Rakes Report #206: Room is swaying, records playing, all the old songs we love to hear
Christmas Giving 2022 rolls on.
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~optional musical accompaniment~
Wanted to begin by thanking everyone who has already donated to the Center for the Homeless in South Bend. Our initial goal of Michael Mayer career receiving yardage was met on Monday and so we’ve turned to trying to hit the gaudy number of NCAA, WNBA and Olympic champion Jackie Young’s scoring total from high school through Notre Dame and into the WNBA: $6,261. The GoFundMe will be open all month so if you’re weighing your ability to donate there is zero rush, appreciate the consideration. Also we recorded a fun kickoff podcast on Monday afternoon that you can listen to here.
It feels dangerous to go too deep on the football team with the potential for transfers in and out at any moment, but let’s attempt with the understanding parts of this could be deeply wrong by the time you read this. The biggest news portal-wise came from Drew Pyne on Friday, when he announced he would be entering his name to transfer prior to the bowl game. Pyne transferring isn’t surprising considering how packed that room was likely to be come spring, but coming before the bowl was a mild shock at the time.
After a little ruminating, it makes sense. Pyne wants to land in the best spot possible for him, and with so many competitors entering the portal and moving quickly — Michigan transfer Cade McNamara had already announced he was going to Iowa the night before Pyne’s announcement — you likely need to expedite the process when you’re not a no-brainer five-star talent who will have his pick of destinations no matter how long things take. Marcus Freeman said that he had told Pyne they were looking for a transfer quarterback and Tyler Buchner was a “full go” for the bowl game, meaning that perhaps Pyne might not even have started that game.* I don’t think anyone should have anything but warm feelings for Pyne, who kept this season from capsizing and played some wonderful football at times. At least in their social media posts, it seemed like his teammates were appreciative. Very curious to see where he lands.
* Also very curious how go “full go” really means in this context. Any leaked practice reports are going to be consumed with maximum interest.
As fans we need to adjust to how quickly the offseason is going to jump off every year, because as soon as the dust is settled on the final game — and oftentimes before — it will be about triaging both rosters and staffs to prepare for the following season. Throw in the fact that this timeframe coincides with coaches leaving to take other jobs and the final few weeks before early signing day and the pace of the news is going to be running at a nearly impossible pace. Much like how we let the waters settle last year before doing a full evaluation, we’ll have to do the same in mid-January (NFL Draft decision deadline for underclassmen is Jan. 16, with the deadline for entering your name in the transfer portal coming two days later) (but if you’re a grad transfer you don’t have to enter the portal) (oh and there’s another transfer portal period at the conclusion of spring practice in early May) (this is going to be confusing).
I love how the transfer portal has added yet another double-edged blade of feeling both hopeful and calamitous in quick succession to the knife juggling of college football fandom. Sure, waiting to hear if a 17-year-old who might be the key player in a rivalry game down the road is going to stick with his verbal commitment to your team out of high school is one thing and waiting on NFL Draft decisions another, but now we get to fall in love with the potential of transfer options from across the country while also dreading bad news about players on our own favorite team’s roster. This is certainly healthy for our brains, no question, but I would hold off on making any sweeping declaration about what this means for the sport because ratings were up this season despite concerns about people tuning out over NIL. This will be a tumultuous period with all the new rules and expanded playoffs but that’s a better discussion for the true heart of the offseason.
Before we moved on from discussing the transfer portal, wanted to flag how many quarterbacks already in it have been discussed at length here over the years: Pyne, of course. Phil Jurkovec, who immediately committed to come home to Pittsburgh, which conveniently happens to be on the 2023 Notre Dame schedule. Delighted to see what sort of motivation he and Pat Narduzzi cook up. Kedon Slovis, now dislodged from Pitt. Graham Mertz, whose college career I will track closely until the moment it concludes. DJ Uiagalelei, a very interesting reclamation project for someone out there. This is wild, but it’s also very fun.
If we get time I’ll do a more thorough bowl season preview but let’s focus on how Notre Dame has drawn South Carolina in the Gator, which works for me considering the 8-4 finish. It’s a team we haven’t played in years, a fellow slayer of Clemson (as well as a Top 5 Tennessee squad) with its own young head coach. The non-playoff bowls going forward are going to be crapshoots as far as who plays or doesn’t meaning we shouldn’t overreact to how one potentially half-cobbled roster with opaque motivations goes against another but I know for sure once the ball is kicked that I will be deeply invested in an Irish win and bitter if they fall.
