Your weekly dose of Notre Dame news, opinion, and other stuff.
Top News
Notre Dame has named Sam Hartman, Joe Alt, JD Bertrand, and Cam Hart as football captains for the 2023 season.
The Irish open up the season ranked no. 13 in the pre-season AP Poll.
Both tight end Kevin Bauman and defensive end Aiden Gobaira are out for the season with knee injuries.
According to Pat Forde, George W. Bush (SMU) and Condoleeza Rice (Stanford) are lobbying the ACC for those teams to join the league.
Former Arkansas running back Alex Collins passed away this week.
Jim Harbaugh has not been suspended for 4 games this season as his case will go to the Committee on Infractions and likely be heard in 2024, so that’s nice.
Graham Mertz has been named the starting quarterback for Florida. The Gators also announced they will wear all-black uniforms for their home game against Arkansas this season.
Texas A&M starting tight end Donovan Green will miss the 2023 season after tearing his ACL.
Ohio State tight end Bennett Christian has been suspended for the 2023 season after testing positive for a banned substance.
Uniform of the Week
A lot of people have said how lost in the woods Purdue has been with their uniforms in recent years. If you go through and catalog their changes they’ve really messed with things pretty substantially since the Joe Tiller era. Well, maybe not anymore! This week, the Boilermakers unveiled Drew Brees era throwbacks that is believed to be taking the place of their standard home uniforms.
Vintage is in 🚂🆙 pic.twitter.com/0MfqJ4wpcR
— Purdue Football (@BoilerFootball) August 11, 2023
They look…okay? As Notre Dame fans know well, a lot can go wrong with the gold pants. I’m not sure those light cream-ish pants really work with the uniform. Back in the day, the pants were more metallic gold and that isn’t happening with these new sets. There hasn’t been any confirmation yet but people are expecting Purdue to use a road white jersey option of this throwback, as well.
Recruiting
2025 tight end Nate Roberts (0.9519) has decommitted from Notre Dame and is expected to verbal to Oklahoma.
Wide receiver prospect Jeremiah McClellan (0.9493) committed to Ohio State.
The nation’s top defensive lineman Williams Nwaneri (0.9987) is staying in-state and verballed to Missouri.
Florida picked up defensive back Wardell Mack (0.9467) this week.
Interior offensive lineman Isendre Ahfua (0.9468) committed to Texas A&M.
A quick check in with the 2025 recruiting class……….
One of the nation’s top wideouts Jamie Ffrench (0.9937) gave a verbal to Alabama.
LSU also added top wide receiver Dakorien Moore (0.9943).
Quarterback from Ohio Tavien St. Clair (0.9408) committed to Ohio State.
TCU added quarterback Ty Hawkins (0.9378).
Safety prospect Elijah Thomas (0.9345) committed to Oklahoma. The Sooners also added wide receiver Jaden Nickens (0.9501).
Oregon added both quarterback Akili Smith, Jr. (0.9627) and wide receiver Adrian Wilson (0.9606).
Corner Tae Harris (0.9313) committed to Georgia.
YouTube Channel
Hey, did you check out the study of modern college football network theme songs? Recently, ESPN released their 2023 college football anthem featuring Post Malone singing “Something Real.” The song is on his new album AUSTIN and was released a couple weeks ago. In terms of exposure, these types of pop songs used in college sports dominate coverage more so than the old school network themes. So get used to this one from Post!
I think the song is way too slow and doesn’t fit that well with college football. It’s an interesting choice for sure. The gospel singers are prominent and will probably be just as big of an addition to the broadcast than any singing from Post Malone. Do we call it singing?
Tunes
In recent days, I heard “The Twist” from Chubby Checker twice and figured it was meant to be included in this week’s Rambler. I’m always learning about music and in my head I always thought this song was from the mid-to-late 1950’s and not a 1960 release from Checker. There was an original version recorded in 1958 that became a moderate hit but this recording from Mr. Chubby went to no. 1 in September 1960.
