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What, your copy of NCAA '14 looks different?

HLS Virtual ACC Championship: Notre Dame (8-3, 8-2) vs. Clemson (10-1, 9-1)

December 18, 2020 by Ryan Ritter

Friendly reminder: The HLS Sim takes place in an alternate, COVID-free reality in which Notre Dame is still somehow playing football in the ACC. All of the results and injuries are self-contained in this gigantic ACC simulation experiment. And this week that experiment comes to an end. Notre Dame, despite a horrid loss to Syracuse, found themselves in the Virtual ACC Championship thanks to long-time friends of the Irish, Miami. Will Clemson have vengeance on the mind? Or will virtual ...

HLS Picks: The Champs Are…Here?!

December 17, 2020 by Ryan Ritter

In 2020, we are taking nothing for granted, especially in the wake of one conference championship game already having a substitute team due to a COVID outbreak. So, while we certainly hope for a full complement of conference champions come Sunday, we will assume nothing. That being said, we decided to end the regular season, and Eddie and I's $100 bet for charity with a 12-pack banger, picking every game of consequence this weekend. The tie will be broken, but definitely not in any way that ...

Who throws a shoe, honestly? (Screen capture from ESPN broadcast)

HLS Recap (Text Edition): Soled Out

December 14, 2020 by Ryan Ritter

Loyal Listeners, you are (hopefully) wondering why your podcast feed is empty this morning. Because 2020 is still 2020'ing, Shane is still handling his situation that kept him out last week. I considered another solo episode, but I honestly didn't think I had a full episode worth of worthwhile content. Don't get me wrong, as you'll see below, there is a lot worth talking about, including some really hilarious peak college football. Without Shane though, if I'm going to riff by myself, the ...

HLS Picks: Mystery Bye Week!

December 10, 2020 by Ryan Ritter

We certainly didn't expect Notre Dame's (regular) season to be cut a week short, meaning this mystery bye week allows Eddie to toss another game into our typical 8-pack of picks. It's definitely getting harder to try and pull games for the weekly slate, especially with some more traditional games, like Michigan and Ohio State, getting the COVID axe. However, there are still stories to be told and games to pick. Can't stop. Won't stop. #HAILGAMBLOR Podcast Twitch VoD ...

HLS Recap: Hardware Focused

December 7, 2020 by Ryan Ritter

Shane needed to deal with an unforeseen emergency, leaving me solo this episode. The best game of the weekend was a Group of Five game that wasn't originally on the schedule. The Big Ten is probably going back on their championship qualifying rules. There was a Sunday night college football game. Must be 2020. In the midst of all of this, Notre Dame had a weird game against Syracuse that looked oddly familiar. We've arrived at the point in which annoying games are wins by 20+ points and ...

What, your copy of NCAA '14 looks different?

HLS Sim: Notre Dame (8-2, 8-1) vs Syracuse (3-7, 3-7)

December 4, 2020 by Ryan Ritter

Friendly reminder: The HLS Sim exists in its own, COVID-free reality in which Notre Dame is still somehow playing in the ACC. The results and injuries all exist in this strange parallel universe. Almost every week I tell myself "wow, we really went peak sim this week" and every week the sim laughs at me. This is a mess Marie Kondo couldn't sort and it most certainly doesn't spark any joy. The Sim Irish are in control of their ACC destiny needing a win over lowly Syracuse to clinch the ACC ...

HLS Picks: Freshly Squeezed

December 3, 2020 by Ryan Ritter

When we started this week, Eddie and I weren't expecting this to be the final week for Notre Dame's regular season. By the time you are reading and/or listening to this, one of the games on our board has very likely been cancelled. 2020 season in a nutshell, y'all. While the board doesn't have the most intriguing lines of the season, there are storylines a plenty. We dig into those and make our picks as we near ever closer to the end of our annual Extra Life $100 donation bet all tied ...

HLS Recap: Kicking Around Playoff Contenders and Pretenders

November 30, 2020 by Ryan Ritter

In a week where Vanderbilt made history (and then fired their coach), we still have some degree around just who can actually make a playoff run. While some teams were happy to play themselves out, situations in the Big Ten and Pac-12 have made things a little more cloudy and confusing than usual. So Shane and I decided to play a little game of Contenders and Pretenders around the nation in the wake of this week to see who might just have a legitimate shot and who is just hanging around ...

HLS Picks: The Sicko Slate

November 26, 2020 by Ryan Ritter

Traditionally, this weekend is full of the rivalry matchups that we all crave in this sport. In 2020, we get some of those games, but also others that make me question my own mental faculties when they ended up on the board. Meanwhile, Notre Dame heads over to the East Coast instead of the West Coast for their last major test before the ACC Title game against a Mack Brown led North Carolina team…on a Friday. This is all weird. But weird is 2020's thing and we will enjoy every bit of ...

HLS Recap (Text Edition): Dabo’s the Worst

November 23, 2020 by Ryan Ritter

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. ...