Your weekly dose of Notre Dame news, opinion, and other stuff.
Top News
Irish safety Xavier Watts won the 2023 Nagurski Trophy.
Bo Nix, Michael Penix, Jayden Daniels, and Marvin Harrison are the 2023 Heisman finalists. Daniels won the AP Player of the Year award.
Alabama quarterback Tyler Buchner is transferring back to Notre Dame…to walk on to the lacrosse team.
Chris Tyree is transferring to Virginia for his last season of eligibility.
Former Irish and Arizona State quarterback Drew Pyne is back in the transfer portal.
Highly coveted Washington State quarterback Cam Ward entered the transfer portal. So has Oklahoma’s Dillon Gabriel, Ohio State’s Kyle McCord, Miami’s Tyler Van Dyke, and many more quarterbacks that are too numerous to track.
Duke is expected to hire Manny Diaz as its new head coach.
Texas A&M is hiring offensive coordinator Collin Klein away from Kansas State.
Kansas is hiring former Baylor assistant Jeff Grimes as their new offensive coordinator.
Derek Mason is the new head coach at Middle Tennessee State.
Wyoming head coach Craig Bohl has announced his retirement.
James Madison is hiring Holy Cross’ Bob Chesney as their new head coach.
Iowa defensive coordinator Phil Parker has won the Broyles Award as the best assistant in college football.
Jeff Tedford has stepped down as head coach at Fresno State due to health concerns.
Rice quarterback JT Daniels has retired due to concussions.
Oregon State and Washington State have come to a schedule agreement with the Mountain West for 2024.
Oregon, LSU, Washington, and Georgia are the Joe Moore Award finalists for the best offensive line in the country.
NCAA President Charlie Baker proposed a new form of FBS that allows schools to directly compensate student-athletes via NIL.
The Cotton Bowl has signed a deal to keep the Texas-Oklahoma rivalry game in Dallas through 2036.
Uniform of the Week
The alternate uniforms for the Army-Navy rivalry game stretch all the way back to the 2011 season. This will be the 13th straight game in the series where each school will be wearing a unique one-off uniform. Although, I think there may have been a couple designs from Navy that they co-opted for other games, as well. Since the game has the unusual spot after championship weekend these uniforms always get a larger spotlight than if they were worn in the middle of October amidst a hundred other football games.
The stupid Navy one came out with promo shots inside a submarine (I guess, I don’t know I’m not all Hunt for Red October submarine enthusiast you guys) and you can’t really see many details. It’s mostly black with some waves/lightning looking blue thing on the helmet. The Army desert color is a lot sharper and fits the program much better. Just as long as you don’t see too much sweat staining in weird spots. Luckily, it shouldn’t be very warm this weekend in Foxborough.
Recruiting
Notre Dame has added grad transfer and nickel corner Jordan Clark from Arizona State and FIU wide receiver grad transfer Kris Mitchell, as well. West Orange, Florida safety Ivan Taylor (0.9665) recently committed to the Irish out of the 2025 class.
Elite wideout Cameron Coleman (0.9962) has flipped from Texas A&M to Auburn.
Offensive tackle Jordan Seaton (0.9940) was the sole remaining uncommitted 5-star in the Composite until he gave a verbal to Colorado this week.
Ole Miss picked up the nation’s top JUCO wide receiver Deion Smith (0.9290).
Athlete Cai Bates (0.9530) committed to Florida State.
Running back Jason Brown (0.9281) committed to Arizona State.
In the 2025 class, local Baton Rouge athlete Keylan Moses (0.9212) gave a verbal to LSU.
Clemson also added defensive lineman Amare Adams (0.9516).
YouTube Channel
Just this week my oldest Quinn became a certified Swiftie. After weeks of refusing to believe me that Taylor Swift is super famous and successful and that this song or that song are in fact sung by Swift, she finally asked to go through the Apple Music library to add titles to her playlist. Well now the beast is unleashed. Of course, she recognizes all these songs and the music hasn’t stopped playing since. A couple days ago, she said she heard a guy’s voice on a song and said it must be Travis Kelce. Pop culture can be so weird.
