Rakes Report: A Notre Dame Podcast

Sam Werner of the Three-Point Jesus podcast joins to talk about the victory over the RedHawks. Topics include The Riley Leonard Discourse, a dominant defense (except for second and long), an assessment of special teams and how playing a big game against Louisville changes the tenor of the week/gameday experience. Subscribe to the Rakes Report newsletter at rakesreport.substack.com.

Jessica Smetana joins to discuss the Fighting Irish's demolition of the Boilermakers in West Lafayette. Topics include a dominant run game, dominant defense, concerning injuries, if there's a quarterback controversy and some (well, maybe more than some) lingering thoughts from last weekend. Subscribe to the Rakes Report newsletter at rakesreport.substack.com.

Jessica Smetana joins to examine the wide world of takes — including fair critiques, honest questions, sizzlers and some creative fan-fiction — that resulted from Notre Dame's loss to Northern Illinois. Understand if you auto-delete this but it's not overly gloomy or whiny. Subscribe to the Rakes Report newsletter at rakesreport.substack.com.

Michael Bryan of 18 Stripes joins to recap his Saturday at Texas A&M. Also included: Marcus Freeman's fourth down decisions, what one game affirmed/undercut as far as preseason expectations and what we're looking for in Week 2. Subscribe to the Rakes Report newsletter at rakesreport.substack.com.

Jessica Smetana joins to discuss the monster win in College Station. Sorry this is very loopy and rambly and not edited, we'll be more coherent next time. Buy Golden-Denbrock 2024 merch here. Subscribe to the Rakes Report newsletter at rakesreport.substack.com.

Jessica Smetana joins to select the things we're most excited to see this Fighting Irish football season. Also: Big-picture thoughts, predictions, advice for Notre Dame fans traveling to College Station and the debut of campus' newest statue, Hot Dog Jesus. Subscribe to the Rakes Report newsletter at rakesreport.substack.com.

Alex Herrmann and Andrew Smith of Notre Dame, Our Blogger join to preview all 12 opponents on this fall's Fighting Irish schedule. Subscribe to the Rakes Report newsletter at rakesreport.substack.com.

Jamie Uyeyama of Irish Sports Daily returns for Part Two of this year's Frosh O series to talk about every scholarship freshman on the Notre Dame defense. Included: Can Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa really be Manti 2.0? Tae Johnston has upside at safety, but Kennedy Urlacher could be in the mix on special teams from the jump. Leonard Moore's stock continues to rise as he appears to in the cornerback rotation. Bryce Young is a monster at defensive end. Jamie's overall thoughts on a big 2024 season for Marcus Freeman and the Fighting Irish, including a thin margin for error. Subscribe to the Rakes Report newsletter at rakesreport.substack.com.

Jamie Uyeyama of Irish Sports Daily joins for Part 1 of this year's Frosh O series to talk about every scholarship freshman on the Notre Dame offense. Included: The present and future of the line arrives in Anthonie Knapp and Guerby Lambert. Which tailback has the best chance to contribute this season between Kedren Young and Aneyas Williams. An exciting trio at wide receiver, including Cam Williams and Micah Gilbert. How Jack Larsen fits into the legacy of Irish tight ends. C.J. Carr's tremendous upside potential. Subscribe to the Rakes Report newsletter at rakesreport.substack.com.

Irish Sports Daily's Greg Flammang and 18 Stripes' Michael Bryan dive into the nitty gritty of nine position groups. There's unanimity about who's first and who's last (with some breaking news on the latter) along with a promising amount of gray area between them. Subscribe to the Rakes Report newsletter at rakesreport.substack.com.

A run through of where things stand as we enter a month where the Fighting Irish will play a real (and real important) football game. Subscribe to the Rakes Report newsletter here.

Our USC Insider Nick Tresnowski joins to discuss the Trojans. Topics include life after Caleb Williams, ditching Alex Grinch, pressure on Lincoln Riley and adjusting to the Big Ten. Subscribe to the Rakes Report newsletter here.

Carter Karels of Gigem247 joins to talk about Texas A&M. The Aggies have a new coach, an elite defensive line, promise at quarterback and some questions yet to be answered in camp.  Subscribe to the Rakes Report newsletter here.

Jessica Smetana joins to talk offseason campus visits, the expectations game, home field advantages, interesting preseason win totals, possible/probable playoff arguments, prophetic EMTs of cinema and much more. Subscribe to the Rakes Report newsletter here.

Inside ND Sports' Eric Hansen joins to talk about how the Fighting Irish football team is handling the high expectations for this season, Pete Bevacqua's first weeks on the job, roster questions and more. Then (49:00) Paul Coletti of The Irish Alert Substack walks through the state of the Notre Dame women's basketball roster after exciting additions from the transfer portal, freshman class and injury list. (Apologies for contrast in CW audio quality between the two segments.) Subscribe to the Rakes Report newsletter here.

Irish Sports Daily's Jamie Uyeyama joins to take a deep dive on where Notre Dame football stands at the conclusion of spring practice. What do we feel better about and what questions still remain to be sorted out before the season begins? Topics include QB depth/upside, a potentially dominant front seven, wide receiver improvement, running back reps, questions at corner, offensive tackles and much more. Then a discussion of the series Shogun (1:13:30). (No spoilers to start then they're clearly flagged.) Subscribe to the Rakes Report newsletter here.

Hoops hoops hoops. Supersized episode to get you ready for the tournament and review the first season of Micah Shrewsberry's tenure. Segment 1: Sabreena Merchant (The Athletic) on Notre Dame's chances and what she's most excited for this March. Segment 2 (33:11): Jessica Smetana on storylines to follow, pre-tournament nerves and how the coverage of the women's bracket has evolved. Segment 3 (57:14): Sam Werner (Three-Point Jesus podcast) and Joe Schueller (18 Stripes) on whether expectations were met for Shrewsberry's inaugural season and what the team might look like next season.

The Athletic's Pete Sampson joins to talk about many things including but not limited to Max Bullough, Mike Denbrock, where support for Marcus Freeman stands among both the administration and fans, NIL and transfer portal, a change in approach to strength and conditioning, bowl selection chicanery and the large expectations for 2024. Subscribe to the Rakes Report newsletter here.

Greg Flammang (Irish Sports Daily) and Michael Bryan (18 Stripes) join to talk about early offseason thoughts, 2023 numbers that stand out, what the offense might look like in 2024 and Depth Chart Power Ranking accountability. Then (48:00) a discussion of the Amazon Prime series Reacher.

Jessica Smetana joins to talk about the dominant 40-8 win in El Paso and how to feel about the Fighting Irish program going into the offseason. Donate to the Center for the Homeless in South Bend here.