Rakes Report: A Notre Dame Podcast

Jamie Uyeyama of Irish Sports Daily joins to talk about the new coaching hires, roster churn, Notre Dame's recruiting ceiling and what to pay attention to during spring practice.

Sam Werner joins us to discuss adjustments to the All-BK-at-ND team following the 2019 campaign and then we tier up the best players of the last decade of Irish football.

Jessica Smetana of Sports Illustrated stops by to talk Tommy Rees's promotion, Phil Jurkovec's transfer, the Camping World victory and our favorite bowls of the 2019-20 postseason. Pete Sampson's article on the Rees promotion we quote from in this episode.

This is last year's Christmas Song Draft, which has been described as everything between "a holiday classic" and "rage-inducing." If you've got some holiday travel this weekend, this is some clean seasonal listening. Here's the link to the Spotify playlist of our selections. Original release date: December 20, 2018.

Jessica Smetana of Sports Illustrated and Andrew Smith & Alex Herrmann of Notre Dame Our Blogger join to discuss bowl games, the college football playoff, White Claw vs. Truly, Christmas music and much more. Please consider donating to the Center for the Homeless in South Bend here. NOTE: We unfortunately recorded this prior to the news of Chip Long's departure from Notre Dame's offensive coordinator position. We're sad about that, too.

Brian Fremeau (Football Outsiders, creator of FEI) and Michael Bryan (18 Stripes) join to break down what the numbers show about Notre Dame's 2019 season, how the Irish currently fit into the college football world and what you should expect from Iowa State in the bowl game. Please consider donating to the Center for the Homeless in South Bend here.

Thanks so much to everyone who has contributed to Christmas Giving so far but the fundraising drives rolls on. Our USC Insider Nick Tresnowski stops by to donate his Clay Helton Retention Misery to the cause. Along with a special guest, we also discuss USC's future, Notre Dame's place in the college football world and much more. Donate to the Center for the Homeless in South Bend here.

To launch the fourth annual Rakes Report Christmas Giving, we hand out a bunch of awards for the 2019 Notre Dame football season, from MVP to favorite play. There's also a special PSA from NotreDameOurBlogger.com. Donate to the Center for the Homeless here. Christmas Giving merch is available here.

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.