I haven’t done the research but my theory is that Taylor Swift watched the New Heights podcast and fell in love with Kelce (she did just discuss how the podcast played a part in them getting together after Travis complained he didn’t get to see her after going to one of her shows). Really, him and his brother Jason are a delight and the perfect duo to pull this off as full-time NFL stars through this medium of entertainment. Compared to Swift, sure Travis Kelce isn’t that famous. But, my dude is in approximately 47 commercials airing in the United States right now and quickly rising through the ranks as one of the most well-known faces in North American sports.
Tunes
Their status on top of the world would end quickly but in 1973 Deep Purple were on fire. Back in March 1972 they released Machine Head which has stood the test of time as one of the best hard rock albums of all-time. At the end of the year, they released the wildly successful live album Made in Japan which was nearly 77 minutes long. Just over a month later, the band released another studio album Who Do We Think We Are.
The album made it to the top 20 on the Billboard charts and was considered a success, although living up to its predecessor was always going to be tall work. However, the band was fracturing from all off the touring and internal problems. For all intents and purposes this was their last hurrah before lineup changes forever changed the band. This album opened with one of their most well-known smash hits “Woman from Tokyo.”
Trivia
Where did Notre Dame’s offense finish in yards per play on offense in 2023? 7th? 10th? Or 22nd?
The Other Football
The Time Athlete of the Year is apparently a thing and they gave the award to Leo Messi.
A 97th minute header by Declan Rice stole 3 points for Arsenal on the road at Luton Town in midweek Premier League action. After 15 games, Arsenal are 2 points clear in 1st place.
DECLAN RICE WINS IT IN STOPPAGE TIME! 😱 pic.twitter.com/78vGFtzVuk
— NBC Sports Soccer (@NBCSportsSoccer) December 5, 2023
Liverpool’s Joel Matip has torn his ACL.
For the first time in their 111-year history, Brazilian club Santos (hometown club of Pele, no less!) were relegated to Serie B on Wednesday.
The draw for this summer’s Copa America was held on Thursday night with the United States placed in group C with Uruguay, Panama, and Bolivia. The other groups include Argentina, Peru, Chile, and either Canada/Trinidad & Tobago for A, Mexico, Ecuador, Venezuela, and Jamaica in B, and Brazil, Colombia, Paraguay, and either Honduras or Costa Rica in D.
The U.S. women have beat China twice in recent friendlies, first 3-0 last weekend and then 2-1 this week.
An American investment firm Arctos Partners has bought a 12.5% share in French powerhouse PSG.
TV & Movies
I had listened to a handful of Mike Birbiglia’s comedy shows many years ago and generally found him really funny. My younger cousins used to listen to his stuff all the time and there are still bits from those routines that I chuckle about today. Recently, I put on Birbiglia’s new special The Old Man & The Pool while home on a sick day.
While not drop-dead funny–he’s definitely had more gut busting stuff in the past–this special was incredibly well crafted and expertly delivered. A lot of it hit me in the feels really hard as he talks a lot about his health, parents, growing old, and his relationship with his family. If you haven’t watched it, check it out. You’ll never think about YMCA swimming the same ever again.
A Look Back
I can’t get the recent ESPN Selection Show out of my mind. Not only due to the controversy but also how awkward and weird the whole set up is on television for a decision with such mammoth ramifications to ripple through the sport. I like Greg McElroy but Joey Galloway and Booger McFarland are not interesting to me, plus Kirk Herbstreit is included off set, as well. Plus, 2 of the men on set are Alabama grads…more awkwardness! You really get the sense of the cost cutting nature from ESPN these days looking at this production. It’s slow, boring, and lacks no excitement.