I don’t think it’s crazy to say “The Twist” is one of the most important songs of the 20th Century. This version of the song had a separate run 18 months later that morphed into the new discotheque scene that spawned the dancing craze that took over America. Plus, while most wouldn’t consider this rock ‘n roll by today’s standards it was close enough in those days that it opened doors to people accepting different music.
Trivia
Who is the last Notre Dame football player to score 3 rushing touchdowns in a game?
The Other Football
The Premier League is back! Defending champions Man City beat Burnley 3-0 but lost midfield star Kevin De Bruyne for 3-4 months with an injury. Newcastle looked strong with a 5-1 win over Aston Villa. Everton lost 1-0 to Fulham. Brighton smoked Luton Town 4-1. Arsenal overcame Nottingham Forest 2-1. Both Chelsea/Liverpool and Spurs/Brentford ended in draws while Man United got past Wolves 1-0.
Man City won the UEFA Super Cup 1-1 on penalties this mid-week against Sevilla.
In the FIFA Women’s World Cup, Spain scored in the 81st minute, Sweden tied it in the 88th minute, and Spain scored the game-winner just 1 minute later to reach the final. In the other semi-final, England beat host-nation Australia 3-1. The Spain vs. England World Cup Final will be played on Sunday, August 20th in Sydney’s Stadium Australia.
According to reports, Vlatko Andonovski has resigned as the USWNT manager.
Messi scored yet again. Inter Miami took down Philadelphia Union 4-1 in the Leagues Cup semifinals. He now has 9 goals in 6 games with Miami and the club has yet to lose since he arrived.
Neymar’s career with PSG is over as the Brazilian is off to Al-Hilal for a nearly $100 million transfer fee. Neymar will make 200 million Euros per season with the Saudi Arabian club.
Defensive midfielder Moises Caicedo is headed to Chelsea from Brighton for $125 million. Chelsea also reportedly are signing Southampton midfielder Romeo Lavia for $74 million. So far, the Blues have spent $350 million during this transfer window.
TV & Movies
This week I finished up the latest edition of Netflix’ UNTOLD: Johnny Football. Poor Johnny Manziel, my goodness. You feel a little bit of sympathy for him at the very end of the documentary when he discusses mental health issues and possible suicide but throughout it’s really hard to find even a shred of likability for him and what transpired in his life beginning at Texas A&M. It’s clear that the coaching staff for the Aggies really let him down too, and his parents (themselves no saints) mentioned that, as well.
Manziel even admits, he was basically a frat boy who happened to play football. He wasn’t really interested in practice and working out to get better. His best friend turned business associate mentioned how Manziel never talked about football or watched film. To think about how well he played in college, but A&M did lose 6 games across 2012-13–imagine what they could’ve done if he applied himself!? The documentary doesn’t spend much time on his short NFL career but it was funny and sad to see he never watched film (in the NFL, that’s suicidal!) with the staff telling his agent his iPad hours were at 0.00 total. He’ll be coming into his 8th season without playing in the NFL (he’s still only 30!) and it doesn’t shock anyone that Manziel played in only 14 career games before being cut by the Browns.
A Look Back
I found this video from an account called Fighting Irish Digital Media that appears to have stopped about 12 years ago. On their channel this 2008 highlight reel from Jimmy Clausen caught my eye. The way he held the ball up high prior to release will always be an iconic part of Clausen’s legacy to me. He could really zip the ball when he was able to use all of his (somewhat) robotic mechanics. Sadly, this highlight video isn’t that inspiring. We do see a handful of beautiful throws but it’s short and sweet.
This wasn’t a very memorable season either way. It felt a lot like some of the Bob Davie-era teams, except with better offense and not as good defense. I would imagine the Michigan, Pitt, and Hawaii games were some of the most memorable. Are there others that stick out? Maybe the what-if’s from the road game at North Carolina? The game against Stanford was my first inside Notre Dame Stadium and I don’t really remember much happening in that game. It bothers me to this day, I have maybe 2 distinct memories from action during the game.
