Print Edition for The Observer for Friday, September 22, 2023 by The Observer

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PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY CHRISTINA SAYUT | PHOTOS BY ND ATHLETICS

STATE OF COLLEGE FOOTBALL

How CFB parity opens a path for Irish glory

By JOSE SANCHEZ CORDOVA Assistant Managing Editor

After years of domination by just a few preeminent college football programs, this season has brought parity to the college football landscape.

Just look at the biggest results from this season. No. 11 Texas beat No. 3 Alabama in Tuscaloosa, and No. 8 Florida State beat No. 5 LSU on a neutral field. On both occasions, the underdog going into the matchup secured a doubledigit win.

It’s just the clearest example of a sport that has seen its best teams regress toward the pack. We’ve seen No. 1 Georgia trail South Carolina by two scores at halftime. No. 2 Michigan’s star quarterback J.J. McCarthy tossed three interceptions against Bowling Green last weekend. Even No. 3 Texas — just one week after beating Alabama — entered the fourth quarter of a home matchup against Wyoming tied 10-10. These

GAMEDAY ATMOSPHERE

are not the juggernaut teams we’ve grown used to seeing at the top of the CFB rankings.

In past seasons, just a few teams have lived headand-shoulders above the rest of the pack. Often, it’s been the same few programs. Georgia for the last few years. Alabama. Clemson. Ohio State. Every once in a while, you get a 2019 LSU team that breaks into the top tier.

But this year is different. It feels like there are about 10 teams that can compete at a high level and make a compelling case to reach the College Football Playoff come December. Notre Dame is undeniably a part of that group.

The Irish started the year ranked No. 13 and have slowly made their way up the ranking, taking care of business against a weak schedule that only featured one Power Five opponent. Not only that, but they’ve looked exceptional at times.

Notre Dame’s fourth-quarter performance on the road against NC State was about as good as it gets for a football team. The Irish forced three turnovers (two interceptions, one turnover on downs) and scored 21 unanswered points to pull away from a Wolfpack team that posed the first significant test of the young season.

It’s safe to say these performances have shifted attitudes in South Bend.

Despite Notre Dame’s historical relevance in college football, recent history hasn’t been very kind to Notre Dame. The team has developed a reputation for losing in big games. Blowout losses in the 2012 BCS Championship and in two previous CFP appearances have done little to dispel that notion. Last year, the Irish entered Columbus simply hoping to hold their own with a first-year head coach. This year, it feels like they can beat anyone, including Ohio State this Saturday. A lot of that has to do with

the goodwill established by the Freeman regime. Ever since he was appointed as the Irish head coach, Marcus Freeman has been a fan favorite. Last year’s shocking losses to Marshall and Stanford tested fans’ patience, but a strong end to the year and a thrilling bowl victory made those losses feel like inevitable growing pains.

It also has to do with the man now lining up under center. Graduate student Sam Hartman has brought a newfound confidence to the Notre Dame offense. He brings a wealth of experience and an incredible track record. Wide receivers and tight ends that felt like question marks a month ago feel like strengths now. Hartman is the type of talent that elevates all the others around him.

He’s also become the face of a Notre Dame team that hasn’t had a true superstar since the days of Manti Te’o. He’s a leader, the kind of figure that fills fans with a sense of confidence

that he can find a way to win for the team.

This growth for Notre Dame has coincided with many major powerhouse programs transitioning away from periods of dominance. Bryce Young, C.J. Stroud and Stetson Bennett’s departures have left Alabama, Ohio State and Georgia with questions at quarterback. The same thing happened to Clemson when Trevor Lawrence left for the NFL.

The door is open for Notre Dame and for other programs to challenge the status quo and claim a spot at the top of the college football mountain. This Saturday has plenty of games that will show fans who they can expect to be there at the end of the year. The clash at Notre Dame Stadium stands atop the list, and it will be hard for the team that wins to avoid dreams of a national title.

Contact José Sánchez Córdova at jsanch24@nd.edu

DeFazio: The boys are back — but this time, they’re not all alone

Emily DeFazio Associate Sports Editor

By the time the Friday of a home football weekend rolls around, all thoughts among the student body completely shift to the Saturday festivities. Instead of discussing what homework they had due that day, students begin asking the more important questions: Whose family is hosting this weekend? What time are we planning on heading into the game? Is it Irish Wear Green this weekend? (In case you missed it, it is). Yes, there is nothing quite like the anticipation of an Irish football tailgate.

Let alone a tailgate in the wake of a College Gameday broadcast.

That’s right — the time has finally come. The date that has been circled in our calendars since the moment the schedule was announced. It is a clash of the undefeated, an opportunity for revenge a year in the making. Especially given how many teams have fallen from grace so early in the season (*cough* Bama *cough*), Saturday’s matchup against Ohio State shapes up to be one of the biggest games of the season. And College Gameday knows it too.

At this point, it can be easy to put it all on the team’s shoulders, attributing the outcome — whether it be outrageously

joyous or too sore to talk about — to their gameplay in its entirety. The level at which the Irish play is, undoubtedly, the most important aspect of the day. However, though the boys are most certainly back, they cannot do it alone. We fans also have a role to play.

The atmosphere in the stadium can have more of an effect on the game than anyone can anticipate. The term “rally” has been coined for a reason. Members of the team have praised the crowd for their high energy that they in turn feed off of, which can ultimately influence their gameplay. This energy that has such power to embolden the team often starts at the tailgates.

The O’Leary family tailgates every game of the season, a tradition that started when Pat (Notre Dame ‘90) and PJ (nee Drew, Saint Mary’s ‘90) O’Leary were students in South Bend. They arrive at their parking spots armed with a full grill and charged speaker, attracting not only their friends and family but those from neighboring setups. And new this year, they fly a “Tailgate of the Week” tote bag as a banner of honor, showcasing the award they earned for the home win against Clemson last season. Pat cites the football team as a primary reason they continue to return and tailgate so regularly.

“I want you at full strength

for the game,” Pat O’Leary said. “I want [the students] to be refreshed, and I want [them] to stay at the game the whole time and cheer as loudly as [they] can and help the football team.”