People joke (not so jokingly of course) that college football has become a TV show first and foremost. Here’s the chance to really put together an actual television show, guys! ESPN is paying nearly $500 million for these rights to give us a weird graphic unveiling only to throw it back to a quiet studio so we have the luxury of listening to pundits complain or praise a decision. I need some more pizazz and excitement. Step one would be getting everyone from out behind a desk and standing up. That costs no money. A better set up (at least for the final rankings of the year) would be something similar to how the UEFA Champions League picks their team groups every year. Let’s get people up on a stage with bright lights.
18S Paddock Club
Reviewing the 2023 season for each team on the F1 grid…
Sauber (RIP Alfa Romeo)
Place: 9th/10
Points: 16
Valtteri Bottas: 10 points
Zhou Guanyu: 6 points
Anonymous. That’s the best and most apt description of Alfa Romeo’s F1 racing team. The Stellantis owned car manufacturer is now exiting the sport as title sponsor ahead of 2024 with reports that Sauber (the actual owners of the racing team and designers of the car) will be announcing a new title sponsor sometime this month, presumably for 2024-25 before another car manufacturing giant (Volkswagen in the form of Audi) takes primary control of the team beginning in 2026. It’s all very complicated but it makes perfect sense in the weird world of F1.
What isn’t complicated is that Sauber were mostly trash in 2023. Like their Ferrari-powered brethren, they could sometimes produce quality qualifying results but the race pace made the drivers invisible and easily overtaken at nearly every track. The team started out hot in 2022 and it’s mostly been a huge struggle over the last 30+ races or so.
A drop from 55 points in 2022 to just 16 points in 2023 is a pretty embarrassing drop.
Bottas is signed through 2025 which at least gives the team stability and a veteran presence until the major regulation change arrives. Zhou signed a 1-year extension with his long-term future a lot more uncertain. His rookie debut in 2022 showed some promise (coming off an okay but not stellar F2 career) and plenty of competitiveness against Bottas, although 2023 was far more lopsided against his teammate.
If it weren’t for Haas’ presence, no doubt the Sauber team would be the betting favorite to finish in last place in 2024. They’ve shown poor car development in this regulatory era, don’t have the Alfa Romeo sponsorship money anymore, and are stuck in this purgatory where engineering talent are loathe to work until Audi officially takes over in 2026.
Trivia Answer:
10th
I don’t understand studio analysts standing on a set. To me it looks awkward, like they might have to leave at any moment. Sit down and tell me what you think, let’s have a discussion.
Bob Chesney is a great hire for JMU. He’s not done moving up the coaching ladder.
I don’t always like standing but for sports it often feels more appropriate to me. Football especially, I feel like it’s the one thing ESPN/Fox/CBS/NBC have done pretty well in recent years is delivering talking points while standing with more screen info behind them.
There’s something about the energy I like better.
Going from a screen of graphics (this whole section of the show was creepily quiet) to unveil the rankings immediately to this shot:
…it feels a little Orwellian and too much like a political forum (not great connotations these days) instead of delivering something different. At least for me, I’m not really watching to listen to Booger and Kirk talk it out like it’s a foreign policy decision.
It definitely would have been fun if they were outside at FSU/Alabama/Texas during the show.
ESPN sucks on all levels. It is terrible trash that costs everyone money, wastes our time, and detracts from one’s ability to consume accurate, meaningful sports coverage.
Originally, once I started following OFD, I realized that ESPN straight up gives incorrect information about ND. Even their NFL coverage, which is their bread and butter, is often outright wrong. Any team focused fan site is so much more reliable for actual information.
What sealed the deal for my hate is when I learned that ESPN accounted for something like 50-75% of cable bills and was arguably the largest driver into the fracture of normal television into a dozen streaming services.
Every once in a while I am somewhat forced to watch ESPN for a specific game, or it’s on at a bar or something, and it is just poor quality television at this point. 100% fluff, no highlights, no great personalities like in the long long ago, and just kind of feels like a marketing tool for the NFL and NBA.
In conclusion. Please join me in my pursuit of ending the sad drawn out life of the former world wide leader. I have been boycotting them for getting close to a decade. I highly recommend other do too.