18S Paddock Club
Summer break is over starting next weekend when F1 returns live from Zandvoort in the Netherlands. Until then, we are finishing up our 1st half grades for the teams.
Red Bull – 1st (503 points)
Grade: A+
It hasn’t been perfect but it’s hard to argue with a team winning every single race of the season so far. Sergio Perez has had his fair share of poor moments (he hasn’t been on the podium in 5 races) especially in qualifying. However, he’s still won 2 races with Max Verstappen taking the other 10 grand prix so far in 2023. It’s becoming very boring but all Red Bull have left to do now is chase history.
Aston Martin – 3rd (196 points)
Grade: A-
Aston only managed 55 points all of last season so the first half of 2023 has been one of the best turnaround efforts in recent memory in F1. Former champion Fernando Alonso has made 6 podiums and allowed the Silverstone team to be ahead of Ferrari at the summer break. However, after off-season and early-season upgrades brought the team a boost they have struggled more in the last 4 races which prevents them from receiving a better grade. Lance Stroll’s 47 points total with a car that was 2nd best for two-thirds of the season so far is a really, really poor performance.
McLaren – 5th (103 points)
Grade: B
Using recency bias, this grade for McLaren may feel harsh. However, they legitimately were on pace to have a grade of F through the first 8 races where they only totaled 16 points. Since then, they’ve turned into one of the best stories of the season with 87 points in just the last 4 races, which includes a crash DNF. It’s been a great story for a team that was really down on their luck. Suddenly, the career prospects for Lando Norris staying at McLaren look bright again and Oscar Piastri has been one of the most impressive rookies in recent seasons.
Williams – 7th (11 points)
Grade: B
If you’ve read about the history of Williams and their struggle to have a functional modern factory it’s surprising that they can even keep a car on the grid let alone have Alex Albon Doing Good Things™ on most weekends. They are technically tied for 7th place but are unfortunately carrying the poor performing American rookie Logan Sargeant who hasn’t done much to think he’ll have a long-term future in F1. It’s been the opposite for Albon who has been getting plenty of love and calls for him to sign with a stronger team. Overall, Williams has improved their car a little bit and look to be on a good trajectory in this regulation ruleset.
Alfa Romeo – 9th (9 points)
Grade: D-
For a while, Alfa was the most invisible team on the grid. That changed last year with a full driver lineup change and Valtteri Bottas and Guanyu Zhou putting together some solid performances to finish in 6th place among all teams. This year, they are back to being completely uninteresting and non-threatening nearly every weekend. Surely, no team gets less television over a grand prix weekend. They are on track for half as many points as last year–it’s been a pretty dismal season for Alfa Romeo. They appear stuck in neutral as they await the Audi takeover still 2.5 years away.
Trivia Answer:
Kyren Williams, 3 TD, Clemson, 2020
2008 was my senior year! The Michigan game in a downpour was one of the most fun ND games I’ve ever attended. Two games from that season are memorable for the wrong reasons:
First, the hope opener against San Diego State. ND looked horrible and escaped with a win thanks to a lucky fumble just as SDSU was about to score the touchdown that would have sealed the game. That SDSU team went 2-10 and had lost the week prior to Cal Poly. That probably would have been the worst loss in school history. Which brings me to….
Syracuse. ND lost to a 2-win team that had already fired their coach on Senior Day. This is, at least arguably, the worst loss in school history.
The 2008 team wasn’t much better than they were at the end of 2007; they just had Michael Floyd.
That Michigan game was wild! Probably the most fun I had at a winning game as a student (2005 USC was an experience despite the heartbreak). Afterwards a bunch of us went to celebrate in Stonehenge since we were already wet, so what was the harm? I got sick and my phone broke. Worth it.
Forgot to say that the SDSU game is memorable to me because some dude in the (general admission) section behind me and my roommate kept screaming “hit that commie!” while we were on defense. Hilarious.
