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

Top News

Notre Dame women’s basketball will open up the 2023-24 season on November 6th in Paris, France against South Carolina.

Former Notre Dame running back Josh Adams was hired by Clark Lea at Vanderbilt as a quality control assistant.

Former Arizona Cardinals head coach Kliff Kingsbury has been hired at USC as an offensive analyst.

The Big Ten has hired Tony Petitti as their league’s new commissioner. Petitti is the former COO of Major League Baseball, former CEO of the MLB Network, and the former vice president of CBS Sports.

The ACC has extended commissioner Jim Phillips for 3 more years and will see him continue in that role through the 2028-29 school year. Great move by his agent as the Big Ten was looking for a new leader.

NC State backup quarterback Ben Finley has entered the transfer portal.

According to a report released by USA Today, the Georgia Bulldogs ($4.51 million) and Clemson Tigers ($3.15 million) were the top spenders in football recruiting for the 2022 year among public universities. Oklahoma State spent the least among the Power 5 with $455,689 charged to recruiting efforts.

The spring transfer portal opens up on Saturday, April 15th and runs until Sunday, April 30th. Remember, graduates can enter the portal and transfer at any point outside of these windows.

Uniform of the Week

I caught this short little social media clip from some college football person who was talking about the programs that have kind of fallen apart and aren’t talked about that much anymore. He mentioned West Virginia, Virginia Tech, and then Boise State. What happened to Boise State? I don’t live out west so I don’t have a pulse on things coming out of Idaho. But, I guess the biggest common denominator is that the Broncos never got out of that regional Group of 5 conference purgatory. Going from the Big West, to WAC, and now Mountain West hasn’t done much for their profile. They are miles away from the likes of Utah and TCU compared to 20 years ago.

They’ve won at least 10 games in 5 out of the last 6 non-Covid years, too! It’s not like they aren’t still winning at a pretty high rate. But they aren’t playing that many Power 5 teams anymore and when they do, they’re usually losing. In fact, their last win over a Power 5 program was beating Florida State in the 2019 opener. That Seminoles team finished 6-7. I also think Boise State has gone away from their “look” way too much. They had carved out the whole blue turf thing with blue uniforms in a very identifiable and modern iconic way. These days, they don’t wear blue quite as often.

Recruiting

Top 100 quarterback Air Noland (0.9569) has an awesome name and committed to Ohio State. The Buckeyes also picked up Texas linebacker Payton Pierce (0.9364), as well.

He is just a current 3-star from Indiana but it’s noteworthy that receiver NiTareon Tuggle (0.8867) committed to Georgia on Tuesday because his name is NiTareon Tuggle.

Montgomery, Alabama quarterback KJ Jackson (0.8933) committed to Arkansas over the weekend. The Hogs also picked up 4-star linebacker Julius Pope (0.9014), too.

Another quarterback came off the board this past weekend as Michael Hawkins (0.9058) gave a verbal to Oklahoma.

Offensive tackle Andrew Sprague (0.9342) committed to Michigan. Willingly, I guess?

Running back Quinton Martin (0.9813) committed to Penn State.

Texas safety Aaron Flowers (0.9397) committed to Oregon.

A quick peek at the 2025 class…

Georgia is straight cleaning up with commitments from edge Elyiss Williams (0.9904), offensive tackle Micah Debose (0.9770), defensive lineman Justus Terry (0.9855), and linebacker Jadon Perlotte (0.9864).

Quarterback Austin Simmons (0.9656) committed to Florida.

Offensive tackle Mason Short (0.9554) committed to Alabama.

Offensive tackle Jaelyne Matthews (0.9734) committed to Penn State.

Corner Chris Ewald (0.9710) committed to Michigan.

YouTube Channel

I started an off-season project on college logos that hopefully I can get completed before the football season kicks off. We’re about to enter the Dark Times of blogging soon. Recently, I came across this YouTube video going through all of the NBA logos through the years. This is pretty fun and entertaining in parts because I don’t think many of the old logos are as popular or as remembered like they would be in the NFL (where logos rarely change, to be fair) and the MLB (where there’s been 100+ years of meticulous research and America’s Pastime discussion).