One of those students is their daughter, Molly O’Leary (Notre Dame ‘24). She has inherited her love of both Notre Dame football and South Bend tailgates from her parents. Molly O’Leary said she can see just how important creating that culture is after not being allowed to do so her freshman year due to COVID-19.

“I think tailgating is an essential part of Notre Dame football. Seeing what it was like to not have that freshman year, and then sophomore year suddenly experiencing it, was like … we didn’t even know what we were missing,” she said. “It’s the Notre Dame community. Everyone just loves the school so much and loves showing their school spirit.”

PJ O’Leary said that one of her favorite memories was that first game back the season after the pandemic. For her, seeing her daughter and the community finally come together was really impactful.

“It really stuck for us,” she said. “It was just ‘Oh my gosh, we’re out of the pandemic. The pandemic is over, and we can be normal again.’ So I just remember that very first game. And it was beautiful out. The sun was shining.”

This community that the O’Learys described as essential to the Notre Dame football experience comes from the connections made in the hours before kickoff. Whether it be wistfully strategizing for the team or praising her father’s famous burgers, Molly O’Leary noted the Notre Dame spirit is what energizes everyone heading into the stadium. One of her favorite aspects of game day is when that energy rises just before students enter through their grade’s gate.

“I think one of my favorite parts is when we’re tailgating in Bookstore Lot and are walking over to the game when we’re all super excited for the game, and my parents send us off with lastminute food,” she said. “I think there’s something about those parking lots outside the stadium that is special. And I know that’s what I’m gonna miss most next year when it’s fall Saturday, and I am not in South Bend. I know I’m going to be wanting to be back in that parking lot.”

PJ O’Leary also named the collective energy as one of the parts she most looks forward to experiencing each year. She said experiencing the culture of Notre Dame Football makes it all the more rewarding.

“I often say there is nowhere I would rather be on a Saturday in the fall than on campus tailgating,” she said. “Saturdays

are football, you know? There’s just such a happy, joy-filled aura around. And that’s the beauty of sports.”

It is that tradition that is iconic and unique to the Notre Dame football experience. At any given tailgate, a professor, priest and underclassman can all be in conversation about the team. And Pat O’Leary said he loves to see that tradition continue during his children’s college experiences.

“I absolutely love it when I see you guys mingle. I think it’s fantastic. That’s what it’s all about,” he said. “It’s about getting to know people and having fun and getting ready for the game. So that’s why we’re there.”

It is this spirit that must be brought to Saturday’s primetime matchup. With a strong quarterback at the helm and a diverse offensive and defensive roster to rally behind him, if there was a time to pull off a win against the college football powerhouse that is Ohio State, it is now. But it is not only the team that needs to pull their weight. What does that mean for us fans?

In this case, I think Sam Hartman said it best: “Show up. Be early. And be rowdy!”

Contact

Emily

DeFazio at edefazio@nd.edu

The views expressed in this Sports Authority are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.

THE OBSERVER | FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2023 | NDSMCOBSERVER.COM 2 INSIDER

What to expect on Saturday: ND vs. OSU

By RYAN PETERS Managing Edior

No. 9 Notre Dame’s matchup against No. 6 Ohio State on Saturday night pits the two football powerhouses against each other in one of the most anticipated Irish home games since the turn of the century.

Recent marquee matchups at Notre Dame Stadium have seen Georgia fans in 2017 and Cincinnati fans in 2021 flood in and cover significant portions of the Stadium in red. With one of the most in-demand Notre Dame tickets in recent years, what can fans expect Saturday night?

ESTEEM turning STEM majors into entrepreneurs

By NOLAN HINES News Writer

Notre Dame’s ESTEEM graduate program combines several disciplines to formulate a hands-on learning experience for students interested in entrepreneurship.

ESTEEM, founded in 2009 as the University’s first multidisciplinary program, is a collaborative effort between the Mendoza College of Business, the College of Science and the College of Engineering that aims to provide students a STEM background and the skills necessary

to translate their experience and knowledge into business ventures.

ESTEEM, otherwise known as the Engineering, Science and Technology Entrepreneurship Excellence Masters Program, offers an interdisciplinary curriculum that blends business fundamentals with multiple advanced technical courses.

Neil Kane, the director of curriculum and capstone advising for ESTEEM and a World Economic Forum (WEF) Technology Pioneer, believes the program’s unique fusion of interdisciplinary learning is directly

in line with Notre Dame’s strong tradition of excellence.

“Our curriculum has the goal of teaching students business principles like founding startups, talking to potential customers, characterizing the size of the market and making sure that there’s actually a segment of the market willing to pay for the product or solution, all the while expanding on their pre-existing STEM experience,” Kane said. “However, what we try to do most significantly is provide experience. There’s nothing quite

see ESTEEM PAGE 5

Residential life leader leaves

Observer Staff Report

Heather Rakoczy Russell’s 12-year tenure as associate vice president for residential life ended Sept. 15, according to University spokesperson Sue Ryan.

Ryan said in an emailed statement Tuesday that a nationwide search for Russell’s replacement will commence in the coming weeks.

According to Student Affairs, Russell oversaw

Notre Dame’s 33 undergraduate communities, graduate communities and residential master planning.

Under Russell’s direction, Notre Dame completed construction on four dorms: Dunne, Flaherty, Baumer and Johnson Family Halls. The University also closed the Zahm Hall community and established an undergraduate community at Fischer Graduate Residences during Russell’s time as

associate vice president.

Russell graduated from Notre Dame in 1993 with a bachelor’s degree in philosophy and theology. She returned to the University in 1998, serving as the rector of Pangborn Hall from 1998 to 2005 and as the founding director of the Gender Relations Center from 2004 to 2011.

In April 2011, Russell was named associate vice president for residential life.

Brett Jones, Notre Dame’s director of ticketing, said as of Tuesday the ticketing office is expecting Irish fans to show up.

“I know there’s a lot of people concerned with the amount of Ohio State fans that could get in. But looking at our transfers through our system, it’s right on par with our previous games the last [three] weeks, so we fully expect our Notre Dame fans to show out,” Jones said.

