Your weekly dose of Notre Dame news, opinion, and other stuff.
In the News
Romeo Okwara became a free-agent but signed back up with the Detroit Lions for $39 million over 3 years.
Josh Adams is staying with the New York Jets on a 1-year deal.
Drew Brees retired after a long NFL career and is expected in the booth for Notre Dame games on NBC. So long, Tony Dungy.
The new NFL TV deal is done and dusted. Here’s the most important nuggets: 11-year deal through the 2033 season, Amazon Prime gets exclusive Thursday night games for $11 billion over 10 years starting in 2023, NBC is paying $2 billion annually for their package, Disney is paying $2.7 billion per year for their package, Fox is paying over $2 billion, and Disney gets one international game plus 2 Super Bowls on ABC.
Season opener alert: Florida State quarterback McKenzie Milton is gaining confidence as the Seminoles open spring practice.
Changes could be coming to the college football overtime rule: “If the NCAA Football Rules Committee gets its wish, college football teams will be required to run two-point plays after scoring a touchdown in the second overtime — and would run nothing but alternating two-point plays if the game goes three overtimes or longer.”
The ACC will now allow athletes to transfer within the league without having to sit out a year.
The HBCU Bowl will begin play next February on the weekend after the Super Bowl to celebrate and highlight the top football players at Historical Black Colleges as part of a wider celebration of black culture and history.
Nebraska reportedly is trying to get out of its September matchup with Oklahoma, despite it being a celebration of the 50th anniversary of their 1971 “Game of the Century.” The Sooners AD has bluntly responded that they have every intention of playing the game.
Throwback Article
The linebacker class from 2019 is likely to make a big impact this upcoming season. You can re-read our grades and comments from over 2 years ago for those players HERE.
The Portal
The college football Portal is quiet at the moment as most of the action surrounds college basketball as that sport’s regular season just ended. However, former Oklahoma defensive back Brendan Radley-Hiles is transferring to Washington.
Wisconsin safety Reggie Pearson played quite a bit early in his career, missed 2020 with a medical issue, and is leaving Madison.
Helmet Talk
To my knowledge, Oregon has never worn this yellow helmet with Puddles the duck emblazoned on it. This appears to be a replica or possibly even a mini-helmet. The Ducks have worn various other helmets with Puddles as the logo in the past, though.
Their throwback uniforms are among my favorite in the country, although the old UO logo is a bit of a drag and certainly doesn’t fit Oregon’s identity these days. I’d love to see them pair this helmet with the throwback uniforms since they already have Puddles on the sleeves.
Recruiting
It’s been a big week for Notre Dame as they picked up corner Jaden Mickey (0.908) out of California on Sunday and Michigan linebacker Josh Burnham (0.952) on Wednesday.
Notre Dame also spent a ton of time on St. Patrick’s Day this past Wednesday handing out a boat load of offers to 2023 prospects.
Happy St. Patrick’s Day. ☘️#GoIrish pic.twitter.com/UZHfMmsSJa
— Notre Dame Football (@NDFootball) March 17, 2021
The total 2023 offers by position thus far: QB (2), RB (4), WR (8), TE (2), OL (6), DE (16), DT (1), LB (6), CB (9), S (10), ATH (6).
By state: FL (20), GA (11), TX (10), AL (4), OH (3), LA (2), MI (2), MO (2), AZ (2), CA (2), WA (2), NV (1), MS (1), NJ (1), SC (1), IA (1), VA (1), MD (1), PA (1), MN (1).
In a shocking development, 5-star running back Emmanuel Henderson (0.985) is staying in-state and committed to Alabama.
Safety Alfonzo Allen (.914) out of Florida is headed to Arizona State.
House of the Week
Today’s house sits just northwest of San Jose and about a 10 minute drive south of Stanford University in the Bay Area.
I love when the presenters are like, “Can’t you just see yourself sitting here” and I’m like no, not really!
Why is the fire pit A) So tiny and B) mere inches away from the hot tub?
The indoor ice rink (which looks like synthetic ice, but there’s a zamboni?) made me wonder if a San Jose Shark built and/or lived in this home, they even mention the Sharks practicing there later in the video. I did some research and it looks like both Patrick Marleau and Joe Thornton have lived closer to San Jose in Saratoga. Also, I didn’t see a Canadian flag or jersey in the indoor play area. The house is too expensive for them anyway.
Further digging discovers this house seems to be built by former Sun Microsystems CEO Scott McNealy who went to Stanford for his MBA and is an avid hockey player. So it all makes sense now.
Tunes
I heard this song for the first time in about 2 years then a few days later I heard it again. In my mind, I was thinking Pink came out with this about 5 years ago but this was off her album release back in September 2012. How is this song almost a decade old already?