Current logos that I do not like: Nets, Hornets, Cavs, Mavericks, Clippers, Thunder, Magic.

Current logos that are great: Celtics, Bulls, Warriors. Really, not as many as I thought. Do better, NBA!

Old logos that were awesome: Hawks (72-95), Celtics (60-68), Hornets (89-02), Nuggets (74-76), Nuggets (92-93), Pacers (90-05), Braves (72-78), Heat (88-99), Bucks (68-93), Timberwolves (97-08), Sonics (76-95), Sixers (64-77), Blazers (02-03), Spurs (89-02).

Tunes

I was watching an interview recently with Stone Temple Pilots bassist Robert DeLeo (you can view it HERE) and I can say with confidence that he’s one of the most underrated musicians of all-time. He didn’t look like this early in their career, but if you look at later-era STP, DeLeo kind of looks like Steven Seagal was playing bass in the band. It’s really hard to unsee especially if he’s wearing sunglasses. It’s kind of funny that his older brother played guitar in the band–and they were extremely guitar driven–but it was the younger DeLeo who wrote the music and guitar parts for many of their songs.

I felt like Nirvana’s mega success coming off Nevermind brought them appeal to a much younger crowd while STP hit their sweet spot for a little older age group, especially college-aged boys. Since I was one of those younger kids, I gravitated toward Nirvana’s mystique. But looking back, I think I like STP better. My goodness their first 2 albums Core and Purple are outrageously impressive. They packed a full album of all-time bangers on those first couple records. Also, I will forever stump hard for 1999’s “Sour Girl.” 

Trivia

Can you name the one network show from the 2021-22 season that finished in the top 12 of TV ratings that wasn’t a football, crime, or an investigative program?

The Other Football

The Champions League quarterfinals kicked off this week with Manchester City defeating Bayern Munich handily 3-0 while Inter Milan beat Benfica 2-0 on Tuesday. On Wednesday, Real Madrid beat Chelsea 2-0 and AC Milan got past Napoli 1-0 in the 1st leg action.

Absolute scenes in the National League of England where Wrexham AFC (as many may know, the team owned by actors Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney) held of Nott’s County 3-2 in a battle of the top teams on the table. The win came after a huge extra-time penalty save, as well.

Wrexham now sit in 1st place by 3 points and whomever tops the table gets automatic promotion to League 2, while teams 2 through 7 in the standings fight it out in a playoff for the other promotion spot.

Dean Smith has been appointed the manager at Leicester City as they fight to avoid relegation.

Terrible news for the USWNT as leading scorer Mallory Swanson tore her patellar tendon in a 2-0 win over Ireland on Saturday. The injury should keep Swanson out of this summer’s World Cup which is just under 100 days away from kicking off.

The Rambler curse continues for St. Louis as they fall 3-0 to Seattle in MLS action over the weekend. The Sounders now move into 1st place in the Western Conference by a single point.

The EPL is banning gambling sponsors from the front (but not the sleeves!) of shirts and teams have until the end of the 2025-26 season to phase these deals out. This currently affects 8 out of the 20 Premier League teams.

Streaming

Last week I brought up some funny but also very cringey and difficult comedy to watch and this week I’m taking it to another level with the Eric Andre Show. They’ve done 5 seasons on the Cartoon Network in the Adult Swim block and just announced the 6th season is coming out this summer. What will Andre come up with for yet another series of absurd comedy?

When he hits the streets that’s really where Andre shines, in my opinion. Hit This Ranch! or also known as Ranch Guy, for some reason I love those skits. Most of the skits are premised on making people as uncomfortable as possible and in studio things can get very, very weird. I like when he’s not quite as in your face to people in public. Funnily enough, I came across news that Eric Andre just held a big 40th birthday party, and yup, it was extremely weird.

A Look Back

I think most Irish fans were so mad and depressed that it ended up being a blip on the radar from the 2022 season. However, you have to admit that Marshall losing to Bowling Green the week after winning inside Notre Dame Stadium is kind of funny. You want to talk about a let down sandwich? I hope the Marshall prognosticators saw it coming!

