Tag: NCAA Sports

NCAA president advocates for ban on prop betting in college sports

NCAA president Charlie Baker released a statement earlier this week advocating for states to prohibit prop bets on college players and teams.

With gambling becoming more ingrained in the day-to-day of sports fans, NCAA president Charlie Baker is calling for some additional legislation.

On Wednesday, Baker released a statement urging for states to ban prop betting in college games.

Prop bets revolve around a player or team’s stats rather than the game’s winner or final score. Popular options include whether or not a player will score a certain number of points or finish with a certain number of rebounds.

Recent incidents have put bets like these in the spotlight, both for putting individual players under scrutiny for their performance and for leading to potential conflicts of interest. In an ESPN story on the subject, San Diego State athletic director JD Wicker said players attending class among fellow students who may be betting on their performance creates negative interactions.

“Prop bets (continue) to threaten the integrity and competition and (lead) to student athletes and professional athletes getting harassed,” Baker wrote in his statement.

Within the last week in the world of professional sports, MLB star Shohei Ohtani fired his translator for stealing money to place sports bets and the NBA began investigating a Toronto Raptors player named Jontay Porter for potentially providing insight on his own prop bets.

“The NCAA is drawing the line on sports betting to protect student-athletes and to protect the integrity of the game — issues across the country these last several days show there is more work to be done,” Baker added in his statement.

No. 6 Notre Dame vs. Stanford: Staff predictions for regular season finale

Does Notre Dame allow a touchdown for the first time this November?

Notre Dame checks in sixth in the College Football Playoff rankings and has a path to the Playoff if they can get a little bit of help.

Of course, they have to take care of business first themselves as a trip to Stanford sits between the Irish and an 11-1 season.  Stanford has one of the biggest upsets of the year when they knocked off Oregon in early October but the Cardinal haven’t won since, dropping their last five and entering their 2021 finale at 3-8.

Will Stanford pose an actual threat to Notre Dame’s 11-1 season or will they just be the latest bug on the windshield for the Irish, who have outscored opponents 117-9 in November?

Here is what the Fighting Irish Wire staff sees happening:

Notre Dame lands commitment from elite linebacker

HUGE get for the Irish, lets go!

Notre Dame has landed a big-time commitment for the 2023 recruiting class as linebacker Drayk Bowen of Merrillville, Indiana announced Wednesday night that he’ll be staying close to home for college.  Bowen chose the Irish over other finalists Auburn and Clemson.

Bowen is listed at 6-2, 215 pounds, and is ranked as the second best linebacker in the entire 2023 recruiting class by 247Sports Composite.

This is another huge get for the Irish who have struggled at times to bring truly elite talent to campus.  Bowen becomes the sixth commitment in Notre Dame’s 2023 recruiting class and already their second five-star, joining defensive end Brenan Vernon of Ohio.

Find out more about Bowen by reading the scout’s view of his commitment here.

Related:

Notre Dame’s 2023 Recruiting Class Commitments

Notre Dame’s top ranked recruits since 2000

More backlash appears headed NCAA’s way on name, image likeness

The likeness ruling by the NCAA that was set to be addressed this month appears to have been slowed

It was set up to be a landmark ruling by the NCAA, allowing student-athletes to profit off their images and likeness.  Instead, it looks as if that landmark legislation may be about to get delayed.

Originally the NCAA’s Board of Governers mandated that new image, likeness, and name rules be put in place “no later than January of 2021” but according to a USA TODAY report, three primary reasons appear to be shifting this ruling to later in the year.

  1. The Supreme Court’s decision to hear the NCAA’s appeal of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that the NCAA cannot limit benefits related to education that college athletes can receive.
  2. The uncertainty surrounding what kind of bill Congress might vote on to regulate name, image, and likeness issues due to the runoff elections in Georgia that flips control of Congress to the Democrats.
  3. Simply the lack of detail given to NCAA membership about how a third-party clearinghouse would function to vet name, image, and likeness deals signed by athletes to ensure they are not simply recruiting inducements.