For me, this is Pink’s best song. It’s a perfectly crafted pop song and produced so well. It’s rare for Pink to have a somewhat sparsely produced song, too. The only thing is, could the song title be better? “Not Broken, Just Bent” would be my first choice. Or, “Just Bent” or “Learn to Love Again” or “Talking in Your Sleep” or even “Thief.” The original title seems too easy but does go to show how much we focus on the loud chorus transition. Whatever, the song went to No. 1 in nearly every country.
On This Day in Sports
On March 19, 1955 the University of San Francisco wins the first of back-to-back National Championships in basketball with a 77-63 win over defending champions La Salle. The Dons’ and future Boston Celtics teammates Bill Russell and K.C. Jones combined for 47 points and 37 rebounds in the win.
At the Cinema
I didn’t see “Seven” in the theater but it’s one of my most vivid late-night watches on VHS after my brother rented the movie from Blockbuster. I am getting old.
This will forever be one of the best jump scares in movie history. If you listened to the recent “Rewatchables” podcast on this movie you’ll know they didn’t tell the actors that the victim would still be alive and then cough. Well played.
Hot Take
My last car-related take found out that some of you enjoy screaming at your passenger 14 inches to your right while the windows are down on the highway.
“ENJOY THAT FRESH AIR.”
“WHAT?”
“I SAID ENJOY THE FRESH AIR!”
“I’M SORRY IS THERE A HELICOPTER OVER US?”
Today, it’s time to talk about backing into parking spaces.
people who back into parking spaces pic.twitter.com/PZhVGotNpo
— blaire erskine (@blaireerskine) March 16, 2021
But it’s safer! Statistically speaking that may be the case, although rear cameras are making that distinction moot. I find people backing into spaces intensely annoying. Many will say they do it because they’re good at it but then exhibit that they’re not good at it, either parking crooked or not deep enough in the spot. We’ve all been there in a parking lot while a guy drives past a spot, stops, and pulls back in while you wait and sometimes have to back up for them. Mentally, this is a million times worse than waiting the same amount of time to back out due to traffic or pedestrians passing.
I grew up with hockey bags and sticks in the trunk, so backing into walls or other cars was a nightmare to be avoided. I have two guys on my street who back into their driveways and they consistently hold up traffic. Either you catch them in the act of backing in and have to slow down or stop or they stop near the curb confusing other drivers because, as you already visualized, they are in pickup trucks and don’t use their turn signals.
Trivia
Which Brian Kelly-led Notre Dame team drew the most penalty yards per game in a season?
I was pleased to see ND extended an offer to Matayo Uiagalelei, brother of DJ as part of the 2023 class. 6’6 and 265 as a TE as a high school sophomore, sweet Lord. That family definitely has the size genetics down pat.
And now that’s more serious recruiting that they’ve done for Matayo than they even bothered for on his 5* QB brother. Gotta start somewhere! But seriously, I am glad they seemingly have adjusted or modified their recruiting strategies to cast a wider net earlier on a lot of these prospects (Arch Manning!) and at least put the bug out there and their offer and see which kids might grow a little more interest in the school.
It still kinda haunts me DJ U said the week before ND/Clemson Game 1 that he never really considered Notre Dame because Notre Dame never really put effort into recruiting him. That’s just unacceptable if a program is really aspiring to be a champion to not put out a bare minimum effort on elite talents, so to their credit at least they’re doing that now.
Leaves you wondering why ND didn’t try? We’ll probably never know. Perhaps it was sloth.
He did say they sent him some snail mail, so I guess they cleared the lowest bar possible, but yeah, in this day and age that’s not going to cut it for kids to get old fashioned mail..Versus having Brandon Streeter FaceTiming you and getting excited about seeing your tape.
Does feel like the recruiting and social media blitz done for St. Patrick’s day was really well received though, so maybe they’ve turned a corner or have gotten a little more up-to-speed with using modern tools that kids are receptive too.
I would assume that, generally speaking, there’s some screening reason why the staff wouldn’t recruit a 5* QB. Grades, interest, assumption of interest, whatever.
Whether the screening decision is wise is a separate, and fair, discussion. But I feel pretty confident in saying that the reason they didn’t go after DJ isn’t that they couldn’t be bothered.
I don’t know if it’s a coincidence or what, but clearly the staff is being much more aggressive in the ‘23 class with Elston as the RC. Take Arch Manning – they have less than zero shot but they still offered.
The overtime thing is stupid, stupid, stupid for a million reasons, but not least of which is it’s not equitable. You need to have at least two overtimes played under the same rules so that each team can be on each side of it. Then if you want to change, do whatever. Under the proposed change, the team that plays defense first would then be forced to go for 2 the first time it plays offense. And of course the 2-point shootout thing is just freaking stupid regardless.
Apparently the justification for this is that coaches are worried about long OT games affecting them the following week. Gee, I feel like we had a solution for this in college football for over 100 years, I can’t put my finger on it, but I think it was something called (perish the thought) a ‘tie’.
I think I would be okay with OT being a max of 2 OTs — if it is still tied at that point, then it ends in a tie.