Marshall led 14-0 and 21-7 in this game, too. They tied it up late in the 4th quarter only to end up losing in overtime while giving up a touchdown after scoring a field goal for the lead. Marshall gained 547 yards but were -3 in turnovers. Yup, that’ll do it. The Herd lost to Troy the following week as well but did win 7 out of their last 9 games to finish 2022.

18S Paddock Club

Formula 1 returns in a couple weeks and before we get to the Azerbaijan preview next week (featuring new updates to a sprint weekend!) I wanted to take a quick look at the driver contracts situation.

Deals Beyond 2023

Valtteri Bottas, Alfa Romeo (2025)
Nyck de Vries, AlphaTauri (2024)
Esteban Ocon, Alpine (2024)
Pierre Gasly, Alpine (2024)
Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin (2024)
Lance Stroll, Aston Martin (Indefinitely LOL)
Charles Leclerc, Ferrari (2024)
Carlos Sainz, Ferrari (2024)
Niko Hulkenberg, Haas (2024)
Lando Norris, McLaren (2025)
Oscar Piastri, McLaren (2024)
George Russell, Mercedes (2024)
Max Verstappen, Red Bull (2028)
Sergio Perez, Red Bull (2024)

Everyone on this list should be safe, although tell that to Daniel Ricciardo. There are reports that the de Vries contract has some sort of team option for 2024, and he hasn’t exactly been meeting expectations through 3 races, either. As a non-Red Bull academy driver his future could become really tenuous very soon if he doesn’t pick it up. Red Bull could also sell the team which would complicate matters.

I can see extensions coming soon for Ocon, Alonso, Hulkenberg, and Russell by the time we get to this summer. Alpine has gone through so much drama with their contract handling, and although they were mildly criticized for locking Ocon up for 3 more years in his current deal, keeping him long-term is the smart decision. Alonso is fighting at the top of the grid and should be locked down beyond 2024. That’s a no-brainer. Hulkenberg has impressed greatly back in the Haas and should have plenty of negotiating power against a team with few options and no academy.

George Russell also has plenty of power to negotiate a new deal with Mercedes as the future of Lewis Hamilton remains in doubt. If I were Russell’s agent, I’d be looking for a new deal ASAP with a significant pay raise (Hamilton reportedly earns $25 million to $30 million more per year) before Mercedes works things out with Hamilton (which they very likely will do).

There’s been a lot of talk about Norris being “stuck” at McLaren. On the one hand, 2025 doesn’t seem that far away but as you can see it’s tied for the 2nd longest contract remaining on the grid. He won’t find a seat at Mercedes until Hamilton retires. He could take over for Perez at some point, but does he want to be a no. 2 driver against Verstappen? Ferrari could be lurking down the road, perhaps.

Expiring Following 2023

Zhou Guanyu, Alfa Romeo
Yuki Tsunoda, AlphaTauri
Kevin Magnussen, Haas
Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes
Alex Albon, Williams
Logan Sargeant, Williams

Alfa Romeo is in an interesting spot now. In 2026, the team will be primarily owned (and re-named) by Audi with the German car manufacturer reportedly already having a stake in the team. Alfa Romeo is also exiting their relationship with the team after this season. Zhou has performed well against modest expectations and should get an extension unless something crazy happens. But, they might also be interested in trying talented F2 driver Theo Pourchaire and getting his feet wet as soon as possible.

Tsunoda was predicted to struggle against de Vries and that’s not been the case at all. Opinions on him are all over the place, though. Red Bull really doesn’t have an emerging talent ready to grab a F1 seat at the moment, and that could end up saving Tsunoda’s seat.

Magnussen’s had a dreadful start to 2023 but Haas really doesn’t seem willing to dip its toes into the younger driver pool and at least a 1-year extension makes sense for the Danish driver.

All signs point to Hamilton re-signing with Mercedes and coming back for his 18th season in F1, and 12th with the Silver Arrows. There was far more drama about him coming back following 2021’s disappointment but both sides have been talking confidently about him remaining in their team.

Albon is an absolute lock to re-sign with Williams, unless a better seat opens up. Sargeant has a long way to go in his rookie season but so far the vibes are mostly positive. Except for him ramming into de Vries to end the last race.

Trivia Answer:

Young Sheldon, CBS.