Your weekly dose of Notre Dame news, opinion, and other stuff.
Top News
Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel has signed a contract extension that will see him paid $9 million per year through the 2028 season. The Vols have also given athletic director Danny White (son of former Notre Dame AD Kevin White) a new 6-year deal worth $2.2 million per season.
Ed Reed is done as the head coach at Bethune-Cookman after just a few weeks following failed negotiations between the parties on a full contract.
Alabama offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien is headed back to the New England Patriots to run their offense in the NFL.
Georgia receiver AD Mitchell has transferred to Texas.
Michigan has fired co-offensive coordinator Matt Weiss.
Washington State head coach Jake Dickert has signed a contract extension through 2027.
Toledo head coach Jason Candle has signed an extension through 2026.
According to an audit, LSU overpaid Brian Kelly $1 million in 2022. Whoops.
Former Notre Dame player Maurice Crum has been hired by SMU to coach their linebackers.
Florida quarterback Jaden Rashada has been released from his Letter of Intent.
Uniform of the Week
The Under Armour All-American Game has been played since 2008 when the likes of Deion Walker, Jamoris Slaughter, and Braxston Cave took part in the inaugural all-star event televised by ESPN. Back then it was the ugly step-child of all-star games. In those early years, Under Armour really leaned into a heavy black and red color scheme for the uniforms. For 2014, they did an abrupt change introducing volt yellow into the red/black scheme for one team and dressing the other squad in volt, red, and gray. Ever since, the Under Armour games have given us some adventurous uniforms.
This past season I noticed the players were wearing very loud and busy uniforms during the practice sessions but didn’t wear these same sets during the actual game. I’m not sure if that’s happened in the past but it’s the first time I noticed it. A few weeks ago, the teams wore much more stripped down volt/black/white uniforms which used to be more associated with the rival U.S. Army All-American Bowl which is no longer sponsored by the military and simply called the All-American Bowl.
Recruiting
Princeton linebacker/edge rusher Cole Aubrey will walk-on at Notre Dame for the 2023 season after spending 4 seasons with the Tigers.
The nation’s top corner for the 2023 cycle Cormani McClain (0.9926) has signed with Colorado after spurning Miami.
The top offensive tackle for 2024 Kam Pringle (0.9736) is staying in state and gave a verbal to South Carolina. The Gamecocks also got a commit from tight end Michael Smith (0.9412) this week.
YouTube Channel
I didn’t have a really nice, modern wide screen television until 2012. Since then, I’m on my 2nd Vizio in our living room and the speakers are just terrible. We used to have a soundbar sitting in front of the TV but got rid of it after our rugrats were intent on destroying it. We’ve since built an addition and second living room where we put a monstrous-sized Samsung up on the wall. Those speakers are a little better. For me, I’m usually putting subtitles on for programs because the speakers aren’t great or I don’t want to listen at a really high volume.
I’m not a huge headphones guy at home (kids, again) but at work (one Bluetooth in the ear) or outside the house (both Bluetooth ear’d up) I’m not using subtitles. The only exception would be with shows that are a little more on the quiet side or not speaking clear English. For a lot of Netflix shows, I tend to have subtitles on and keep them on for the most part.
Tunes
In 7th grade I convinced my brother that we should sign up for the Columbia House music club because there were a few CD’s I needed. One of those was Band of Gypsys from 1970, aka the last album from Jimi Hendrix. It was recorded live at the Fillmore East on New Year’s Day 1970 and Hendrix would be dead 260 days later in a London hotel room. I remember being absolutely drawn to the album cover, as seen in the YouTube video below. I also remember being a little confused by the songs, as well.
For sure, the album is a lot more subdued and going in a different direction for Hendrix. Eventually, I would constantly listen to the 2nd track “Machine Gun” and then move on to something else. This song is a damn masterclass. Quite possibly Hendrix’ best guitar performance (live, no less) and right up there with the best work in the history of music. The album really suffers from the absence of drummer Mitch Mitchell and bassist Noel Redding but in a way without them Hendrix’ guitar is able to take center stage more, if that’s even possible.
Trivia
What is the only school over the last 7 seasons to average more than 600 yards of offense per game?
The Other Football
Everton have sacked manager Frank Lampard. There are also reports that the club is currently up for sale and can be had for $500 million.
Arsenal’s late winner from Edward Nketiah took the Gunners past Manchester United 3-2 over the weekend while they inch closer to the Premier League title.
Harry Kane’s goal in a 1-0 win over Fulham on Monday tied the club-record for most goals (266) set by Jimmy Greaves back in 1970.
Manchester United (3-0 over Nottingham Forest) and Newcastle (1-0 over Southampton) won the 1st legs of the EFL Cup semi-finals this week.
According to the FIFA Global Transfer Report, there were 20,209 transfers in international men’s football during 2022. The top 100 players were responsible for 50% of that money with the English Premier League topping $2 billion ($2.2 billion to be exact) for the first time in a calendar year.
Streaming
This past Sunday I decided I was going to feature a Tom Hanks movie from earlier in his career and decided on Big from 1988, a film definitely in the top 10 most watched in my life. On Monday morning, I refreshed the Apple podcasts app and voila Big was the new feature on the Ringer’s Rewatchables feed. This was definitely meant to be! As brought up in the podcast, this movie was seemingly on HBO every day for about a 3-year period into the early 1990’s. Any time I was home sick from school, it was time to watch Big, maybe a little Price is Right, with plenty of hours on the Sega Genesis.
The best part of the movie for me was dreaming about an apartment like Josh’s with all the toys. You know the Pepsi machine was the ultimate sign of kid luxury. The actual apartment is in Soho on Grand Street between Greene and Wooster Streets. It was recently sold by former GM President Dan Ammann for $9.75 million to television producer Casey Patterson.
