tournament like the first controversial proposal.

Streaming

I was looking through the filmography of Bill Murray and the one thing that jumped out to me was how long ago Kingpin came out. I had remembered this movie being more in the early 2000’s era of comedy but Kingpin came at the tail end of Murray’s 2nd wave of hit movies in 1996 preceded by Groundhog Day and What About Bob? in the early 1990’s. Murray also was featured in Space Jam in 1996, too. He’s put together like 3 separate elite runs on film.

No doubt, if Kingpin gets made today it’s on Netflix. Which wouldn’t be a bad thing and probably opens the door to a potentially even better spin-off series featuring further exploits of Ernie McCracken and his rise through the underbelly of the bowling world. Matter of fact, can we get this show greenlit even if we have to cast the 72-year old Murray in some way?

A Look Back

We know with hindsight that the 2005 Michigan team wouldn’t be that good. Still, you could argue the Charlie Weis era peaked in his second game with the Irish. This is still the only win in Michigan Stadium since the first year of the Clinton Presidency, and that makes me want to throw up and never talk about football ever again. Michigan would go on to finish 2005, after this 1-1 start, on a 6-4 run. They got as high as No. 3 in the nation (for this game against Notre Dame) and finished unranked.

However, there were only good vibes about this game at the time. The weather always stands out and is a great memory from this “upset.” As much as we hate Michigan, these day games under the sun in this rivalry have been a huge fabric of college football. Let me stop myself before I log in to Rock’s House and bemoan the chance to arrive back in Chicago for dinner because Notre Dame-Michigan games are almost always night games now in modern times.

18S Paddock Club

Previewing each team on the grid for the 2023 season…

Team: Red Bull
Founded: 2005
2022 Result: 1st
Base: Milton Keynes, UK
Owners: Red Bull GmbH
Power Unit: Red Bull Powertrains Honda
Team Principal: Christian Horner
Drivers: Max Verstappen (9th season) & Sergio Perez (13th season)

The Good: I mean, just about everything? Red Bull pulled a double championship for the first time since 2013 and Max Verstappen won back-to-back titles while smashing dozens of racing records. After some brief reliability problems to open the season, Red Bull cruised in 2022 and absolutely nailed the new aero downforce regulations with their car floor. Even Sergio Perez did good things winning in Monaco and Singapore.

The Bad: Depending on whose side you take, either Perez got a little too big for his britches or Verstappen wasn’t enough of a team player which led to some friction culminating in Brazil this past year. Red Bull have done well squashing things and promoting tranquility, but you never know. Some people think the relationship between the drivers is severed enough that Perez could have a quick hook on his job if he doesn’t perform up to expectations in 2023.

2023 Hope: Red Bull and Verstappen are favorites to win both titles again, so that’s a good place to start. There are some new regulations tweaks (coming in next week’s Rambler) that may bring the likes of Mercedes or Ferrari a bit closer to Red Bull, which should bring a challenge. Otherwise, Verstappen & Co. are in a good spot as they are well placed to finish this 2023-25 set of years with their Honda engines before embarking on their recently announced partnership with Ford in 2026.

Trivia Answer:

Northwestern, 2018, no. 21 overall