You can tell something is in a rough spot when the part involving the courts feels like the easy part.  The third point sticks out because how do you regulate this?

Instead of a school or athletic program recruiting an athlete, it then turns into a car dealership promising an endorsement, or something of the like.

I’m all for players getting played for multiple reasons, none bigger than how much money they bring in for their respective programs and universities.  However, simply saying to make it legal without setting up proper barriers is essentially going to make the highest level of college sports function like the old SMU Pony Express, just legally.

Notre Dame Football’s 2022 Recruiting Class

Keep track of Notre Dame’s next group of stars. Find out everything about the current commitments in Notre Dame’s 2022 recruiting class here

Notre Dame has started to piece together their 2022 recruiting class as they picked up a pair of commitments on July 25 and 27.

It’s early in the recruiting cycle but Notre Dame’s pair of commitments have landed the Fighting Irish in the top ten nationally in the 2022 recruiting rankings as they sit at No. 7 on 247Sports and No. 7 on Rivals (as of posting on 9/25/2020).

Meet the 2022 Notre Dame recruiting class below!

**–Please note that rankings are based off the players 247Sports Composite rankings.  Keep this page saved in your favorites as it will be updated every time a player commits or de-commits to and from Notre Dame.

 

CBS bowl projections improving for Notre Dame

Notre Dame hasn’t gotten a ton of love from CBS in their weekly bowl projections this season but got a boost in the latest release.

The last few weeks we’ve taken a look at the CBS bowl projections we’ve seen Notre Dame headed to what has become a familiar destination, Orlando, Florida.

Two of Notre Dame’s last three seasons have ended in Orlando with a trip to each the Capital One Bowl to cap 2017 and the Camping World Bowl to close the 2019 season.

The latest CBS projection done by Jerry Palm has a new destination for the Irish this week though, and it’s another familiar place for the Fighting Irish as it’s where their 2018 season ended.

Latest CBS Bowl Projection for Notre Dame:
Cotton Bowl vs. Oklahoma State – Dec. 30

Now this year the Cotton Bowl isn’t part of the College Football Playoff so that would be a bit disappointing for optimistic Notre Dame fans but another trip to Dallas sounds a heckuva lot better than another season ending in Orlando.

Last week we also asked how Palm could have Oregon, who can only play as many as seven games this regular season, in his College Football Playoff.  This week he offered this:

One thing they have yet to do is leave an undefeated, major conference team out of the playoff.  I am projecting Oregon to finish 7-0 and therefore find a spot in the CFP. Until the committee (or the Ducks) give me a reason to change that, Oregon will still be there. – Jerry Palm

I appreciate him giving the reasoning but I’ll be pretty steamed if a seven win Oregon team or any other team from the Pac-12 wound up in the College Football Playoff for that exact reason of playing so few games compared to the best in the ACC, SEC and even a couple less than those in the Big Ten.

Notre Dame: Jahmir Smith cites mental health in football exit

Why is Jahmir Smith leaving football behind? The former Notre Dame running back opened up about his decision to leave football on Wednesday

Earlier this week it was announced by Brian Kelly that running back Jahmir Smith was leaving the Notre Dame football program.  Now on Wednesday, Smith has released a statement that describes why he is exiting football.

Smith, who only saw game action this year in the opener against Duke, posted the following on Twitter this Wednesday:

Props to Smith for being open about why he’s choosing to leave football behind him and all the best as he works on his the mental health issues that he’s having.

No. 4 Notre Dame 12, Louisville 7: FIW Staff Game Balls

Who played the best on offense and defense for Notre Dame in their narrow win over Louisville? The Fighting Irish Wire staff give game balls

Notre Dame didn’t look overly impressive in doing so but they were able to move to 4-0 on Saturday with a 12-7 win over Louisville in a low scoring affair that few saw coming.

The win moves Notre Dame past their 1/3 point of the season and the Irish now get to pack their bags for the first time and head to Pitt next week to take on a Panthers team that features one of the better defensive fronts the Irish will see all season.

