Tag: golden dome

College football podcast spills beans on Notre Dame Stadium end zones

How many of you knew this already?

Any college football diehard will know Notre Dame Stadium has one of the most unique designs for its end zones. While other college football stadiums paint their end zones, Notre Dame opts for simple lines all angled in a certain direction.

But what do those lines signify? Why don’t the Irish dress their end zones up like other teams do?

Some of you might already know the answer, but for those who don’t, college football podcaster Ty Hildenbrandt spelled it out:

Yes, the lines have everything to do with the year the university was founded along with the location of the Golden Dome, the focal point of a campus filled with one famous attraction after another. If this doesn’t tell you how steeped the Irish are in tradition, nothing will.

To that end, it stands to reason that as long as those end zones stay designed as they are, the Irish will not be joining a conference until they’re pretty much forced to. Notre Dame defines itself with tradition, and at least for the moment, that will not change.

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Follow Geoffrey on X: @gfclark89

Big Game Boomer names Notre Dame nicest college campus

Irish fans are lucky to have so many wonderful things to look at.

If you’re reading this site, chances are you have been to the Notre Dame campus at least once. And you don’t need to be told how nice it looks.

Now, it’s at the top of the rankings in that area in at least one person’s opinion. Twitter user Big Game Boomer, who makes lists related to just about everything in college sports, released one that ranks the niceness of all Power Five campuses. Notre Dame topped the list:

Having made numerous trips to Notre Dame this past basketball season, I can attest to that niceness. A lovely autumn afternoon is the perfect time to check the campus out as the colored leaves really bring out the beauty. Of course, going at any time during the year is good. From the Golden Dome to Touchdown Jesus to the Basilica of the Sacred Heart, there is no way anyone can leave campus feeling disappointed by what they just experienced.

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Follow Geoffrey on Twitter: @gfclark89

Notre Dame left out of Way Too Early Top 25…if you get the joke

Don’t be fooled.

2024 will be the first college football season of its kind. In addition to the College Football Playoff expanding to 12 teams, the SEC and Big Ten are growing into super conferences. That is not lost on Tom Fornelli of CBS Sports, who took advantage of the impending college football structure by posting his Way Too Early Top 25:

Don’t be fooled by Notre Dame getting left off this list though. Every other legitimate Way Too Early Top 25 has the Irish highly ranked going into next season.

No. The joke here is that the Big Ten and SEC will occupy every single space of the poll. While that is unlikely to happen, it does highlight how many programs have been swallowed up by these expanding conferences. It probably would not be shocking either if this actually came to pass.

So this is not a call to hang Fornelli from the Golden Dome. Rather, know when something’s a joke so that you can react appropriately.

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Follow Geoffrey on Twitter: @gfclark89

Notre Dame’s iconic Golden Dome to shine brighter

The Golden Dome is getting a face lift!

Some days in South Bend you’ll see the Main Building on Notre Dame’s campus, generally known as the Golden Dome, to appear to shine just a hair brighter.

Well, those days are going to be happening more often soon.

If you’re on Notre Dame’s campus the next few months you’ll notice scaffolding around the dome and work being done.  It’s not going anywhere, it’s just getting touched up a bit.

Or re-guilded, which is the technical term for what is being done to the dome and the 17-foot tall statue of Mary atop it.

“So, in this time we will actually prepare the existing gold, clean it very well, install a sizing primer if you will glue for the new gold to stick to that new gold will go on by over that and that’s a finished project. There’s no coatings or lacquers that go over the gold it’s the finished project,”  – Tony Polotto, Senior Director of Construction – University of Notre Dame.

This is the first time the dome has been touched up since 2005, the longest time between guildings in the history of the school.  According to the WSBT report, it isn’t expected to be done until October which I assume would mean the scaffolding will still be surrounding it for the Ohio State game in late-September.

I won’t pretend to be in the know of the timing but it feels like something that could have been thought out a hair better if that’s the case.

Check out pictures of the Golden Dome over the years below:

 

Big Ten opponents Notre Dame should play annually if it ever joins

Just picture at least some of these games happening annually.

The Big Ten has unveiled its “Flex Protect Plus” scheduling model, which will take effect when USC and UCLA join the conference in 2024. Eleven particular matchups will be protected and thus played every year, and every school will play every school at least twice over a four-year period. There will be both annual and rotating matchups over each team’s nine-game league schedule.

