Notre Dame Football

Tyler Buchner to Jordan Johnson, a combination not to be.

The Allure of Youth: A 2021 Blue/Gold Game Tale

May 4, 2021 by Ryan Ritter Leave a Comment

Tyler Buchner entered 2021's Blue/Gold game carrying all the lofty and unrealistic expectations that the Notre Dame fanbase could muster. The early enrollee hadn't played a snap of football in two years--one due to an ACL injury, another due to a COVID-cancelled season. He carried little more than his four-star recruiting evaluation into Notre Dame stadium, yet the snaps he would take were more anticipated than the two QBs that Brain Kelly named in the battle for starting quarterback. Jordan ...

HLS Sim: Blue/Gold 2021

April 30, 2021 by Ryan Ritter Leave a Comment

A new era kicks off for Notre Dame football this Friday as an Ian Book-less Irish take the field for the first time this Saturday. Get your self in the streaming mindset and join the always popular HLS Sim before you try to figure out how to get Peacock by 12:30 PM EDT on Saturday. All eyes will be on the Irish QB situation and the most accurate of all sports prediction methods will give you a preview of what we will all be talking about until fall camp. Don't worry, the HLS Sim still has ...

What, your copy of NCAA '14 looks different?

HLS Sim Returns: Blue/Gold Sim – Thursday, April 29

April 28, 2021 by Ryan Ritter Leave a Comment

It's time to break out of our offseason slumber with the best way we know how: video game football with play-by-play and color commentary that is--well--uniquely HLS. Shane and I will be on our Twitch airwaves once again on Thursday, April 29 at our usual, my-kids-better-be-asleep time of 9 PM CDT / 10 PM EDT. As always, the podcast will release the following day once I do a little audio magic. As we did towards the end of last season, we will be rolling with College Football Revamped, an ...

HLS Recap: 2020 Season Finale

January 18, 2021 by Ryan Ritter

It feels like it took forever to get to this point this season, but we've finally arrived at the end of the road for the 2020 college football season. Shane and I take a brief look at Alabama's coronation ceremony against Ohio State this past Monday and what it means for college football as a whole. That, of course, bleeds into talk of where Notre Dame stands among the college football elite and how they are talking the Alabama problem. The second half of the show recaps news from under ...

The Ballad of the Fighting Irish

January 5, 2021 by Fr. Sorin's Ramblers

For the great Gaels of Ireland Are the men that God made mad,For all their wars are merry, And all their songs are sad. G. K. Chesterton may have included this snippet within the larger context of his epic poem venerating the Saxon king Alfred the Great, but there is something apropos about this quote from The Ballad of White Horse as it pertains to the current state of Notre Dame football. With apologies to G.K. Chesterton it is time for an all-too-soon post-mortem, at the hour of ...

HLS Recap: Talkin’ ‘Bout The Narrative™

January 3, 2021 by Ryan Ritter

To end the Notre Dame football season, we decided to go with a single segment, no-ad stream of consciousness pod. Sure, there are a couple of major national things to hit, but the meat of this episode is talking about Notre Dame falling to Alabama and The Narrative™ surrounding the program. Just like BK in the post-game presser, we got a bit spicy on this one. There will be one final pod to put a bow on the end of this crazy, COVID-wrecked season. But for now, come commiserate the end of ...

Bust the Narrative: Notre Dame Can Beat Alabama

December 31, 2020 by Ryan Ritter

I had planned to fire this off on New Year's Day, but what the hell, let's end 2020 with a dose of unbridled optimism to balance what I did on the picks pod. As I stated there, I'm not overly confident, but I do see paths forward. Come join me in this journey. Grab your blue and gold glasses. Forget what the sim did. Notre Dame can beat Bama. ...

HLS Sim: Notre Dame vs Alabama – CFP Semifinal

December 31, 2020 by Ryan Ritter

Typically, we've done this year's sim under a complete separate, COVID-free reality. We are still honoring that spirit, as if ND made the playoff, they'd play in the actual Rose Bowl. However, with some PC upgrades, and using a different version of the game, came new, updated rosters with tweaked ratings. So, we decided to just roll with whatever those rosters and depth charts were. Injuries, as always are completely out. Yes, that means Bama has Waddle. We weren't sure what this new and ...

HLS Picks: 2020 New Year’s Six & Others

December 30, 2020 by Ryan Ritter

Eddie and I return after a bit of a break to pick the bowl games that matter (and a couple that don't). That means a lot of random topics while we catch up, followed by thoughts on the New Year's Six, playoffs, and yes, Notre Dame facing off against Alabama. In fact, the ND pick manages to turn into an explosive $100 Extra Life sidebet to kick of the 2021 campaign that I haven't even started yet. One of us took Bama and the other took ND. Tune in and fine out the logic behind the ...

So, You Want to Expand the Playoff

December 22, 2020 by Ryan Ritter

Perhaps you're an Aggie that's big mad that Notre Dame and/or Ohio State made it into the playoffs over Texas A&M. Perhaps you're a fan of a Group of Five team like Cincinnati, Coastal Carolina, San Diego State, or even a UCF fan still holding a grudge. Perhaps you are just tired of seeing this system, know the BCS is never coming back, and are just hoping for something different than semi final blowouts. Now that I've tossed in every possible search keyword that I can think off, I'll get ...