The demand for Saturday’s game has outpaced that for the Oct. 14 game against long-time rival No. 5 USC. As of Thursday, the cheapest ticket for sale on resale platforms SeatGeek,

TicketMaster and Stubhub was $434. At the same time, a ticket for section 18 in the lower bowl against USC is on sale for $310 on SeatGeek.

Jones said his office works with SeatGeek through the ticketing software company Paciolon to monitor the resale of tickets. Notre Dame reserves the right to refund or reject tickets if the ticketing office determines the ticket was purchased for the sole purpose of resale, in an improper manner or over stated limits.

Rejecting or refunding tickets because of the manner of resale

PLOTUS discusses poetry

By MEGHAN LANGE Saint Mary’s News Editor

On Thursday night, United States Poet Laureate (PLOTUS) Ada Limón visited Saint Mary’s as part of the annual Francis A. McAnaney Humanities Lecture, previously known as the Christian Culture Lecture Series.

Limón was announced as the 24th Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress in July of 2022. Limón was then reappointed for a second term in April of 2023.

Limón is the author of six collections of poetry: “Lucky Wreck,”

“This Big Fake World,” “Sharks in the River,” “Bright Dead Things,” “The Carrying” and her most recent work “The Hurting Kind.” Limón started her time at the college with a private seminar for Saint Mary’s students and faculty, as well as some high school students from the surrounding areas. She began by explaining she was excited to begin her fall tour at Saint Mary’s.

“I feel like this is the seed that will be planted and will keep me going all the way through December,” Limón said.

see PLOTUS PAGE 4

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VOLUME 58, ISSUE 14 | FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2023 | NDSMCOBSERVER.COM NEWS PAGE 4 SCENE PAGE 10 VIEWPOINT PAGE 6 SAM HARTMAN PAGE 15 ND FOOTBALL PAGE 16

Will the game be sea of green or another red invasion? ND Ticket Office weighs in.

Courtesy of Jake Peters

see ND vs. OSU PAGE 4

Georgia head coach Kirby Smart estimated 40,000 Georgia fans attended the 2017 game at ND, but more Irish fans are expected Saturday. Meghan Lange | The Observer U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón spoke on the power of poetry with president Katie Conboy at Saint Mary’s College on Thursday.

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Today’s Staff

News Kathryn Muchnick

Aynslee Dellacca Keira Stenson

Graphics

Anna Falk

Photo

Chancelor Gordon

Corrections

Humanistic studies majors, English majors and high schoolers congregate outside of Haggar

Sports Andrew McGuinness

Scene

Anna Falk

Viewpoint Claire Lyons Friday

Justice Kagan Talk

DeBartolo Performing Arts Center

2:30 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.

Saturday

ND Football vs. Ohio State

Notre Dame Stadium

7:30 p.m.

Sunday

Basilica Mass Basilica of the Sacred Heart

10:00 a.m.

Monday

Spotlight Exhibit

102 Hesburgh Library

9:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.

Chancelor Gordon | The Observer

Tuesday

Suicide Awareness Grotto Walk

The Observer regards itself as a professional publication and strives for the highest standards of journalism at all times. We do, however, recognize that we will make mistakes. If we have made a mistake, please contact us at editor@ndsmcobserver.com so we can correct our error.

Conversation with Law Dean G. Marcus Cole.

Farmers Market SMC Soccer Field

2:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m.

Sustainable farmers market hosted by Saint Mary’s.

ESPN’s College GameDay will visit.

Irish Music & Dance West Lawn of McCourtney Hall

4:30 p.m. - 6:30 p.m.

Tailgate with Irish music, food and drinks.

Morning Mass offered, all are welcome.

Film: “Oldboy” (2003)

Browning Cinema

4:00 p.m. - 6:15 p.m.

Restored and remastered thriller.

“Centering African American Writing in American Literature.”

Fall Exhibit 102 Hesburgh Library

9:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.

“Making and Unmaking Emancipation in Cuba and the U.S.”

Le Mans Green 5 p.m.

Light candles for victims of suicide.

Pumpkin Party Holy Cross Parlor 7 p.m. - 8:30 p.m. Decorate pumpkins, eat snacks, and get ready for Halloween.

2 TODAY

College Center following a seminar with Poet Laureate Ada Limón during her visit to Saint Mary’s College for the Francis A. McAnaney Humanities Lecture Series. Want your event included here? Email news@ndsmcobserver.com QUESTION OF THE DAY: THE NEXT FIVE DAYS: Coffee, tea or hot chocolate? Lauren Onye freshman Pasquerilla West Hall “Hot chocolate.” Biruk Molla freshman Fisher Hall “Hot chocolate.” Ciara Boateng freshman Breen-Phillips Hall “Tea.” Tim Gachuki freshman Morrissey Hall “None.” Aaron Afemikhe junior Keough Hall “Hot chocolate.” Wakabul Gomwalk sophomore Johnson Family Hall “Hot chocolate.” ndsmcobserver.com P.O. Box 779, Notre Dame, IN 46556 024 South Dining Hall, Notre Dame, IN 46556 Editor-in-Chief Maggie Eastland Managing Editor Ryan Peters Asst. Managing Editor: Gabrielle Beechert Asst. Managing Editor: Hannah Hebda Asst. Managing Editor: José Sánchez Córdova Notre Dame News Editor: Peter Breen Saint Mary’s News Editor: Meghan Lange Viewpoint Editor: Claire Lyons Sports Editor: Andrew McGuinness Scene Editor: Anna Falk Photo Editor: Sofia CrimiVaroli Graphics Editor: Christina Sayut Social Media Editor: Emma Duffy Advertising Manager: Confidence Nawali Ad Design Manager: Christina Sayut Systems Administrator: Jack MapelLentz Office Manager & General Info Ph: (574) 631-7471 Fax: (574) 631-6927

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Undergraduate tuition, fees: explained

By REDMOND BERNHOLD News Writer

Last week the Notre Dame student senate considered raising the student activities fee by $1 ($0.50 per semester), noting that it would accumulate an additional $8,000 to the student union. Currently, an annual $90 from each undergraduate’s tuition funds the student activities fee.