A tie is like kissing your sister. No thanks. Go through that much drama and have these kids put their bodies on the line I prefer having a winner and a loser.
I’d be tempted to make it more like the NFL. Give a team the ball at their own 30. Next TD wins, or next points win after 1st possession. That doesn’t necessarily guarantee a quick finish, but I’m guessing the majority of OT games would finish quicker than the current college system. (As a spectator though, I love the current college system. Might move them back to like the 40 since offenses are so good).
Yup, no ties please.
To be clear, I don’t like ties either. But it’s just very funny that we moved to OT 25 years ago and now we’re complaining about how long the games take. I’d rather a tie than decide a game with something as ridiculously gimmicky as a 2-point shootout.
OK, I will regret this for sure, but… some of the most intense ND games in my lifetime were ties. And two led to Nattys. Army ’46. OK I was less than six months old, but Uncle Hank was there, just back from flying B17s. He talked about that game and Lujack’s tackle his entire life. Sparty, ’66. I was there. Hardest hitting I ever saw and heard in my life. Guys were pissing blood for a week after. Had nothing to do with kissing anybody’s sister. Iowa ’53. The way we came back saved #2. Skunkbears ’92. Also some truly vicious hitting. Check out the Reggie Brooks TD.
I don’t think I’ll ever understand why pick-up drivers claim it’s “easier” to back into a spot than out of a spot. Additionally, if your truck is that effing large, just go to the end of a row where it’s empty to park.
I think that’s largely chest-pounding about being sweet at driving big trucks. There’s a reason like 98% of people who back into spots are male in the US.
If you’ll allow me to offer counterpoint:
I’ve driven sedans and trucks, switched to my current silverado in 2015. I do back into spots, and it is much easier getting out, and if made my hypothesis (as I’ve thought of this mid back-in on multiple occasions)
– it’s all about where the turning wheels, the front, are when you’re doing most of your turning, and the open space around you. Whilst backing in, your turning wheels are at the back, which is more awkward from a maneuverability standpoint. Therefore, having more space around you, the driving lanes, helps. When pulling out of the spot, your turning wheels are at the front, which is normal with regular driving, and you can get out much quicker and safer in a space constrained parking lot.
I’ve lived all over the country: NY, SC, RI, CT, MI, WA, and east coast states parking spaces are noticeably smaller. There was a situation in upstate NY, im a newly minted first time truck owner went in face first, and legit had a 50 point back out, total nightmare.
I’ll totally agree though, Truck Guy Stuff (TGS) culture is rancid, and everywhere I’ve lived has a monster military presence, so you guessed it, lifted trucks for miles. Diesel drivers with stacks who skip a gear shift to make that black smoke exhaust are my personal hell, giving a truck fella like myself a bad rap. Dualies too, like if you’re driving a lifted dualied 3500 diesel, and the parking spots are too small, I have little sympathy. Take your canyonero to a truck stop and park.
My guess on the quiz: I feel like the earlier Kelly squads were more susceptible to this, and delay of game penalties, especially when chuck martin was calling plays. 2013?
::whip sound:: Canyon-er-oooooooo
Why the gratuitous knock on our military guys?I figure they’ve earned the right to park any way they want.
No. That’s not how it works.
Here in Tucson it’s not just pickups. SUVs and sedans, especially at Costco.
i don’t like it, but my pet peeve is people with no visible handicap, sporting a handicap sticker, parking in the handicap space near the door, and just sauntering in.
Who doesn’t despise those damn handicapped saunter’s?
The hottest of takes. Only people with a 100% immediately noticeable disability should be granted one of those stickers.
Well, that’s what the spots are for. People who have difficulty transiting from parking spot to the door. Many people’s spouses have the sticker and their significant other uses it, despite having no need of it.
Guess you’ve never seen that.
Tangential to the (great) Pink song: it’s crazy how ubiquitous fun. was in 2011-2012. Just massive hit after massive hit. They seemed like they were going to be the band of the decade and it wouldn’t be close. Instead they fizzled out. Would certainly have not guessed that at the time.
Here’s a Rambler-esque item. Former LB (Medical release) Michael Deeb is now a minor league baseball player and was quoted in a WSJ article on the Savannah Bananas, who have instituted some interesting rule changes to make baseball games under two hours.
It’s behind a paywall, sorry! Some of the rule changes should be adopted immediately by MLB.
I saw a tweet about one of the Bananas rules changes, if a fan catches a foul ball it’s an out!??
Bring your glove for sure then.
Yes – that’s a good one. There might be some weird Steve Bartman-like complications, however.
Also, there are no walks. On ball four you run and the other team has to throw the ball around the infield before trying to tag you out. You can run as far as you want to.
Also, you cannot leave the batter’s box.
Also, it is match play. You win each inning. So even if a team scores 10 in an inning it only counts as a single won inning. You have to win five innings to win the game.
No way MLB adopts most of these, but the batter’s box thing would be a huge improvement by itself.