Hitting the Links: April 24th, 2013

This is going to be fast and furious my friends.

As always starting elsewhere and ending in South Bend.

At Auburn's spring game, the world's most cheerful rebel horde says goodbye - SBNation.com

Pour a little out for your Auburn bros. Auburn is one of the many college football scenes that I have had the privilege of experiencing and I had a pretty fantastic time down there. Having once witnessed it in person makes me a little sad to see a this tradition literally die. Score another win for Saban. Roll Tide.

In other Auburn news...

Auburn's internal review finds no evidence of academic fraud | Campus Union - SI.com

Auburn athletic director Jay Jacobs presented a point-by-point rebuttal to the Roopstigo report on the school’s website. Jacobs said an internal review debunked the majority of the claims in author Selena Roberts’ story.

NFL draft prospect Matt Barkley regrets not being more outspoken, forceful at USC - Yahoo! Sports

This article is full of interesting quotes from former Trojan signal caller Matt Barkley. Of note "Kiff" not "Coach Kiffin." Respect.

"Kiff kind of suited the play-calling toward Marqise," Barkley says. "It was rough at times, because defenses kinda knew what was coming. It was sort of predictive. Robert Woods is a great player. … You want to be respectful of your coaches, because they are your elders, but when it falls on your shoulders, you probably should get involved."

Denard Robinson's NCAA Football 14 cover revealed - SBNation.com

We will always have September 22nd, 2012.

Big Ten Conference to realign teams, replace division names with East, West, sources say - ESPN

So that whole Leaders and Legends thing didn't last long. Shocker.

The Big Ten will replace Legends and Leaders with East and West when Maryland and Rutgers join the league in 2014, league sources told ESPN.

Football playoff has name and site - ESPN

Aaaaand the verdict is in and there are absolutely zero surprises. That is actually a little bit disappointing. I was hoping that they would announce that some random bowl game like the Sun Bowl had made the cut. Also was "College Football Playoff" really the best thing that they could come up with? One has to assume that Jim Delaney was in charge of the naming committee. Guys, I learned my lesson with this, just keep it basic and descriptive!

College Football Playoff will be the name of the four-team playoff, which begins after the 2014 regular season. Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas, will be awarded the college football playoff's first national championship, to be held Jan. 12, 2015, sources told ESPN. Also, the Fiesta, Cotton and Chick-fil-A bowls will join the Rose, Sugar and Orange bowls in the six-bowl semifinal rotation for the new playoff, sources said.

Fans can pick the new College Football Playoff logo | Dr. Saturday - Yahoo! Sports

Ummm who cares? Seriously.

2013 New Mexico football's 10 things to know: Back on the grid - SBNation.com

Here is a look at what Bob Davie is up to out in Albuquerque. I wonder how often he eats at Los Pollos Hermanos?

New Mexico completely fell off the radar screen under Mike Locksley, and while the Lobos still weren't very good in Bob Davie's first season in command, they had an identity and stayed mostly competitive. That's a start.

New ACC deal could halt conference realignment for a long time - SBNation.com

Are these deals really going to stop the musical chairs? What do you all think about this deal for Notre Dame?

Such a deal, in layman's terms, means that every school is granting the conference the revenue from certain broadcast rights. Even if a school were to leave, its TV money would stay within the league until the end of the deal. Neither the school nor its new league would make TV money, meaning all ACC schools would be completely off limits. Note that 15 teams likely does not include Notre Dame football, which has its own deal with NBC for its home games, but it does lock in the Irish's other sports.

We all watched the Blue-Gold game this past weekend and have been discussing it all over our front page. Here are a handful of other post Blue-Gold game observations from around the interwebs.

Irish offered few answers, many questions out of spring game | Elkhart Truth

Defense Dominates as Notre Dame Wraps Spring Ball - 2013 Blue-Gold Game | UHND

Five things we learned: Defense 54, Offense 43 | Inside the Irish

Notre Dame Defense Dominates in Spring Game - UND.COM - University of Notre Dame Official Athletic Site

Here is the official Blue-Gold writeup from UND.com. Not surprisingly there are plenty of quotes in there from one Louis Nix III.

"My intentions were just to truck somebody, to be honest. I didn't care about the touchdown too much. I just wanted to run somebody over and show coach I can do it without fumbling the ball," he said. The defense wanted no part in taking on Nix, with linebacker Kendall Moore spinning out of the way to make sure he didn't collide with Nix. "They were scared. I wouldn't want to tackle me. Would you?" Nix asked. "I saw fear in his eyes. I would have done the same thing."

Wild Chocolate was definitely the story of the day. Coincidentally both our own Burger23 and ND Tex over at HLS managed to publish breakdowns of LN III's 2 point conversion on Tuesday morning.

OFD Films: WILD CHOCOLATE - One Foot Down

Inside the Film Room: Louis Nix Becomes Legend | Her Loyal Sons

Notre Dame football recruiting: Irish land a top tight end - southbendtribune.com

We will get a post up on Nic Weishar shortly.

Chicago tight end Nic Weishar had long been on Notre Dame's radar, and vice versa. On Tuesday, the Chicago tight end put his name on Notre Dame's 2014 commitment list. The 6-foot-5, 215-pound Weishar, who plays at Marist High School in Chicago, became the seventh player to commit to Irish coach Brian Kelly.

Boston College Vs. Notre Dame In Ireland 2015? - BC Interruption

The original source for this doesn't sound very convincing.

IrishCentral understands that major efforts to get another Notre Dame game to Ireland are underway after the massive success of the 2012 game against Navy. A clash with their Catholic school archrivals would be an enormous draw in Dublin where both teams have played in the past.

Son of legendary rocker plans to walk on at Notre Dame | CSN Chicago

More players with famous parents.

According to Irish Sports Daily's Christian McCollum, Jesse Bongiovi -- son of legendary rocker Jon Bon Jovi -- plans to walk on this fall with Notre Dame's football team.

Have a great 2nd half of the week!