The current undergraduate tuition is $40,035.50 per semester — $80,071 for a full academic year. This price excludes the price of textbooks, transportation and personal expenses. Considering these factors, Notre Dame evaluates the average cost of attendance as $83,271 per academic year. However, this cost is prone to annual increases that “should be anticipated.”

The estimated $83,271 includes fixed costs from the University as well as costs that vary from student to student.

For example, the transportation allowance ranges from approximately $500 to $1000, with an average $750 being included in the average cumulative cost. Personal expenses and textbooks/material costs vary among students and are an expected $1,200 and $1,250, respectively.

Room and board, including the standard meal plan, is another $17,378.

Undergraduate tuition

ND vs. OSU

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

is rare, Jones said, but it is something the ticketing office “looks deep into.”

Notre Dame sells its tickets through a lottery system before the tickets go on public sale. The lottery has seven levels, starting with premier level donors who donated $50,000 or more in 2023 and ending with alumni. levels, starting with premier level donors who donated $50,000 or more in 2023 and ending with alumni.

Tickets for Ohio State sold out in the sixth level of the lottery — the monogram level — while tickets for USC made it all the way to the alumni level before selling out, Jones said. Tickets not reaching the alumni level is not an annual occurrence, he said.

While Jones started at Notre Dame this year, he said he’s heard about the floods of opposing fans in the 2000 Nebraska game and Cincinnati and Georgia games in recent years.

and fees, separate from the other expenses in the cumulative cost, total $62,693. Within this broad category of fees are four different subtypes, as outlined by the Office of Student Accounts. All monetary values for fee subtypes are listed in annual amounts, according to IrishPay.

One of the fee subtypes is a $250 technology fee, which enables students to access certain programs, applications and software that may be specific to certain courses. It also funds on-campus Wi-Fi.

The health center access fee is $150 that helps provide students access to University Health Services and the University Counseling Center. The services offer “24-hour medical assistance and counseling/ mental health assistance, alcohol and drug education programs, as well as health education and wellness programs,” according to the Office of Student Accounts website. It also grants funds to support health facilities. Any additional procedures, medications and vaccinations are not included in the $150 fee.

The undergraduate activity fee is an annual $95. Its main purpose is to fund student government and other undergraduatebased student organizations, including clubs and events. However, this fee does not include some

“It’s a topic of discussion because we don’t want that to happen again. We know [the ticketing office is] a big part of creating a home field advantage. So we obviously want there to be a sea of green out there on Saturday and limit the amount of red in there,” Jones said.

The office’s plan to limit the amount of Ohio State fans consisted of ensuring the tickets went straight into Notre Dame fans’ hands and scattering all but 600 of the 5,000 tickets contractually allotted to Ohio State throughout the upper bowl.

With the tickets not reaching public sale, Jones said the goal was achieved.

“We’re expecting a predominantly Notre Dame crowd and we’re excited,” he said.

F-16s and LED wristbands: A look at Saturday’s Stadium environment

Notre Dame will also distribute LED wristbands to each fan at the game Saturday. The wristbands are programmable by seat

organizations’ separate membership fees.

An annual $12 is charged to undergraduates as a fee for The Observer.

There is a fifth fee for international study programs. This fee allows for undergraduates to receive course credits for supported programs. It also supports administration and faculty communication with the affiliated programs.

Excluding the international study program administrative fee, the four fee subtypes sum to an annual $507. Net of those fews, the undergraduate tuition charge is $62,186.

Raising the student activities fee by $1, and bringing in nearly $8000, would give each of Notre Dame’s 500 student clubs an additional $16, if the funds were distributed evenly.

The student senate, last week, did not adopt the resolution, with one senator noting that raising the cost of attendance was undesirable.

For now, the cost of attendance remains $80,071 annually. Although total cost will not increase by $1 for the student activities fee, tuition may increase in the next coming years, as consistent with the trend in recent years.

Contact Redmond Bernhold at rbernho2@nd.edu

and will light up at key moments of the game to form light shows.

Assistant athletic director for fan experience Don Scott said he believes Saturday’s game will be the largest college football game to use the wristbands.

“The great thing about them is that they’re in zones so we’re able to do things like checkerboards, chases, pulses. It’s truly programmable,” Scott said. “They can strobe. They can do all of these neat things to music.”

Artists such as Taylor Swift and the Jonas Brothers have used similar LED wristbands at concerts. Some professional sports teams have also used them.

Scott, whose team coordinates flyovers before games, said four F-16s will fly over before kickoff.

“It’s going to be a fun evening.”

Contact Ryan Peters at rpeters5@nd.edu

When asked by a student if poetry exists for the writer or the reader, Limón said that it was both.

“The act of writing itself is one thing, the act of making something for somebody else is another part of craft entirely … so yes, I get something out of it, personally as a writer,” she said. “But then as a reader, I feel like if you’re having trouble living, you should read something.”

Limón went on to talk about how hard it can be to identify as a poet and how intimidating it can be. Although she has always viewed herself as a creative person, Limón associated much of her creativity with whether or not she would be able to make a living off of it, she said.

But, she went on to tell the story of when she was first bold enough to identify herself as a poet.

“I was waiting for a friend at a bar and the bartender asked, ‘What do you do?’ And I just said it — I tried it on for size. I said ‘I’m a poet,’“ Limón said. “It felt so good, and then I said [to myself]: ‘Oh, OK, I really want to do this.’”

On her first day as poet laureate, someone from the Library of Congress asked Limón what she wanted her signature project to be.

“My heart was heart was racing, and all of this was brand new to me, and I just said ‘I just want to write poems and save the planet,’” she said. “We all started laughing, but then I was like: ‘OK, well how do I make a signature project that actually can do something about that?’”

However, Limón said she does not think that “everything’s going to be solved by thinking.”

“I tHink a lot of things are going to be solved by community and by feeling or religion,” she said. “We’ve tried to think our way out of a lot of things, and look where we’re at.”

Later that night, Saint Mary’s

College President Katie Conboy stepped up to the podium on O’Laughlin Auditorium’s stage to thank special members of the audience and introduce Limón to the audience gathered for her lecture.

After an introduction by Conboy, Limón began by explain what she understood as the relationship between poetry and wisdom.

