Initially, Shane and I planned to do our usual recap show, but, like the rest of 2020, shit happens. It made more sense to cancel a few hours before the our usual Sunday recording and for me to dust of my writing skills instead. So strap yourselves in for an extremely long post to get all the thoughts in my head that would've been shared on the podcast, out and available for internet consumption. ...
College Football
HLS Picks: Triple Cheeseburger
This week's board is a perfect summary of the madness that is the 2020 college football season. We have a team playing their first game of the season (potentially), a top ten matchup that no one saw coming, an undefeated Group of Five team that has a better record in the ACC than their ACC opponent, and Notre Dame is on their third bye week this season. Yeah, it's a lot and that only covers a portion of the storylines involved in this episode. So get your bye week burgers ready and come ...
HLS Recap: The QB Controversy That Never Was
The big stories this week were the things that were never there in the first place: 15 games postponed or cancelled, SEC defense, Will Muschamp's job, wins for Penn State, and Michigan's title hopes. This extended to Notre Dame's matchup with Boston College, a matchup to give Phil Jurkovec the chance to prove that he was the true winner of Notre Dame's QB competition last year. Problem was, BC had as much of a chance of repeating a 1993 upset, as Phil did being ND QB1. But, much like ESPN ...
HLS Picks: Please Don’t Cancel Everything
The title of this episode is the actual mood in the podcasting room. This week has not been kind in terms of COVID cancellations, leading Eddie and I to fear that quite a few of these picks may end up being meaningless by the time Saturday comes around. But, we persist, if for nothing else but to have another chance to talk about Notre Dame being Clemson once again. Seriously, that will never get old. Unless we lose to Boston College. Please don't do that. That would be ...
HLS Picks: Going West
Welcome back Pac-12! We missed your after dark insanity and our college football lives feel complete once again. Oh, and don't forget about the big thing going down on Saturday: Extra Life. 24-hour charity stream starts live at 6 PM Central, 7 PM Eastern. The stream will kick off with a live reaction stream about some game happening in South Bend this weekend. So get your picks ready for the weekend. I will be up all night, even past the final whistle of Hawaii's first home game. I ...
HLS Recap: Ok, Let’s Talk About Clemson
It's the week we've all been waiting for since the final whistle of the 2019 season: Notre Dame vs. Clemson. We shorten our typical national recap for an more in-depth discussion of the game, using the final two data points of Boston College @ Clemson and Notre Dame @ Georgia Tech. In fact, we were so excited, that we completely forgot about our ACC Sim recap, so that will have to wait until Thursday. Oh, and don't worry, we laughed at Michigan. Hard. Podcast Twitch VoD ...
HLS Picks: Let’s Not Repeat Last Week
The universe must always be in balance. Apparently this means when Notre Dame blows out Pitt, GAMBLOR comes for our picks. It's been a good run this season, but Eddie and I are determined to get back on track. It's a new ballgame for the Extra Life charity bet (fundraising marathon next Saturday by the way!) as we are all tied up. This week's slate had a lot of shine and the Big Ten found out playing football can tarnish some of it. Despite that, we know IN THESE TRYING TIMES that we must ...
HLS Recap: Superweapon Malfunction
Wait...a Notre Dame/Pitt game can be...fun?! What madness is this?! After witnessing a game that WE WILL NEVER MENTION AGAIN, this was quite a nice bounce-back for the Irish. The offense got right and Clark Lea put together another defensive masterpiece. Meanwhile, the Big Ten officially started their season, meaning Shane and I give some initial thoughts to the madness that included an improbable Indiana upset and a Rutgers win. Also featured this week: another ref bailout for Auburn, ...
HLS Picks: Welcome Back Big Ten and Mountain West
It's been a while since our slate has really felt like it was truly stacked, but the return of the Big Ten and Mountain West are giving our Saturdays just a bit more of a feel of The Normal Times. We have a few top-25 matchups to talk about as well as the glorious return of late night football from the West Coast. As we've always said, we need to enjoy these moments while they last. So settle in, get your winners, and get ready for a near-complete college football Saturday. Oh, and ...
HLS Recap: When the Sim Became Reality
We should've known that the Sim resembling something of a normal result via reasonable means would through the Notre Dame universe upside down. We can't take credit for what happened around the nation. After all, top 10 teams losing in 2020 seems rather normal at this point. We do, however, apologize for making your Saturday a bit more stressful than needed. That being said, we do not apologize for being happy about a win and embracing the Irish's new #3 ranking. Winning is the damn point ...