A Look Back
Travel back to the first Sunday of the college football season. As Notre Dame fans, we were licking our wounds from the loss at Ohio State. We had 24 hours to rebound and get ready to watch the debut of Brian Kelly at LSU. I was able to catch the very beginning and the end of this game, which turned out to be one of the craziest of a very crazy season. The Athletic ranked this as the 10th most memorable game of the 2022 season.
Notre Dame made that list 3 times (Ohio State 32nd, Marshall 15th, and Clemson 12th) so hooray for the Irish. Even in losses it’s good to be on those lists, right!?? I thought it was interesting to look back at this game because in the moment it was funny to laugh at BK and LSU. Turns out, both programs really had good seasons going a combined 20-7 with final rankings in 11th (FSU) and 16th (LSU) in the AP Poll.
18S Paddock Club
Previewing each team on the grid for the 2023 season…
Team: Mercedes
Founded: 2010
2022 Result: 3rd
Base: Brackley, England
Owners: Mercedes-Benz Group/Toto Wolff/INEOS
Power Unit: Mercedes
Team Principal: Toto Wolff
Drivers: Lewis Hamilton (17th season) & George Russell (5th season)
The Good: No one came close to challenging Mercedes for 3rd place and they had a nice run of nearly chasing down Ferrari for 2nd in the constructors race. George Russell had a fantastic season getting to grips with a difficult Mercedes car in the first year with the team, including his first pole in Hungary and first career win in Brazil.
The Bad: It was a disaster season for a team that had won 8 straight constructor titles. Their zero sidepod car didn’t work that well and the Silver Arrows struggled with the ground effect bouncing as bad as anyone on the grid. After the media thought they’d easily overcome Red Bull following the animosity of 2021, they were embarrassed in that competition. They also wasted a year of Lewis Hamilton’s career, more or less.
2023 Hope: No team is more prepared to make up for mistakes than Mercedes. They are reportedly sticking with the zero sidepods for 2023 and surely will bring a car that is faster, eats the tires less, and isn’t bouncing anymore. The gap was still pretty big to Red Bull at the conclusion of 2022, but with the difference in wind tunnel/CFD testing time that surely will close up some more this season. Even the Red Bull leadership seem to worry more about Mercedes than Ferrari.
Trivia Answer:
Trick question…Kent State (606.5 yards) with only 4 games played in the 2020 Covid season.
I’m firmly on team always subtitles for everything. They’re great when it’s quiet, and I can ignore them if I don’t need them. It’s the first thing I do after logging into any streaming service for the first time.
I am thinking I need to morph into being a subtitles guy. At one point I had to rewind “The Last of Us” like three times in last week’s episode. Never played the video games, but am rather enjoying the beginning part of the show so far. The parts I can hear, anyways.
A downvote? I’m being oppressed!
I’m gonna get to the bottom of this!
I got it wrong. I shall accept my downvote in shame.
Think I finally buckled with subtitles on ted lasso, and now everything gets subtitles. Pretty much every hbo show is indecipherable, no idea how I made it that long. I mean house of the dragon I wouldn’t have anything or recognized any names. I’m never going back
Ha, I ran across that same video a couple days ago. Subtitles on for everything, the mumbling from actors has reached absurd levels. Like cool, you’re trying to speak more naturally than projecting towards a microphone, but if you talked like that in real life I’d have to ask you to repeat yourself every other sentence
I found that vox video validating because I’ve been worried about my hearing, lol. Between trying not to wake the kids plus all of the above, I’m firmly on team subtitles too.
Gotta wonder at what point do they come out with “aesthetic” subtitles to integrate into specific shows better – aside from the more standard subtitles used for individuals who are hearing impaired. Also pissed at some streaming services, Peacock for sure, which defaults to no subtitles, even though I turn them on every single time. When setting up a profile, one should be able to select Y/N to subtitles and then what style, if offered.
Confess extreme gratitude for topic of subtitles and positive comments from all (except Andy, comedic rationale understood). I have been using them for a few years now on streaming and DVD stuff. I started with French shows for obvious reasons, but discovered they were a big help with English language shows as well (like, I just watched all 12 episodes of Andor, and the subtitles seemed a positive addition). I figured it was getting older, hearing etc. and I am sure that’s some of it — but I suspect it may be a matter of modern production values? A thought.
I guess you could say in regards to Pringle’s recruitment, South Carolina……
Put a lid on it.
UHHHYYYEEEEAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH
Team anti-subtitles. Most of the scripted stuff I watch is comedy and I feel like subtitles steps on the comedic timing when you can see what line is coming before it’s said.
Comedy is a key exception. Totally agree.
I still leave them on, but just don’t look at them unless I need them
With the first window for transfers closed, three Pac12 teams are in the top 5 of On3’s ranking – USC, UCLA and Oregon. Oregon has just added a tenth transfer to fill in a hole in the secondary.
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Transfer portal breakdown: The 6 biggest winners from the open window period
UCLA never recruits as well as the other two. Spotlighting Oregon, their ’23 class totaled thirty with the ten transfers in and twenty-two players transferred out.
Last year was Lanning’s first and their ’22 class was low on commits with seventeen commits, but added twelve transfers in and had eighteen players transfers out. Nine of the seventeen commits in from the ’22 class redshirted.
That leaves Oregon with 93 players currently on scholarship (ND has ninety-four). Lanning is clearly remaking this team by maximizing the Transfer Portal and with his ’23 class. Seven incoming transfers in ’23 are listed as starters.
With the redshirts from ’22, Oregon has thirty-nine Freshmen.
I’ll guess maybe ECU?
just want to say I knew about Luke Talich way before Pete’s article.