“Poetry and wisdom are at odds. Poetry tends to resist the idea of answers, and yet I do think some of the best life advice I’ve ever gotten is from poems,” Limón said.

She then discussed the first poem that ever caught her attention: a love poem she read at 15.

“At 15, this poem changed me, and it made me think that there were people out there that knew how to feel, to deeply feel and witness the world, and that gave me a kind of hope,” Limón said. “This isn’t advice. This is the opposite of advice … it’s ironic and smart and tricky. The poem is tricky because life is tricky.”

Limón said that she often gets distracted during the writing process, but that poetry is how she refocuses.

“Poetry is always how I pay attention, and in paying attention we find the strangeness, the ‘you-ness,’ the ‘we-ness,’ the ‘we’re-ness,’” she said. She even read for the audience a new piece written specifically for the event.

Limón swayed to the beat of the poetry as she read. One student in the audience compared the way she read poetry to “the way a mother would read her child a bedtime story. Each poem was a new story she was inviting us to listen to.”

Limón finished her lecture by discussing the power of language.

“It all depends on what we are willing to be open to, to listen to, to read,” Limón said. “To be aware of the powerful exchange of language — to recognize that we are not alone — is a powerful thing. To be open to the hope that connection brings is a radical act of survival.”

Contact Meghan Lange at mlange03@saintmarys.edu

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PLOTUS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

Campus wrestles with issues of free speech

By LIAM KELLY Associate News Editor

The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), in collaboration with College Pulse, released its annual college free speech rankings Sept. 6 in which Notre Dame placed 176 out of 248 schools, with an evaluated with a score of 39.92. Notre Dame’s free speech climate was characterized as “below average.”

According to FIRE’s website the rankings were determined through surveys of 55,102 students at all the schools studied as well as an evaluation of “campus indicators” — such as the amount of speakers the school deplatformed, the amount of freedom the school gives to its faculty and the school’s support of student groups.

The survey group that FIRE collaborated with — College Pulse — also contributed to the Wall Street Journal’s recent rankings of the best colleges in America which ranked Notre Dame 32nd in the nation.

In specific metrics measured by the studies, Notre Dame fared slightly better, ranking 42nd in “administrative support,” 41st in “comfort expressing ideas” and 28th in “disruptive conduct.”

However, when it came to “openness” — what the study defined as “the student’s perceived ability to have conversations about difficult topics on campus” — Notre Dame came in 171st place.

FIRE’s ranking displayed a difference in toleration for conservative and liberal speakers on campus, with Notre Dame ranking 27th in its tolerance for conservative speakers and ranking 76th in its tolerance for liberal speakers.

The survey conducted by FIRE and College Pulse found that Notre Dame’s student body was majority conservative, with a conservative to liberal ratio of 1.22:1.

According to the website, only 126 Notre Dame students were surveyed. The rankings did not specify whether the respondents were undergraduate or graduate students.

Notre Dame’s 2022 “Inclusive Campus Student Survey” (the last year for which data is available) surveyed 3,894 students and found that 1,554 (39.9%) students were either very liberal or liberal while 805 (20.7%) students were either conservative or very conservative.

The 2022 survey found that 96% of very conservative students and 97% of conservative students felt comfortable sharing their political views, while 84% of very liberal students and 93% of liberal students felt comfortable sharing their political views.

At the same time, the survey also determined that 42% of very conservative students had experienced “adverse treatment” at some point on campus because of their political beliefs, while only 27% of very liberal students had experienced such treatment. More moderate conservatives and liberals had less of a difference in responses with 25% of conservatives and 17% of liberals saying that they had experienced adverse treatment because of their politics.

In an interview with The Observer, Notre Dame College Democrats president Alexandra Conley said she generally thinks that Notre Dame is not “extremely” repressive with free speech, however noted some areas in which the University could improve.

Conley specifically pointed to the restrictions on discussing the topic of abortion that Notre Dame puts on clubs as an example of when her club’s freedom of speech had been restricted by the University.

“Any club that takes an active pro choice stance on abortion issues, is not allowed at Notre

Dame,” she said.

Conley explained that College Democrats is prohibited from advertising its pro-choice beliefs and cannot hold club meetings on the subject unless it is through the lens of education, due to the University’s pro-choice stance. Conley said the club risks the loss of funding and in the worst possible case, disbandment for ignoring this rule.

“I don’t like the assumption that you can just tell people not to talk about abortion on campus, and that’s going to solve the issue,” Conley said. “Why can’t I even have this conversation in club format? It can be really frustrating.”

College Republicans Treasurer Jose Rodriguez, said in an interview with The Observer that he thinks “in general Notre Dame is better at free speech than most other universities.”

One of the only times Rodriguez could recall the University restricting the College Republicans’ free speech was when the club tried to bring conservative speaker Michael Knowles to campus to speak last year.

Rodriguez explained that the club tried to bring Knowles to campus in both the fall and spring, but that the University determined it would be “too dangerous” to have Knowles due to security concerns and denied the request. Rodriguez said the club had spoken to Notre Dame Police which had approved a request for security.

Knowles had previously spoken at the University in February, 2019 where he criticized the University’s decision to cover the murals of Christopher Columbus in the Main Building.

In an interview conducted via email with The Observer, Ainsley Hillman, president of BridgeND pointed to student retribution as a potential motivator for students to be cautious about sharing their

opinions.

“With the prevalence of ‘cancel culture,’ it can feel as though one misstep, even in front of your closest friends, could hold dire consequences,” Hillman said.

The rankings come as the Notre Dame administration is putting a greater emphasis on freedom of speech, as a part of this year’s Notre Dame Forum, the theme of which is “The Future of Democracy.” The forum is a part of the Campus Call for Free Expression — an initiative consisting of 13 schools committed to promoting free speech and discussion organized by the Institute for Citizens and Scholars. According to the Institute’s website, other schools involved in the Campus Call include Cornell University, Duke University and Wesleyan University.

Rajiv Vinnakota, the president of the Institute for Citizens & Scholars, said in an interview conducted via email with the Observer that the Campus Call for Free Expression was conceived as a way “to prepare students to be empowered citizens and actively participate in American democracy.”