Which brings us to Notre Dame. We all know about the Irish being denied entry into the Big Ten in the 20th century’s early years, but times areMidw changing. With college football’s landscape radically changing soon, questions about the feasibility of the Irish’s longtime independence are being raised. Plus, with their next athletic director currently heading NBC Sports Group and the Big Ten about to start a long-term TV deal with NBC, the Irish almost seem destined for full-time Big Ten membership.

Now, before you Irish traditionalists hang me from the top of the Golden Dome, really think about this. Many of the Irish’s most frequent opponents in their history are based in the Midwest. This would revive annual or semi-annual rivalries that largely have been discarded to fulfill obligations to the East Coast-centeric ACC. Nothing against that conference, but Wake Forest, North Carolina and Georgia Tech just seem to be awkwardly forced upon the fan base by the arrangement and don’t exactly rile anyone up.

In the event of a Big Ten membership, certain parameters will have to be set for the Irish. They definitely would need to keep Navy as one of its nonconference opponents because any season not completely compromised by COVID that doesn’t have the Midshipmen just seems wrong. Other than that, there are some opponents that need to be scheduled every year or at least merit consideration for that. Here are the ones most worth considering:

Watch: Jac Collinsworth video of him walking on Notre Dame campus

Someone is excited about their new job.

When NBC announced Jac Collinsworth and Jason Garrett as its new Notre Dame broadcast team, the reaction was rather mixed. Our editor is among those who doesn’t particularly care for the duo, at least right now. Maybe minds will be changed by the end of the season.

Regardless of how Collinsworth will do, you can’t deny that he feels a lot of pride to be calling home games for his alma mater. Don’t believe it? Watch this video he posted on campus:

Look, you don’t have to love the idea of Collinsworth and Garrett in the booth for these games. At least give them a chance before stranding them on top of the Golden Dome though. Maybe this is the assignment they need to really shine as broadcasters. There’s no denying Collinsworth especially has some big shoes to fill in following Mike Tirico, but contrary to what some might think, it’s not that hard of a task if you have the right skill set.

Contact/Follow us @IrishWireND on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Notre Dame news, notes, and opinions.

Follow Geoffrey on Twitter: @gfclark89

See it: Dabo Swinney’s tour of Notre Dame

Dabo Swinney took the opportunity to go full-tourist on Friday on his first trip to Notre Dame. See the pictures from him around campus.

Clemson head football coach Dabo Swinney did something I thought was pretty cool this week.

Often times you’ll hear coaches talk about “business trips” and “eyes on the prize” and “tunnel vision” when their teams are playing in big games.

Clemson is ranked first in the country and clearly has a huge game at an iconic venue this week as they’re at No. 4 Notre Dame.  But instead of Swinney downplaying the opponent or the venue, he embraced it as it’s Clemson’s first trip to Notre Dame since 1979.

Instead of avoiding the opposing stadium like he said Clemson usually does, Swinney made it a point for his team to have a walk through at Notre Dame Stadium on Friday afternoon.

He then took it a step further and took a tour of the Notre Dame campus.

For those that don’t know, Tim Bourret was the football SID at Clemson for 40 years and is a 1977 graduate of Notre Dame.  It’s safe to say Swinney saw all the necessary sites on campus that a first-time visitor to Notre Dame needs to see.

I won’t say any names (cough, NICK SABAN, cough) but plenty of coaches act too cool or above embracing anything in regards to the history of college football so seeing Swinney eat up some of the landmarks of the campus just over 24 before his biggest game of the regular season is pretty cool to see for this college football fan.

WATCH: Star-Filled Notre Dame Zoom Meeting

The fun started with Lou Holtz and Digger Phelps jumping on a Notre Dame Zoom meeting but it certainly didn’t end just there!

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before…

Lou Holtz and Digger Phelps log into a Zoom meeting…

And Justin Tuck, Rudy, Tim Brown, Raghib Ismail, Ian Book, Hannah Storm, Brandon Wimbush and a ridiculous amount of other former Notre Dame stars are there to join them.

That’s exactly what happened Tuesday night and the Twitter account @NDLoyal was there to share it with all.

Every Zoom call I’ve ever been on I find myself being like Ian Book is for the majority of that two minutes.

Pretty cool to see that many familiar faces getting together on a random Tuesday night.