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.”Â
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.
The exact correct amount of orange in those BSU unis.
What of the collars!??
God no, that would be gauche
Really impressive that the Bulls have used the exact same logo for nearly 60 years. Makes buying a Bulls hat a good investment, as you’ll be able to wear it forever.
Looking at other Chicago teams, the Cubs have worn the same primary hat since 1958, White Sox since ’91, Bears helmet goes back to ’74 and the Blackhawks logo has been the same only since 2000 – though it’s been only minorly tweaked several times since ’60. For being a progressive bastion in the Midwest, Chicago sure doesn’t like to change its logos too often.
Chicago, the top sports logo town in America?
Boston vs. Chicago, maybe?
Aside from the Bulls, I don’t really love any of the other logos. Bears’ is just a weird “C”, Cubs is an unpleasing copy wright mark, Sox is just Olde English, which I don’t care for. And, in the year 2023, I don’t think it’s a wise idea to suggest I “enjoy” Chief Blackhawk as the mascot.
Boston it is then!
But also no?
I think Seattle gets it. Trogdor-esque Kraken + Mariners + Seahawks + Sonics
If we’re including old teams than Hartford wins.
Minimum of 3 teams
And a top tier MLS logo for Seattle, with a solid WNBA logo too. Chicago Sky WNBA logo is not great. Is that the old Sears Tower? The Hancock? Sort of both? And they keep changing names, unlike the Space Needle. Thumbs down.
Sorry for the deep MLS dive, I’m avoiding thinking about STL City SC’s two straight losses, with Cincinnati coming in to town as the top team in the east.
With MLS as a tiebreaker, the Revolution logo is bad (Old English alert!), but the Chicago Fire is awful. The “kill it with fire” joke is too easy to make here.
Who thought fire engine red and Carolina blue looked good together? It kinda works on the flag of the city of Chicago because the blue is a subtle highlight for the white and there’s just the few red stars, but way too much blue and red on the logo.
The spring construction season on campus right now is dominated by geothermal well drilling equipment. They’ve torn up the lot immediately south of the Joyce Center to install 100-ish of the planned 500 wells that will go in the combined stadium parking area. There’s also more electrical wiring in place than needed for the light poles they’ll be putting back making me think they’re secretly preparing to provide a field of EV chargers sometime in the future, although likely not as part of the current project.
650 more wells are going in beneath north campus fields to bring the current campus total to 1,300. White Field and Burke Golf Course are under consideration for future well fields which could number 1,000 wells each.
Interesting project, especially to see it going in, that the University projects to have a 15 year payback period.
Very interesting project, thanks for sharing!
Wow!
Is that picture where a parking lot used to be?
Technically, it still is a parking lot. For drilling rig trucks.
That picture is from the University because I didn’t think to snap one of the work around Joyce. It’s of the first well field installation, which is under the Stinson Rugby stadium and Ricci soccer fields. As of last Saturday the drilling machines had moved to the Joyce lot which looks pretty similar to this, except different background buildings.
They’ll need to put the lot back by fall because our tailgate spot is in the torn up section.
My guess for the trivia question is *deep, painful sigh* Young Sheldon
*checks* OH SON OF A-
Nailed it.
90s Hornets gear is the GOAT basketball gear, no one denies this
Undisputed.
Between this, the Carolina Panthers and “My Brother and Me”, Charlotte really dominated the mid-90’s
Washington Bullets logo rocked hard.
(Also kinda ironic the nation’s capitals has had two semi-recent sports team name changes to be more PC. Only safe ones are the generic Capitals/Nationals type).
ND Women’ BB in Paris!! Too cool!!
Colorado is denying a report that their Board of Directors may vote on leaving the Pac 12 as early as Monday. In March, it was reported that the Big 12 has reached out to the Four Corners schools in the Pac 12 for interest in joining the conference.
June 30 is the last day for San Diego State to inform the Mountain West to give notice to the MWC that it is leaving the conference and avoid paying a penalty. The Aztecs’ run to the NC game has boosted their stock further towards becoming a Pac 12 member.
Fresno State and Boise State would also seem to be natural choices to join the Pac 12. Boise usually plays a Pac 12 North school annually – Oregon State (’22 & ’24), Oregon (’24, ’25, ’26), Washington (’23), Last year, Boise State as well as Fresno State scored more points against Oregon State than Washington St, Colorado, Arizona State, and Cal did, Boise State scored as many as USC (17 points) against Oregon State. Fresno State scored 32 points against the Beavers in a three point loss.
The Mountain West conference recently raised the cost of leaving the conference. which is now $33 million if notice is given one year or less and $16.5 million if a team gives more than one year notice. Estimated valuations for a new Pac 12 media deal would probably be about $30 million per team, but is still being negotiated. Boise State has maintained a media contract separate from the Mountain West media deal which brings in an additional $1.8 million on top of conference revenue distribution to the school. ESPN previously broadcast Boise’s games, which are now with Fox.
I’m not certain anything can help the PAC 12 enough to save them in the long term, because their real problem is people don’t tune in. Compared to the B1G or SEC their alums don’t care about football and culturally the local small-college or non-college people don’t adopt the major regional teams at the same rate.
However, in the short term it seems like they really need to pursue San Diego State and Fresno State hard to maintain a major broadcasting presence with Southern California.
From the above article, it’s kinda weird that Boise never made it to the PAC12 too in last decade’s wave of re-alignment, no?
Not that they have a huge national footprint or anything to drastically elevate the whole league, but given the strength of their football program and notoriety in the last 20 years, I would think that would be a boost to the conference. But, admittedly, I have no clue how the institution may or may not align as a potential member overall, but I mean if they’d take Utah, why not.
The Pac 12 have always had a time zone problem with games showing on the East coast markets late at night, which decreased their value to potential media partners. Competitively, as a conference by decades (an outside of the unfinished 2020s) the last decade the Big 10 had a winning record vs the Pac 12 was the 1950s decade. The real-time viewing markets for the Big and SEC are bigger, but Pac 12 teams viewership now trends towards more streaming than the others, which may make it attractive to those services.
As far as conference expansion, conference membership teams generally protected their existing teams to avoid sharing the revenues, until this last wave of expansion of Texas, Oklahoma, USC and UCLA that that moved beyond a regional footprint. The PAC expanded to Arizona, Utah and Colorado for the Denver, Phoenix and Salt Lake City markets, of course.
Pittsburgh would have been a good expansion team for the Big with Penn State, BYU with Utah, San Diego State and Fresno with the Pac instead of Colorado and Arizonas. Whether Oregon and Washington would join the Big and leave Oregon State and Washington State behind might be a matter of state approval.
Man, what the hell was up in the world of logo design in the late 90s?
Love Eric Andre. Plenty of short skits have some incredible stuff, this is one of my faves
https://youtu.be/yet2Q0M32GQ
Also on the recruiting front, Deon Sanders’ remaking of the Colorado Buffalos is amazing. From Our Lads, the Colorado depth chart
Fifteen starters are new, not including special teams players and six new players on the second team. On3 ranks Colorado as Number 1 on their Transfer Portal Index. (Dylan Edwards is not yet on their depth chart). NIneteen players have transferred out including five after the Portal opened again. It will be quite interesting to see if Deon further takes advantage of the Portal and if there are more transfer out.
The Spring game is sold out (40,000 tickets sold) and will be televised on ESPN.