Vinnakota explained that Notre Dame President Fr. John Jenkins was one of a small number of university presidents who was “already committed and activated on this issue” before the Institute reached out to him. He said that the Institute wanted to keep the number of schools involved in the Campus Call for Free Expression small at first before expanding.

According to Vinnakota, the university presidents involved in the initiative began meeting together in March 2022. Other steps that schools have taken as a part of the initiative include exhibitions and performances, convocation remarks and student trainings, Vinnakota said.

in order to improve free speech on campus the University could amend the Moreau First Year Experience curriculum by putting a greater emphasis on the interchange of ideas and respecting others’ beliefs. He also suggested that students could organize more events to facilitate discussion.

Conley said that while students should stand against speech that is hateful and cruel towards other people, they should try to respect and listen to other people’s opinions more.

“Listening to opinions you don’t like is unfortunately just a part of life and you just have to sit there, let somebody finish what they’re saying and then wait your turn, and hopefully they do the same for you,” she said.

Hillman emphasized that the culture of discussion at Notre Dame needs to change in order for free speech to improve.

“The most important thing that the Notre Dame faculty and administration can do in encouraging free speech is creating an environment where people feel not only comfortable, but also emboldened to share their opinions,” Hillman said.

“We should all make an active effort to ask questions, challenge our own beliefs, and support others in sharing their thoughts.”

While arguing “Notre Dame has not necessarily been a part of the solution” to the issue of free speech on college campuses, Hillman expressed her hope that this year’s Notre Dame forum “will help pave the way for greater encouragement of free speech on campus, and throughout our country.”

Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan will speak on campus on Friday in the Forum’s first event.

Admissions recruiter Iseli Hernandez found the communication and marketing skills taught through ESTEEM to be invaluable for students interested in consulting or entrepreneurship. starting a business … So, we try to create that as best we can by giving students the ability to apply

what they’ve learned in a relationship with a corporate sponsor.”

Admissions recruiter Iseli Hernandez found the communication and marketing skills taught through ESTEEM to be invaluable for students interested in consulting or entrepreneurship.

“If you have an idea, you have to be able to sell your idea, you have to present it in a way that’s convincing,” Hernandez said. “We have these events for students to come in and present their ideas for fundraising, to build up things from scratch and present a first prototype, or perhaps attend a trade show where you’ll be able to talk to people in your industry. That sort of support is essential in helping students become familiar with the world of business.”

ESTEEM offers a huge amount of opportunities for students to put their innovation and knowledge into practice, especially through its collaboration with the Innovation, De-Risking and Enterprise Acceleration (IDEA) Center, which provides prospects for networking and pitching alike.

One of the foremost opportunities for this exists through the program’s annual McCloskey New Venture Competition, which a new select class specifically interested in forming startups will be heavily involved in.

“We have noticed a significant trend in admitted students wanting to start a company from the ground up,” Ellen Dutton, manager of startup programming, said. “So, ESTEEM will be piloting a new class this year, where students, through a video interview, will pitch their own ideas and what steps they’ll take to realize them. Those selected will form a class of 10 and will be expected to form companies this semester and then fund them the next. The goal is to teach them how to open a company and form an LLC, then to aid them in fundraising and spreading awareness of their product or solution.”

Dutton explains that these students’ participation in the competition will require them to outline a business plan, financial model, presentation and pitch decks.

Rodriguez recommended that

Participants will be provided mentorship and insight by a variety of angel investors, venture capitalists, successful entrepreneurs and other startup experts.

Contact Liam Kelly at lkelly8@nd.edu like actually starting a business … So, we try to create that as best we can by giving students the ability to apply what they’ve learned in a relationship with a corporate sponsor.”

Still, the centerpiece of ESTEEM is its industry-sponsored capstone projects, which fund the scholarships all students in the program receive in accordance with merit and financial need.

Notre Dame’s strong ties with industry leaders facilitate groundbreaking collaborations between firm and student alike that oftentimes can lead to a seamless path into a career even before graduation.

Even for students intending to create startups, working with corporations along the lines of Booz Allen Hamilton and Avanade, with one student reportedly receiving mentoring from the latter’s CTO, can prove immensely valuable. SpaceX and Starlink are also noted to be among this year’s capstone experiences by Dutton, who had recently visited the locations in California with several students.

“A huge portion of our students every year receive full-time employment from their capstone sponsors after graduation,” Kane said. “What we often hear is that many of the large companies sponsoring students do so as a way to identify qualified, driven students that they want in their workplace.”

When asked on what qualities ESTEEM would be looking for in applicants, Hernandez said they seek out people who want to come up with “unique and marketable solutions to important issues.”

“Yet, no matter the technical or scientific credentials of the applicant, we will always need those who are resilient,” Hernandez said. “In the world of startups, in the world of entrepreneurship, you must be willing to fail again and again, only to take that failure and learn from it, to not be defeated by it but to continue boldly forth onto the next step of your vision.”

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FROM PAGE 1

Contact Nolan Hines at nhines@nd.edu

ESTEEM CONTINUED

Fear-flavored Turkish delight

Isa Sheikh Notre Dame News Editor

I don’t ever really say this, and it goes against every grain of my being as a skeptical, rational person, but there is a part of me that oh so sincerely believes that if I tried hard enough, I could fly. Just lift off the ground and levitate. If I left every ounce of skepticism behind and squinted my eyes hard enough, it could happen.

I have never once roused myself from these daydreams to remind myself how much I would hate it. A sensation courses through my nerves and veins anytime I go too high on a swing, or when I see the bottom of an escalator. When I look out the window of a tall building or down into a grate on the sidewalk to realize an immense depth below, my brain screams to me in reassurance that thousands have left footsteps where I stand and survived to tell the tale, but my knees send a more potent wave of distress.

In order to protect my fragile self-conception, I rarely think about my fear of heights.

I certainly did not allow myself to contemplate it when I gleefully found myself booking the cheapest hot air balloon tickets I could find for my end of summer trip to Turkey. It wasn’t until a few days before takeoff over the historic fairy chimneys of Cappadocia when the realization started to set in. How could I actually enjoy something I felt required to enjoy, since I was spending so much money to do it? I am fully aware that nothing about a hot air balloon is actually scary, and yet…

“Just don’t have a panic attack,” my companion joked to me.