I hope everyone enjoyed my 1-3-1 essay. Hard to believe those used to take me like 2 days to write in HS. Granted I was a math nerd.
I agree. The selection show was the first espn I watched in a few years. Just waves of PR spin.
I suspect ESPN has gone down the same road as many other journalistic platforms on television: lay off the journalists and give the pundits raises. And even after that, it’s not even entertaining!
To make it even worse, those huge carriage fees ESPN was able to charge per cable subscriber is the reason huge tv deals were signed, conferences were blown up and old rivalries discarded, and coaching salaries turned into an arms race. And for what? A sports network that’s practically bankrupt because their parent company decided to blow billions of dollars on a streaming service that doesn’t make money.
All part of the mouse’s scheme to destroy sports as we know it and revert the primary viewing media format to wordless cartoons.
Don’t forget handing Pat McAfee $85 million
Going for the kids these days and discount barstool and gambling and shirtless demographic
Pat and I were born 9 days apart, but apparently I do not appeal to the kids these days to the tune of $85 mil.
Very unfair!
Pat McAfee as a “discount Barstool” pundit is actually a perfect description. I certainly could get not liking the whole Barstool thing, but, like, if you’re going to go for that vibe, you might as well just go whole hog. I guess the “$85 million” thing is he’s struck a balance where he’s just edgy enough to be edgy for ESPN but not actually edgy in a sense that it would be offputting to anyone. Kind of like WWE in its current TV-PG iteration! Relatedly, he’s in WWE.
It’s amazing to watch their boxing coverage in that they have an exclusive contract with Top Rank so they go full narrative spin for guys TR wants to promote. That’s not out of the norm for boxing, but the heavy hand that they use is undoubtedly the worst in the business. Full on narrative pumping mid-fight where they talk right over your lying eyes. It’s even more egregious because if you watch prelim fights on ESPN+, they’ll actually do normal commentary and give decent analysis. Then things to live on the main broadcast and credibility goes out the window. This is how it works for them across everything.
I also check ESPN.com fairly regularly. I know it’s a garbage source for specifics, like you talk about with their NFL coverage vs. team specific sites, but it’s useful for getting the big and breaking news of the day. They have yet another story on Deion on the front page of their CFB section.
I check the ESPN app, but I don’t think I check the website or the actual station much anymore. I think the only time I watch ESPN is when there is a specific game I want to watch
Are the Kelce brothers the best brother athletes of all time? Travis is already in the convo for greatest TE ever. Jason has been first team all pro 5x already, just simply being famous probably gives him an edge to get 1-2 more, depending how much longer he plays. Combined they have 9 first team and 3 second team selections.
It is somehow easier to come up with father/son athlete combos than brothers (especially baseball). There’s a bunch of NBA bros, with the Gasols being the best I can think of. The NFL has a few. The McCourty bros are all-pro + pretty good, I’d say similar to the Gasols, if not quite that level.
The Mannings are the best I can think of. While Peyton tops either Kelce, I’d say the Kelce combo outdoes them with Eli dragging Peyton down.
Any other HoF brother combos out there?
Being a Cardinals guy, I’ll vote for the Molinas. All three brothers Yadi, Bengie, and Jose have rings, six total. Yadi has 55 fWAR, Jose has 17, and Bengie 10.
Although it will take a loooong time for anyone to catch the Dimaggio bros: Joe at 82 fWAR, Dom at 35, and Vince at a productive 19. An all-timer, a Hall of Very Good, and a solid journeyman.
Honorable mention: Tiki Barber is one of 4 NFL players with 5,000 receiving and rushing yards, and Ronde is in the Hall of Fame as a corner back.
Those are some good ones. I always forget about Dom, but have somehow never even heard of Vince. I’ll definitely give the edge to the Dimaggios, but in the end Kelce may be mentioned in as many songs as Joe.