Also that year, as Eric alluded to: The 4-OT game against Pitt. Golden Tate had one of the most insane catches I’ve ever seen, and Brandon Walker, who basically had the yips at this point, somehow managed to drill a 48-yard (or something like that) FG in one of the overtimes to keep the game going.
I was at the SDSU, UM and Pitt games. It was a very weird year.
As a fellow ’09 person, the Syracuse game as a career finale was a total bite.
For me the most memorable play of the season was the Michael Floyd touchdown against SDSU – probably the most excited I was all year.
That ESPN video seemed to be all about the southeastern schools, plus Caleb Williams.
I watched the Johnny Football doc this week and I agree — that guy did not prepare at all and was just playing backyard football a lot of the time. It was amazing that he was as successful as he was in college, but boy oh boy did he get exposed in the NFL.
To me, the most fascinating part was when they talked about his draft prep. Trying to avoid parties and training hard for a few months…and he could not do it. Doing drugs a few days before the combine and creating a story where his mom went to the hospital with a fake illness so that he could get out of the combine — wow.
It just goes to show how bad the Browns scouting department/decision makers were at that time. Either they didn’t know about this stuff (serious flaw by the Browns) or they didn’t think it mattered enough to succeed in the NFL (also very stupid). Or worse – maybe they thought they could change him! But how on earth did he get picked in the 1st round then? Let alone at all.
I mean honestly, knowing this kind of stuff, when would it have been worth a gamble to draft him? Given his talent, maybe the 4th round at best?
Exactly. Which is why i’m always befuddled by the Browns never even considering Kevin Costner for the GM position
https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/jimmy-haslam-says-homeless-man-convinced-him-to-draft-manziel/amp/
That about sums up the Browns for long time. But maybe…maybe(!) this year is the year!
My impression at the time was that the Browns football people did not want Manziel, but the owner overruled them and wanted to make a splash pick
Yea that’s probably right. I can’t remember and I’m a Browns fan.
Absolutely shocked that Akili Smith, Jr would commit to Oregon.
Oregon State just completed a second round of fund-raising that has exceeded $1 billion dollars for the university and its athletics. The first round of fund-raising, which ended in 2014, also raised over $1 billion. A total of $100 million has been raised towards a $200 million research and education center that will harness one of the nation’s most powerful supercomputers and team-based research in artificial intelligence, materials science and robotics to solve global challenges in areas such as climate science, oceanography, sustainability and water resources. The major donors ($50 mill) to that project are Nvidia founders Jen-Hsun and Lori Huang who are Oregon State grads.
The funding for rebuilding the stadium, costing $161 million, is nearing completion. In October of last year, Scott Barnes, vice president and director of OSU Athletics praised the donors, expressed his gratitude and said:
After the defection of Oregon, Washington and the Four Corners schools, Barnes said he was “furious” presumably at those who did not share OSU’s commitment to their other member institutions.
Priorities
A good article discussing the logistics and travel distances for Oregon athletic teams.
Oregon Ducks react to move to Big Ten, longer travel to games
I wonder if “taken care of” means a share of the wealth for athletes. Welcome to Transactional College Athletics!
I remember the Twist era well. Eric is right that it is an important part of Rock ‘N Roll history. Our extended family (at my grandfather and grandmother’s house who used to live next to Rockne) had a Christmas party every Christmas night. That year even the aunts and uncles were doing the Twist. Rock was not just for kids anymore. Personally, I never cared too much for the song. I always thought the Peppermint Twist by Joey Dee and the Starliters was much better.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8wEORnZxdg
The Spanish women looked very sharp in beating the English today, and as a bonus, with that all-too rare fluidity which can occasionally make soccer “The Beautiful Game”. Given the acute internal turmoil that team has been undergoing, their win is a testimony to how talent and its development really does make a difference. In Spain’s case, they have one heck of a youth girls’ soccer program.