AnTostal

What an amazing accomplishment! And, it may actually make it easier getting a guy to switch positions going forward. "Listen, I know you've always been a xxx, but we think you could excel at yyy. Look at what Xavier Watts did. We recruited him as a wide receiver, but he switched to safety and then won the award for being the best defensive player in college in 2023".

Looking at the Ticketmaster site for the Sun Bowl (https://www.ticketmaster.com/tony-the-tiger-sun-bowl-el-paso-texas-12-29-2023/event/0C005EB1F91A7446 ). I'm not a ticket hound but find it interesting. The stadium seats about 46,000. Sun Bowl east side is for PAC-12, west side is for ACC. ACC side almost completely sold out; resale tickets available. PAC-12 side still has quite a few tickets for sale that are not resale. 50 yard line tickets: $65 (there are currently 2 left on the ACC side; many on the PAC-12 side). But, resale: $265 for the same tickets. Overall, for a bowl game, those are pretty amazing prices, even resale. I don't know how many tickets were still available before the ND announcement was made yesterday, and I wonder how many ACC-side tickets were bought by people just looking to sell to ND fans.

I truly have a hard time when someone says 'OSU'. ND is playing OSU in the Sun Bowl. OSU lost to Texas in the Big 12 championship. OSU lost to Michigan in the Big 10 championship. Too many OSU's to keep up with. But of course, there's only 1 ND.

El Paso. Only a 9 hour drive from Dallas, or 10 from San Diego or Denver. Ciudad Juarez. Used to be a highlight. Today? Hmmm. TexasDomer, you seem to have insight. Most people who go to the game probably won't stay more than one night, two at the most. Thoughts of places to stay or eat (saw the Cattleman's rec above)?

I don’t know. To me, unless it’s the playoffs, bowls mean absolutely nothing any more. Just another game, a chance for extra practices. So many players opt out, the bowls no longer really get all the best players on the teams they bring in. They’ll be getting ND-light and Oregon State. I want ND to win at least 10 regular season games. I’d rather have ND go 10-3, losing to a good team in a bowl, than 10-3, beating a lesser team in a bowl. Go 10-2 in the regular season. To me, after that, the bowl is really just a chance to get the Angelis and JD Prices some extra reps and game experience, getting ready for next year.

It's frickin' nuts, this portal stuff and NIL stuff. I believe this will be representative of coaching staffs in November and April every year moving forward as they deal with it:

Sounds like A&M had a deal in place with Mark Stoops from Kentucky, but when word got out among the A&M faithful, a revolt ensued: https://www.si.com/college/tamu/football/tamu-aggies-mark-stoops-board-of-regents-jimbo-fisher-fired-mike-elko

I've seen several bowl predictions that show #16 ND playing #13 LSU at the ReliaQuest Bowl in Tampa on January 1. Grudge match, anyone?

How ON EARTH does Auburn only rush 2 guys in Alabama’s 4th and 32? The absolute worst defensive play call Inhave ever seen in football. Bama score and wins. Incredible.

Hartman needs to be a decent backup QB for 4 years then go into broadcasting. Every woman I’m around LOVES his look. It’s astounding, the things I hear. Just sayin’.

Drone show at Oregon was UFB . Oregon has their stuff together in every aspect. ND seems to do a very good job in so many ways, but I can absolutely see why guys choose to go to Eugene.

The band members are like those at Rice. Regular students, no experience necessary to be in the band. And it shows.

Rees has a golden coaching tree. He will be in demand for a head coaching job and will get paid a lot. Lincoln Riley he’s not, but he now has the bona fides to land a very good job either next year or the year after.

How is it that OSU/Michigan is an 11:00 game? Seems like a complete fail from PR, ratings, financial, BIG 10 points-of-view.

Well, if you want good assistant coaches, ya gotta pay 'em. Here's the list of the 25 highest paid assistant coaches, at least as listed on public sites. And yes, ND's former OC is high on this list: 25 Highest Paid Assistant Coaches 2023

I believe essentially every team will be looking at quarterbacks through the portal every season now. Just as we see in the NFL as those teams draft quarterbacks, it's a crap-shoot. Zach Wilson taken #2 overall??? High school 5 star QB prospects don't always pan out, and guys like Josh Allen sometimes explode. I wonder if Josh Allen would have entered the portal, left Wyoming, and gone to, say, Notre Dame if the opportunity had been available. I think so. Keep the cupboards stocked. Make them compete. Someone wants to transfer in the spring? Oh well, it's the new reality. Don't like it, but...

Clock management at the end of the second quarter…there was no management. Calling the ill-fated run on third and 11 after the on-side kick, well, that may have been the worst play call I’ve seen all season. This team has/had such potential. Maddening to see these types of things. I can accept the clock issues at the end of the second quarter. But that 3rd down play call really baffles me. Maybe call it on 3rd and 5, but 3rd and 11??

It is so frustrating watching this ND team. They should be dominating.

What has happened to ND’s kicking game?

ND's first game in 2024 is at Texas A&M. Their 2022 recruiting class was ridiculous. OMG. A monster recruiting class. They'll be juniors next year. Whoever the coach will be will inherit a very talented roster. 2022 A&M commits/247sports 2022 Notre Dame commits/247 sports ND had a very good recruiting year that year, too, but A&M had 8 players rated 98 or higher, and 15 rated 96 or higher. ND had 3 rated 96 or higher that year, for comparison. Even more glaring: ND has a total of 16 players rated 96 or higher since 2014. 2014!!

Silly, but I wonder if they'll be looking at one Marcus Freeman. He now actually has head-coaching experience and has been successful (depending on how you measure that). He can recruit. Even in Texas. And we've seen ND let a coach go with a buyout. Don't get too giddy about what's happened at A&M until they've hired an entire staff.

Wonder how many others are out there with similar financial woes. I’ll bet quite a few. Sell to a for-profit company could work? That’s an entirely new can of worms.

Oregon 16 point favorites against USC. More tears on the Trojan sidelines?

I went to the CFP playoff game where Clemson dominated ND. I was completely impressed by the Clemson fans I came across there. To a person they were the kind of fans you want as ‘representatives’ of your school.

I was asking about guys who transferred and only played one year at the new school. Those three played at least two years at their new school. I’m asking about, essentially, QB rentals for one year only, like Hartman this year.