What to know about South Carolina? Well, their offense was rickety all season until a late explosion by former five-star prospect Spencer Rattler, who lit up Rocky Top for six passing touchdowns after throwing for only five in his first seven SEC contests. (You talk about bad losses – needing to beat South Carolina and Vanderbilt to make the playoffs and giving up 63 is up there.) Rattler had a mix of good throws and bad interceptions the following week against Clemson, so we’ll see if he has unlocked something as he weighs his NFL decision or just had an incredible outlier performance. (While Rattler has said he’s playing, there’s also the chance he gets advice to not to between now and kickoff. Nothing should surprise us at this point in the game.) The wonderfully nicknamed Juice Wells is their very good leading receiver but they haven’t run the ball well and lost a couple tight ends to the transfer portal already.
The Gamecock defense is so so so bad against the run, really can’t overstate it, which should be good news for the Irish regardless of who ends up taking snaps. They haven’t been particularly capable of getting to the quarterback either, so as long as Notre Dame can keep the lid on Rattler so this isn’t a total shootout they should be able to move the ball. South Carolina also has excellent special teams, with coordinator Pete Lembo being named one of 15 semifinalists for the Broyles Award, which honors the best assistant coach in the sport (supposedly, but they spurned Brian Mason). The Irish lead the nation in blocked punts but their bowl opponent is right behind them.
I’m kind of excited to see how weird this can get with Tommy Rees slapping together an offense built around a guy who last played in Week Two and another who hasn’t had any competitive action at the Division I level. Will we see more Mitchell Evans at quarterback? Truly anything is possible. One of my favorite random bowl game performances was the 2015 Russell Athletic Bowl, where Baylor was basically out of quarterbacks against North Carolina. They threw the ball 18 times (four different players with an attempt) and ran 84 times for 645 yards. Look at this glorious box score. Every bowl has the opportunity for magic in this ridiculous sport so hopefully the Irish can conjure some up and get a ninth win.
If you’ll allow me to be self-indulgent for a moment I would like to re-promote some of the Report podcasts from this year in a sort of pledge drive-y way. It was a busy autumn so we didn’t cover every game but I think still managed to publish some stuff that was really fun and would remain as good listening for your holiday travels. A few highlights available on Apple or Spotify or wherever you get your pods:
Notre Dame professors Christine Becker and Katherine Walden joined for a behind-the-scenes look at the Freeman rollout last December and how modern Notre Dame mythmaking works. Do you know how smart these two are? So smart. Jan. 24
One of the best sportswriters (and bullshitters) in the business, Dan Wetzel, stopped by to talk about the future of college football. Mar. 8
A travelogue dispatch from Omaha covering the opening weekend of the Men’s College World Series, which still feels like a fever dream. My friend Andy was mildly skeptical of my wish to record this in his living room but I’m so glad we have our immediate thoughts down as it was such a fun time. June 21
Becker rejoined us along with professor Meghan Sullivan and Meadowlark Media’s Jessica Smetana to talk about the philosophy of fandom and what we’re trying to get out of following a team as closely as we do the Irish. My goal for this episode was to avoid embarrassing myself and while I failed at that everyone else had so much good insight. July 22
Jess and our friend Bridget Reynolds joined for a review of the Manti Te’o Netflix documentary “Untold: The Girlfriend Who Didn’t Exist.” We recorded this almost as soon as it dropped and before a lot of the #discourse but I think we hit all the big points. Aug. 18
Jamie Uyeyama of Irish Sports Daily was thankfully on a bunch over the course of the year because he’s the best but perhaps most importantly he continued our annual tradition of introducing you to every single scholarship freshman on the roster with the Frosh O series. Considering how big these classes are going to be moving forward, we’re going to have to ask Jamie to block off more and more time. Aug. 22 & 23
Jess and our friend (?) (eh, close enough) Paul Rigney joined for a rewatch of the 2012 Pitt game, which featured fun commentary and some original reporting on the nonsense fourth quarter and multiple overtime sessions. Nov. 3
I want to thank everybody who came on the pod this year, their time is very valuable and the fact they spent some of it chatting with me about Notre Dame sports and related subjects is a real honor.
I wanted to close by again expressing my gratitude to everybody who has donated to the Center for the Homeless, cannot overstate my appreciation for every single cent directed their way during a time of year when money can be tight. Reminder: The holiday shirts are up at TeePublic, with all proceeds from them (and any normal shirts) going to the CFH once the payment arrives in mid-January. They make wonderful Christmas gifts, particularly if you have any TCU fans in your life. Although I suppose at least for the rest of this season, we are all TCU fans.
I think that’s it for now. Take care of yourselves and each other - I will be in touch.
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