Just because our run at HLS is ending doesn't mean Shane and I aren't ridiculously excited for this season. In fact, it only took two BK pressers and one media-viewed practice to whip us up into a homer frenzy.

Slap on those blue & gold glasses and come sip on the Kool-Aid with us before the season gets rolling.

Also, scheduling note for future podcasts: Picks Pod starts back up with an August 25th recording and the first Sim is September 2nd. Get. Hype!

We are finally nearing the end of the offseason, meaning it is time for laser focus on the 2021 Notre Dame season. With that in mind, Shane and I give a quick preview on every game on the 2021 Irish slate, plus perhaps going off topic a bit on the Peacock home opener.

Come for the massive preview, stay for the huge show news at the end of the episode!

Finally, an episode that has waited nearly a month in the wings!

I bust out my 2021 preview magazine collection and discuss the projections with Shane, which seem to include the national media guzzling the Cincinnati and North Carolina Koolaid. The outlook from the magazine crew is largely good, including a projection that might be wearing blue and gold glasses.

We then turn to Vegas and SP+ for a bit of a downer. Those projections were...not as kind.

Next week, we will turn to our own projections for the Irish plus some big news for the pod that you don't want to miss!

Shane and I had plans of discussing the national previews of Notre Dame. Then Texas and Oklahoma decided they were off to the SEC.

So, here we go again: it's conference realignment time. While we spend a fair amount of time making fun of Texas and laughing at the Big XII getting caught with their pants down, we examine what this means for college football's future, the planned playoff expansion, and if Notre Dame's independence still fits into all of this.

We'll try that whole preview magazine thing next week.

Name, Image, and Likeness is no longer a concept or a wishlist, but reality. Shane and I discuss what that reality entails, how Notre Dame and its players have approached it, how much we still don't know, and the potential pitfalls along the way.

Towards the end, this leads me to a few hilarious sponsorship ideas that perfectly encapsulate what we love about college football.

Yes, I put the incredible Zoom recording fail behind me. Moons and Shane graciously came back on to try to recreate our episode focusing on the Supreme Court decision on NCAA v Alston.

Moons gives his legal expertise as to what the SCOTUS decision actually means in the grand scheme of thigs. Thankfully, he's also used his lawyering skills to show just how badly the NCAA bungled this entire case from beginning to end.

We also talk about the Kavanaugh opinion, what that means to the big picture as well as the NCAA's spin to the 9-0 loss as a win for them.

Finally, we conclude with irrefutable, legal proof that Michigan is full of tramps.

Background: NCAA v Alston happened. I thought I'd bring still-technically-HLS-staff Moons, an actual lawyer, on the pod with Shane and I to discuss this intelligently. We had a great time. Awesome conversation. I learned some things.

I also learned Zoom didn't record a damn thing. I learned this after we finished the episode.

We will re-rack again and give the episode another shot. That being said, I know we can't completely re-capture the moment like we did the first time.

So, since Shane and I record our audio locally, I did some creative editing for Moons' audio. I clipped the end of the show which was easily the highlight. 

If you are interested in hearing the entire Mt. Everest of Tex tech fuck ups, I have that available on my Patreon. You can unlock it for $1/month as I attempt to make lemonade out of the lemons I threw at myself.

Enjoy?

After getting to avoid it last week, Shane and I dive into the position group causing the most angst within the Notre Dame fan base: Wide Receiver.

You name it, it's gone wrong: horrid injury luck, transfers, and lack of production. With talk of Notre Dame needing to have a more dynamic offense, this position group simply has to step up not just this year, but beyond.

With that in mind, I come up with an offensive strategy that might just hide some of the warts of this position group, plus some others that are stepping in a unique spot in 2021 for Notre Dame.

Oh, the shameless plug because we are all too happy to sell out to the Good Brand: Be sure to use LOYALSONS for 15% off your first order at HomefieldApparel.com and be sure to let them know HLS sent you.

Jack Swarbrick has consistently put Notre Dame's football independence above all else. Even when faced with a daunting prospect of playoff expansion, a move that could have forced Notre Dame, yet again, into conference membership, he found an out.

Sacrifices have to be made to protect the ND family. A playoff by may have been left at the scene of the crime, but Jack executed any thought that the Irish would need to flock to a conference to preserve title hopes.

In doing so, Shane and I see all kinds of potential for opportunity, incredible matchups, and even potentially chaos not just on the field, but off as well once conference TV contracts come to an end.

Shane and I touched on Name, Image, and Likeness rights in last week's episode, but this week we take the full dive into it. We first examine the broad picture as it stands right now, including a look at how money currently changes hands thanks to a confession by one Johnny Football. With that picture, we throw out how we'd like Notre Dame to approach this fast incoming radical change to the college football landscape.