Rakes Report: A Notre Dame Podcast

Jessica Smetana of Sports Illustrated stops by to try and make sense of this weird Notre Dame season. Tune in this Saturday to the NBC Sports Network to see Jess as part of the alternate broadcast of the Boston College/Notre Dame game.

Jess Smetana (Sports Illustrated) and Andrew & Alex (Notre Dame Our Blogger) help empty out a listener mailbag. What Big Ten team would make the best annual opponent? How many more playoff appearances for Brian Kelly at Notre Dame and also why is everyone so obsessed about the playoff? Dream uniforms, best and worst games, Michigan scenarios and more.   A NOTE ON NY6 BOWLS: We did a poor job of explaining this but due to tie-ins Notre Dame only has three possible destinations should they qualify for a NY6 bowl: a) The playoff b) The Orange Bowl vs. an ACC team c) The Cotton Bowl vs. a Group of 5 team.    Subscribe to the Rakes Report newsletter.

Nicole Auerbach (The Athletic, Big Ten Network) stops by to talk about the current state of affairs in Ann Arbor and what should worry Notre Dame fans Saturday night before the conversation turns to a breakdown of the potential playoff field. Then (33:23) the Report's Senior Penn State correspondent breaks down Michigan's performance in Happy Valley and what Irish fans should expect.   Subscribe to the Rakes Report newsletter here.

Jamie Uyeyama of Irish Sports Daily joins to quickly break down the USC game before handing out some grades for the first six games. Is any position group on the Irish getting a straight-A? Are any groups in danger of flunking? What's going to happen in the second half of the season?

Our USC insider Nick Tresnowski makes his annual visit to break down Saturday night's big game. Topics include USC's quarterback duo and wide receiver trio, how they might game plan against Ian Book, who might replace Clay Helton if not Urban Meyer and a welfare check on Trojan message boards.

Jess Smetana of Sports Illustrated stops by to talk about the Daelin Hayes and Shaun Crawford injuries, her trip to South Bend for the Irish's victory over the Cavaliers, very cool defense stuff, Ian Book's performance, and what concerns and excites us for the final eight games of the regular season.  Read Jess's piece on the leprechauns here. Subscribe to the Rakes Report newsletter here.

Sam Werner drops by to discuss the trip to Athens, what we learned about the team between the hedges and the upcoming brawl with the Virginia Cavaliers.

Michael Bryan of 18Stripes.com stops by to talk about what the advanced stats tell us about the Louisville game, whether we can extrapolate any of that for the rest of the season, what we can learn from the New Mexico game, Notre Dame's future opponents, big picture college football thoughts, and tips for those who want to add a few more advanced metrics into their lives. Read all of Michael's stuff here.

Jamie Uyeyama of Irish Sports Daily walks us through every freshman in Notre Dame's 2019 offensive class. What kind of impact can Kyren Williams have on the offense this season? What's the future of the offensive line look like? Where does Brendan Clark fit into the quarterback hierarchy? All that, plus wide receivers and special teams content.

Jamie Uyeyama of Irish Sports Daily walks us through every freshman in Notre Dame's 2019 defensive class. KYLE HAMILTON. Can the corners help next year? Some fun linebackers, huh? Whoa, that defensive line class. This is the most fun, really.

Jessica Smetana of Sports Illustrated joins to close the book on 2018 with a draft of the best moments from last season. Then (32:30) it's a rundown of hopes and fears for the 2019 season, ranging from dark psychic forces to #LeadershipWatch. Also there's a discussion of "Once Upon A Time In Hollywood" at the very end and bonus credits audio.

Andrew Smith and Alex Herrmann from Notre Dame Our Blogger dot com stop by to look at all twelve games on the Fighting Irish's 2019 schedule. Which ACC team is scariest? Will Stanford or USC be a tougher out? Is Michigan overrated? Boy, Georgia is pretty good, huh? Can you imagine a team hiring Brian VanGorder?! All that, and more.

Nicole Auerbach of The Athletic drops in to talk about covering football in a Clemson/Bama world, how blue blood programs are working hard to sell tickets and her sit-down with Michigan defensive coordinator Don Brown. (Plus a cameo from Nicole's dog, Red.) Then (34:00) Matt joins to go over news (injuries, captains, transfers, camp reports) and a quick HOBBS & SHAW review. Read Nicole's piece on the push to get people to attend college football games here. Sign up for the Rakes Report newsletter here.

Carter Karels of the South Bend Tribune runs down what he's seen so far in Irish camp, including the Cole Kmet injury, Kyle Hamilton and Julian Okwara being scary good, the continuing shuffle at linebacker, Phil Jurkovec's progress, the potential of the wide receivers and concerns/pleasant surprises.   Purchase the ND Insider preview magazine here.   Sign up for the Rakes Report newsletter here.

South Bend Tribune writer Tyler James stops by talk about the NDInsider preview magazine and take an early look at the season. Among the topics: Julian Okwara's sack quest, Ian Book's potential improvement, setting expectations, potentially elite offensive, breakout stars, general vibes, questions at special teams and linebacker, lightning round stat guesses. Buy the ND Insider preview magazine here. (It's really fun and good!)

SBNation's Bill Connelly stops by to talk about his preview of the 2019 Notre Dame season (read here). Among the topics: Where Brian Kelly ranks among head coaches, Notre Dame's struggles running the ball, how to leverage Ian Book's efficiency to get more big plays, the biggest trap game of the season and how a 4-8 team finished 18th in the S&P+. Subscribe to the Rakes Report newsletter. (If you enjoyed this episode, scroll back through your feeds to Bill's previous three visits, all occurring in the spring.)

ESPN play-by-play announcer Adam Amin stops by to help with a proper Irish wake to celebrate the last two seasons of Notre Dame women's basketball. Topics include talk calling "Ice Twice," what he'll remember from these past two Muffet McGraw teams, the growth of women's college hoops and the best college football games he's called. Newsletter tribute to the women's hoop team (second section).

Jamie Uyeyama of Irish Sports Daily joins us to recap Blue-Gold and the many practices that preceded it by doing an old fashioned position group draft. Which part of the depth chart has the highest upside? What are the biggest weaknesses? How do we feel about the team as a whole as we enter the long night of the offseason? All that, and more.

The Observer associate managing editor Elizabeth Greason joins us to discuss covering the last three seasons of Notre Dame women's basketball. Topics include: Being in the arena for Arike's heroics, how Notre Dame bounced back from the unraveling versus UConn earlier this season, and what it's like spending a lot of time around Muffet McGraw. We also get into a little bit of football at the very end.

We go deep on Tuesday's federal indictment of nearly 50 people in a massive fraud case that involved rich people buying their kids' way into colleges. Among the talking points: Getting into USC as a long snapper who doesn't play football, Stanford having a sailing coach, lawyers who are into rules, the lies of the meritocracy, Filliam H. Muffman and Aunt Becky's beauty influencer daughter who isn't here to play school. Read the full complaint. Read the full indictment. The ProPublica story.