“I won’t,” I assured him, quite unsure of whether I believed myself.

On a trial run, I took a ride with my friend on a cable car tram up a small hill in Istanbul, the side of which is a mosaic of graves. In the car, which looked to be made largely of plexiglass, some German tourists made loud conversation the entire way up. The ride was short, the hill was comically small. But still, the shaking and swinging rattled me. I was even more worried.

On the big day, I awoke having slept less than two hours. Our flight had gotten in late the night before, and the adrenaline posed an even bigger challenge. I sat in the hotel room, a man-made cave, with a serene cup of tea listening to the call to prayer played on speakers across the valley. We were picked up for the balloon ride, and as we rode, one could see an armada of Sprinters taking to the streets of Goreme, each for their own hot air balloon journey.

At the site of takeoff, they began inflating the balloon, and its sheer size eluded many a gasp from the crowd of Japanese tourists we would share the balloon with.

Memory, and words, fail me when I seek to describe what the experience

of going up was like. Taking off, we saw more than a hundred other balloons, and the sun rising, and the incredible geological wonders of the valley. We saw a half dozen bridal photoshoots (for good reason, there was quite the golden hour). Our Japanese compatriots were gleeful, and so were we. For the 50 minutes we were in flight, I was awestruck, taken to another dimension. And I wasn’t really scared, at all. How much time had gone by in anticipation of the torment that never came?

It’s an incredibly cliché thing to say that there is value in facing one’s fears, in seeking out discomfort. I hate to use those words here, but I’m leaning in. Something one realizes in a late-night marathon conversation at a cafe in Istanbul is that, as time passes, there is resonance in many of the clichés you’ve instinctively rolled your eyes at. Perhaps there is a reason that (some) platitudes are so well-worn on our tongues and in our ears. Not everything that is true is particularly fresh.

When the mind goes to seeking discomfort, you see that even when you’re traveling, comfort is surprisingly accessible. In the small town we had come to, I looked on Google Maps for restaurants. Between the four Indian restaurants, I read such detailed reviews, drawing comparisons and rankings between the various offerings. Having come this far, there was a set of tourists who refused to partake in the local cuisine and instead tried every single restaurant that served dishes they had known their entire lives, alternating for meals, so as to become experts on which establishment prepared the best biryani or palak paneer.

The night we went up in the tram, we came back down the hill on foot. But rather than take the road, my friend coaxed me into walking on the cemetery side of the wall, with the elevated graves literally serving as our steps. It was very dark, and stray cats and dogs seemed to promenade in every shadow. Across the river, a multi-million dollar wedding blared music into the cemetery, crossing the line from joyful to eerie. Put briefly, it was a stupid thing to do. We took to the battlefield, unequipped and unconvicted, and nonetheless claimed victory. This was not the Istanbul of great architectural beauty, massive crowds or prayerful serenity I had lived in for the past few days, but this dark hillside cemetary would become part of the city I drew up in my mind.

It’s a scary world out there, and with the advent of safetyism and a media environment that thrives on fear, it’s only getting scarier. Many of those fears are far realer than the one I’m talking about here. But our world is also becoming more rigidly comfortable. Do the stupid thing, the uncomfortable thing. Fly.

You can contact Isa at isheikh@nd.edu.

The views expressed in this Inside column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.

Resurrecting liberalism

“Every day I wake up, and I just try to do right by my son,” Ms. Rachel said, tears sliding down her face, “because that was not done for me.”

We stood in the middle of the hallway, people walking past pretending not to look. A feeling of nakedness enveloped the conversation as she stripped back the layers of her story.

I don’t remember how we started talking about her family, but the woman who I knew as a bright light of joy and grace had so much brewing just beneath the surface. Ms. Rachel holds down three jobs — one of which is maintenance work at Notre Dame. Yet between those three jobs and taking care of her precious son, she finds herself hopelessly adrift in a world. Her God-given, American-raised “freedom” has continued to leave her more isolated and restrained.

Political Liberalism, born of the Enlightenment with its commitments to limited government, personal freedom and the rule of law is in crisis. Birth rates are declining. Communities are becoming less connected. Right-wing populist revolts are fermenting in liberal democracies around the world: across the pond by Brexit in 2016, victories in Italy, Hungary and Poland, from AMLO in Mexico to all across South America. January 6th and Trump are not the reason liberal democracy is dying. They are a symptom of the fever to come. Ms. Rachel’s life story is a similar symptom of a system in decline.

Liberalism, in its current form, is dying. It’s dying because it has been co-opted by the very people who claim to be its biggest defenders; the only way to save it is through resurrection.

Liberalism has become a shell of itself. Samuel Moyn, a Yale law and history Professor, recently released a book “Liberalism Against Itself: Cold War Intellectuals and the Making of Our Times.” Moyn argues that classical liberal intellectuals during the Cold War re-scaffolded the tradition, because of fears of totalitarianism, into a project that lost its emancipatory and perfectionist roots.

Moyn has created entire areas of study in history. His previous books like “Christian Human Rights” shed light on how discourses on human rights had been captured by conservative Christians in the early part of the 20th century. His recent “Humane: How the United States Abandoned Peace and Reinvented War” argued attempting to make war more humane has made it endless. His newest book similarly attempts to problematize the history of an idea and how it’s impacting the world today.

Moyn’s newest book is an empathetic yet crushing indictment of the most fervent defenders of liberalism. They’re the very people killing it.

Moyn depicts how, in the aftermath of the massive bloodshed of World War II, it’s no wonder that “expectant hope now felt naive, and the aspiration to universal freedom and equality was denounced as a pretext for repression and violence.”

To illustrate how at this particular moment in time, Cold War liberals transformed the tradition, he follows a cast of six unlikely bedfellows. Moyn delves into the thoughts of Judith Shklar, Isaiah Berlin, Karl Popper, Gertrude Himmelfarb, Hannah Arendt and Lionel Trilling. This collection of thinkers embraced pessimism and fatalism to shrink liberalism for a far less radical project of Cold War Liberalism. Liberalism, like Ms. Rachel, can’t take a sick day. As a malleable idea throughout history, the conditions, politicians and philosophers bent liberalism as it sickened, bent liberalism away from original goals built on emancipation and political rights, bent liberalism to the point where it might break.

