100 Thoughts In 100 Days: Notre Dame Football Uniforms, Sparty, Wildcats, Safe Play, & Playoff Expansion

Alright y’all... we are 82 days to kickoff for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, and instead of just posting a random picture of whatever with a number, you’re going to get a chance to dive even deeper into my everyday thoughts.

It’s not always going to be pretty, and you have to remember: these are just random streams of thought and in no way should constitute a firm belief or ideology (mostly).

Today’s gift really is a random set of thoughts

I FEEL PRETTY

For many years, Notre Dame fans have debated about the Irish uniforms. PANTS PANTS PANTS, dull helmets, shiny helmets, sleeve art — and so on. It’s my belief that as of right now, the Notre Dame uniform set is at its most beautiful. It’s as if they took the best of the Ara uniforms and the best of the Holtz uniforms and did a damn fine mashup.

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SPARTY YES

Of the many problems I have with the Notre Dame football schedule, it’s the ending of the rivalry with the Michigan State Spartans. I don’t care about what they do with the Michigan Wolverines or the Purdue Boilermakers — Sparty became the #2 rival for the Irish for me. #1 of course, are the USC Trojans, but I always felt Irish fans too easily dismissed MSU, and if you look at the last 20 years — it’s been quite remarkable. Megaphone 4Ever Y’all!

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WILD THOUGHTS

The more I think about it, the more the November 3rd game against the Northwestern Wildcats bothers me.

• Road game
• November
• Played a gut punch game against the Navy Midshipmen in prime time on the west coast
• Pat Fitzgerald is a good coach

Add all that together and it’s not the best recipe for success. I’m not predicting a loss, but I think a loss there wouldn’t be the strangest thing we have seen. It’s going to be tough.

Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images

THE SAFE PLAY

If you went back in time to January, I think you would have found many that had Alohi Gilman and incoming freshman, Derrik Allen, pegged as the starters at safety in 2018. After spring football, and the move of Houston Griffith to safety from corner, I think we were looking at a combination of Nick Coleman, Jalen Elliott, and Gilman as the starting group. But is that the best possible combination — or is it the safest? Perhaps the best combination will actually be Griffith and Allen. Would 1st time defensive coordinator Clark Lea, and his new safeties coach Terry Joseph have the stones to start two freshmen?

Twitter @Mansell247

PLAYOFF EXPANSION?

I think most people believe that the college football playoffs will expand to 8 teams at the first chance it gets. Would this be the best outcome for Notre Dame? There is no “conference champion” provision in the current form, but I could definitely see one put in place for the 8 team version. Would that version only call for the Power 5 champions and 3 at large bids? Would the group of 5 have to get some consideration (with a likely lawsuit coming if not)? Would an expansion make it easier for Notre Dame, or could it force Notre Dame into joining the ACC? I tend to think that an expansion would cement Notre Dame’s independence, but I suppose anything could happen.

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