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Newsstand: What Stephen A. Smith said in criticism of Notre Dame football

IMG_9992by:Tyler Horka•02/22/24•

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Marcus Freeman Sam Hartman
Notre Dame football coach Marcus Freeman (center) and quarterback Sam Hartman (10). (Chad Weaver/Blue & Gold)

Wednesday morning, ESPN’s First Take crew spent time discussing the impact of the official announcement of the 12-team College Football Playoff consisting of the five highest-ranked conference champions plus the next seven highest-ranked at-large teams. Naturally, that discussion included what that means for Notre Dame.

Contrary to what social media experts would have you believe, the modification was actually a good thing for the Fighting Irish. The previous 12-team format took the six highest-ranked conference champions plus the six highest-ranked at-large teams. The Irish cannot be a conference champion because of their independence, so the modified format gives them, statistically, higher odds of getting into the playoff.

Then Stephen A. Smith went full Stephen A. Smith once the CFP part of the segment was finished.

He spent over three minutes eviscerating the Notre Dame football program.

“They have not won a national title since 1988,” he said. “That is 36 years. Thirty six years ago, I was graduating from high school. Had an afro. Hairline was two feet forward…. [Chris Russo] had just started with Mike Francesa on The Fan in New York City. That’s how long ago that was. That’s the last time [the Irish] were relevant.

“And everybody walks around like — don’t get me wrong, I root for [Irish head coach Marcus Freeman]. I’m not rooting against them. The Fighting Irish is the Fighting Irish. I’ve been there. It’s a prestigious university. I get it. The Golics of the world and everybody love themselves some Notre Dame, and they should. Please don’t get me wrong. But what the hell have they done?”

That was only just over half of it. See the first post of the next section of this article for more.

Notre Dame tweets of the day

Just a little context to add to Smith’s rant.

The undefeated Irish baseball team is on its way to hunt down four more wins in Florida.

Quote of the day

“We have the best OC in the country; I know Coach [Mike] Denbrock can put me in a position to be a Heisman winner like Jayden Daniels. The network at Notre Dame — I can be a successful person.”

— Irish quarterback commit Deuce Knight on his future in South Bend

Headlines of the day

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