Before we move on and start breaking down Pitt though, it’s time to hand out or gameballs for the 12-7 victory over Louisville in the game that looked like it belonged in 1964.

First up is Geoffrey Clark…

Pages: Page 1, Page 2, Page 3, Page 4

CBS latest bowl projections frustrating for Notre Dame fans

The latest CBS bowl projections call for Notre Dame to end up in a place that would leave Fighting Irish fans rather frustrated.

As we do on a regular basis, we check and see where others view the 2020 Notre Dame season ending up this postseason.

We follow the CBS projections as well as those from USA TODAY with regularity and I’m sure will take a look at what CFN, ESPN and others project here before long.

The CBS projections are at the point they’re getting frustrating for this Notre Dame follower, however.

This week Jerry Palm of CBS again projects Notre Dame to end the season in Orlando for the Cheez-It Bowl and has their opponent an interesting one in 2-2 Oklahoma.

However, it’s what he has bumping Notre Dame down that has me a bit confused.

Let’s start with the College Football Playoff where Palm puts Clemson, Ohio State, Alabama and Oregon.

Obviously what we’ve seen early on the Clemson pick as well as an SEC representative is a logical answer.

Ohio State might bring some debate but with them having to play eight regular season games and a ninth in the conference championship.  Personally, I’m on the record of being fine with a 9-0 Ohio State squad getting in.

However, Oregon, really?

The PAC-12 is set to play just six regular season games with those in the conference championship game getting a seventh.  Are we going to act like a 7-0 Oregon team, playing in what’s perceived to be one of the two weakest Power Five conferences this season, is worthy of a CFP bid?

I often think that too much gets made of one team playing one more game than another when it comes to debating who is worthy of a playoff spot.  But we’re talking about a Pac-12 team who will have played five fewer games than the ACC Champion or runner up and four fewer than the SEC Champion and runner up.

You can’t convince me that Oregon winning every game by completely dominating even gets them in the conversation, let alone in.

The other part is interesting to me is that despite Clemson beating the doors off of Miami this past weekend, the Palm projection still calls for the Hurricanes to end up in the Orange Bowl.

That leads to Notre Dame again then heading to Orlando for the Cheez-It Bowl, a trip they’d prefer to not make seeing as two of their past three seasons have ended there as well as in 2011.

It’d be one thing if it was regular trips to the Rose Bowl or Orange Bowl but the Champs Sports turned Camping World turned Cheez-It Bowl doesn’t qualify for that.

As compelling of an opponent as Oklahoma would be, I think I speak for Notre Dame fans everywhere when I say:

(almost) ANYWHERE BUT ORLANDO AGAIN!

 

Kirk Herbstreit Updates Top 4 – Hello Notre Dame

Kirk Herbstreit updated his top four teams this weekend and Notre Dame has made it’s first appearance on the list this season.

Saturday was viewed by some as the first “Separation Saturday” of the fall as a top ten matchup between Clemson and Miami had a huge fallout in regards to the national perception of both.

After the Clemson destruction of the Hurricanes, the perception is that Clemson appears about as good as ever and Miami still has a lot of work to do before they’re a real College Football Playoff contender.

Kirk Herbstreit has been releasing his top four teams all season long (as long as said teams have played to date) and each week offers two who are close to joining that top four.

This week’s rankings went as follows:

  1. Clemson
  2. Georgia
  3. Alabama
  4. Notre Dame

Herbstreit also offered both North Carolina and BYU as his “Next 2” for the week.

It’s the first appearance Notre Dame has made in the top four for Herbstreit this season and speaks to how highly the Fighting Irish are being viewed not just in the Amway Coaches Poll powered by USA TODAY or the AP Top 25.

With Alabama and Georgia meeting next week in Tuscaloosa there is a great chance that the Irish will bump up another spot in a matter of days.

It all sets up for huge games down the road for Notre Dame who is set to host Clemson on November 7 and travel to North Carolina the day after Thanksgiving.