The Molinas are also a great case. Hard for any 2 to compete with either of these 3 somes. As it stands right now, I’d rank their total career achievements ahead of the Kelces. Although, I think by the end of their careers, the Kelces will pass them. It is very in the realm of possibility for them to end up with 6 rings between the two of them (4-5 is probably more realistic) and both should be HoFers, with Travis being first ballot.
The Barbers were definitely NFL standard bearers of great bros for a long time. Can’t believe I forgot about them. Rhonde was one of my favorite players. I was randomly a big Bucs fan in the Sapp era.
Top of my head, Maurice and Henri Richard. (6 rings? That’s it ? 19 Stanley Cups)
Canadians???? Canadians aren’t athletes.
I’ve honestly never heard of these two, but I’m just not a hockey fan. They appear to be the driving force behind the Canadiens dynasty.
Maurice Richard was an 8 time first team all star and 4 time second team. Impressive. Henri was clearly the slacker in the family with only 1 first team! Although he did win 3 more cups than his bro. Pretty cool to have 2 brothers this good on the same team and for so long.
I guess by default you’d have to add Wayne, Keith, and Brent Gretzky, sorry Glen.
Nicknames, The Rocket, and The Pocket Rocket.
They played 5 years together and won 5 Cups.
Some family athletes who were very good (but probably not at the Kelce brother level) are the Alou family. Felipe was the first Dominican to regularly play in the Majors. Felipe and his brothers Matty and Jesus were the first all brother outfield in the majors. Felipe had a son, Moises, who played in the majors. His brother was a manager of the Mets and his cousin Mel Rojas pitched in the majors for ten years.
The Van Arsdale twins played in the NBA for twelve years and both were three time All Stars.
Dizzy Dean is enshrined in Cooperstown and his brother Paul was a very good pitcher in the majors.
I would have to say that Serena and Venus Williams tops any other siblings by far.
Wow, forgot about Venus and Serena. 30 singles grand slams and 23 doubles, plus 3 doubles Gold Medals and an Olympic Gold.
Serena is the only athlete to hold a Golden Slam in singles and doubles.
Yeah, serious facepalm for not thinking of them.
after the title of the last article you missed a great opportunity to plug some Sum 41 in the tunes section lol
Player transfer from aTm to Auburn? Looks like Jimbo isn’t the only guy who is getting paid for leaving that mess.
well it’s a recruiting flip but the point stands. I bet Auburn is offering a pretty penny (though A&M might have been offering pretty good coin to begin with).
So with enough money, Collin Klein actually can be lured away from his alma mater, huh. Really glad the people in charge of the athletic department decided not to spend money on assistant hires last offseason, it saved up funds to host masturbatory receptions in Dublin.
Any word on $$$? Sometimes things like this are about timing. Like last year did K. St. expect to have a really good QB that Klein maybe wanted to coach (i know howard is in the portal now but not sure how good he was expected to be beforehand). But now a similarly nice $$$ offer is more attractive after the talented and experienced QB is leaving? Just wondering.
We are shopping with a Capital One mascot card. aTm is shopping with the Amex Black Hole card.
I am curious about his salary. Is aTm still shelling out cash given the Jimbo situation and that these are younger up and comers? I guess it’s a public school, so it will have to be made public at some point.
I tried to look it up, and so far there’s just speculation that it’s over $1mil. So somewhat comparable to what we gave Tommy to stay after Kelly bailed. I just really think the administration hasn’t gotten lambasted enough for leaving a huge mess at OC, squandering a season, because they didn’t want to spend money.
I wonder what we are giving Brown. Based on his status as UW, it seems like to steal him away we’d have to be giving him basically OC money. Of course, NDs coaching salaries are so convoluted, even the info that does get made public is hard to really compare to others.
Now that I think about it. What if Brown actually is the new OC, and Parker is back to just TE coach. And they just aren’t announcing that because they never announce anything until it’s official. My tinfoil hat is extra conductive today.
Yeah, I wonder if there’s going to be some politicking around it with multiple people technically in charge of the offense (like the Sanford/Denbrock situation), but really there’s a shadow OC in charge of things.
If you watch that Duke end-of-game video it seemed like Guidugli was pretty involved with decision-making already (he was the one who initially pushed for kicking the 45 yard field goal at the end, a yikes only exceeded by Freeman agreeing it was a good idea). So, maybe a third cook in the kitchen?
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K State has a pretty highly ranked freshman turning sophomore QB to replace Howard, presumably one that Klein recruited and developed so far, so I wouldn’t find that too convincing.
IIRC message board gossip was that he met with the QB room and they didn’t click and all parties agreed it wasn’t a good fit. I think money wasn’t the main issue with Klein, unlike Ludwig.
What would take for ND to get out of the ACC Bowl Tie-In? I imagine it’s a stand-alone contract that could benefit both parties to end. With so many transfers and opt-outs of bowls, they are getting to be window dressing that does not bring ND Athletics a lot of revenue to the University. We could partner with a bowl for appearance in years we do not make the CFP. Perhaps a warm weather, European, Mexican or a pro stadium sites. For players it would be a reward and fans might enjoy such a trip. Take along the lacrosse or soccer teams. We’d have to work out what opponents would be available and a media contract. It would certainly be attractive for the host cities to have the Irish and fans come for a period of time. Paris anyone?
That sounds like an amazing idea!
Let’s do it with Hawaii! The Hawaii bowl already has this kind of deal with UH, so let’s just be the other half. These 3rd tier games are so meaningless that the opponent really doesn’t matter. It would be nice to get an easy win during a year that we needed it. And a pretty cool recruiting pitch to say that kids get a trip to Hawaii any year we aren’t in the playoff.
But mostly, I want an excuse to go to Hawaii in December with college buddies. Mele Kalikimaka!
Nice. Anyone still enrolled gets to go including transfers out, opt-outs, walk ons, early entrants to the NFL, new coaches, seniors with no eligibility left, even those who intend on playing in the Senior Bowl. For an overseas one, duty-free swag. Pete Bevacqua can work out the media partner, sponsorship and uniforms for the bowl. Opponents might include 5-7 or less teams such as Colorado this year or a top G5 team. With Pac 12 bowl tie-ins in flux, now might be a time to contract with conferences for possible opponents alternatives and tie-ins. Stadium size would be a consideration. Still I’d like to see a HC priest sunbathing on an Oahu beach.
Looks like the Aloha Bowl holds 50k. That seems reasonable enough.
I can definitely see Monk and Jenkins doing a little emeritus sunbathing on Waikiki.
Paris — I’m down! The women’s BB trip went super well (except they lost).
Blake Fisher to the NFL:
https://x.com/bfisher54_/status/1733174613507506219?s=20
Wonder if he’ll get any higher than the 3rd round? But what’s his floor in the draft? 5th-6th?
I had heard since basically last year he was planning to go to the draft after this year, I kept hoping that the right person from the NFL would tell him he needs the extra year of development. I think your estimates are pretty good assuming he tests at least mediocre at the combine.
Yea I’m with you. It’s a bit surprising that way, but on the other hand, I’d probably have a tough time turning down a few hundred thousand for a few years as early as I could get it.
PFF has him ranked 118 which is a 4th round grade and the 15th OT currently.
Men’s soccer plays for the National Championship Monday at 6 eastern on ESPNU against Clemson.
Wowsie! Seriously — I had no idea over here, thanks for the notification. Go Irish!
Brian Kelly: QB Whisperer
Ahahahahahahaha
Howard Cross back for next year. Huge get.
Good stuff.
And now another graduate transfer WR, this time former top 100 recruit Beaux Collins.
Plays outside mostly since his freshman year. No single dynamite year, but proven production over three years.
2023: 38 catches, 510 yards, 13.4 YPC, 3 TD (11 games)
2022: 22 catches, 373 yards, 17.0 YPC, 5 TD (10 games)
2021: 31 catches, 407 yards, 13.1 YPC, 3 TD (11 games)
Career Totals: 91 catches, 1,290 yards, 14.2 YPC, 11 TD