In many ways, the Enlightenment was the intellectual creator of liberalism and the world we’ve inherited, an emancipatory era that was preceded by the Scientific Revolution and began during the French Revolution. Also known as the Age of Reason, it marked the ascendance of ideals built on liberty, progress and happiness.

The first chapter of Moyn’s book follows the journey of Judith Shklar whose work exposes liberalism’s greatest defenders and transformers deviate from their Enlightenment roots. Shklar, who was a Jewish refugee became a professor of political thought — specifically focusing on the Enlightenment.

In Shklar’s first book “After Utopia,” Moyn points towards her radical critiques of Cold War liberalism. As many Cold War liberals essentially sought a type of regulated libertarianism, Shklar depicted how harmful it was to the liberal cause, “an early sign of the relinquishment of the Enlightenment itself — that liberals were redefining freedom away from ‘moral and intellectual self-fulfillment’ to the ‘absence of restraint.’”

You can read the rest of this column online at ndsmcobserver.com.

Dane Sherman is a senior at Notre Dame studying American Studies, peace studies, philosophy, and gender studies. Dane enjoys good company, good books, good food and talking about faith in public life. Outside of The Observer, Dane can be found exploring Erasmus books with friends, researching philosophy, with folks from Prism, reading NYTs op-eds from David Brooks/Ezra Klein/Michelle Goldberg or at the Purple Porch getting some food. Dane ALWAYS wants to chat and can be reached at @danesherm on twitter or lsherma2@nd.edu.

The views expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.

6 INSIDE COLUMN THE OBSERVER | FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2023 | NDSMCOBSERVER.COM

Dane Sherman Saints Among Us

Apples and oranges

Everyone, at some point in their life, encounters the phrase “you can’t compare apples to oranges.” If you are anything like me, you see this as an outright punt. I am not stubborn; I consider myself to be quite openminded and easygoing. There are certain common weak thinking points, however, that I have to stick my neck out against. To help you understand, let’s first put this phrase in the singular.

“You can’t compare an apple to an orange.”

Already, your mind may start to think about the plausibility of making this judgment. Picture this: you take a nice walk down Eddy Street to procrastinate a dreaded theology reading assignment. The heavens open above Trader Joe’s, and you suddenly crave some fresh produce. Naturally, you parse through the orange section and pick out the brightest, juiciest orange. Then, some orange hater comes up to you while pretentiously tossing a yellow, moldy apple in the air.

They say, “Dude, why are you getting an orange? Apples are way better.”

You respond politely, “I think oranges are better.”

Then, they attack your character. Are you going to be a pacifist and claim you cannot compare apples to oranges? No! You’re going to comment on the fact that a worm with tiny glasses is peaking its head out of its rotten apple and claiming to have the better fruit. It would be ridiculous to concede because of a categorical fallacy when you can make a clear qualitative judgment of the fruits.

Of course, in the case there is a perfect apple and a perfect orange, they cannot be properly compared. Even if both are rotten, they cannot be compared. This is because categorically different things which are qualitatively equal cannot and should not be compared. However, in my experience, I have mostly encountered this idiom in contexts where the quality of apples and oranges can be assessed.

I also acknowledge there is subjectivity involved in most discussions of this sort. If you surveyed the Eddy Street Trader Joe’s patrons on their produce preferences, their answers would come down to what they have a stronger taste for. That is fair. More often than not, people’s tastes become truth — if someone really enjoys oranges, they may forget other people come from different experiences and chalk up their preference for apples to willful ignorance.

Most comparisons are more complex than apples and oranges. If a friend came up to you claiming the Emoji Movie is better than your favorite movie, and you gave them ten reasons why they were wrong, and then they were to rebut with “You can’t compare apples to oranges” and walk away, I am certain you would be frustrated or confused. It’s obvious why. You gave them qualitative reasons for how the acting, drama and screenplay contributed to making your movie superior, and they used the “apples and oranges” point to avoid an assessment of the Emoji Movie’s quality.

My fear is that backing down from making proper judgments on music, books, disciplines, people or anything we encounter can lead to feeble thinking and weak worldviews. Accepting the “Emoji Movie” take is valid because it is too different to compare with “Oppenheimer” is not sufficient reason to hold it in the same arena of cinematic masterpieces. The “apples and oranges fallacy” is just one example of mental escapism. There are plenty of other ways we open the door to poor ideas. What about extreme relativism and the Western movement toward absolute individualism? We are losing sight of the importance of discourse by defaulting to subjectivism.

Before writing off a discussion, think harder about ways you can make judgments for comparison. Which fruit is more fragile? How difficult is it to deal with the seeds? I do not think comparing apples and oranges is at all important, but plenty of objects of comparison confront us every day. Should I get steak frites from Rohr’s or sushi from the Huddle?

Basing my judgments on relative quality has allowed me to appreciate different things more superficially. Sure, I do not listen to country music and could not relate to Johnny Cash’s songs, but I can appreciate that his music can bring an old man to tears. For his restraints — maintaining simple instrumental compositions and having a low vocal register — he creates catchy, meaningful songs. I believe that by viewing food, music, movies and people in their own contexts and without judging how they are presented categorically, we are able to see their own relative beauty.

Matt Baird, proud native of Danville, California, is a sophomore majoring in English and finance. He enjoys walking, listening to music and humming.

The views expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.

A check on chess

What sort of topic would make a level-headed girl like me willing to enter an argument with my friend Julia’s dad? It would have to be a high-stakes topic, probably pertaining to something noble like justice or equality. It would have to be captivating, so interesting it would have everyone on the edge of their seats. It would have to be about chess.

To my chagrin, the International Olympic Committee classifies chess as a sport, a decision I wholeheartedly disagree with. In my view, rather than a sport, chess is simply a strategy game. The Oxford Dictionary defines sport as “an activity involving physical exertion and skill in which an individual or a team competes against another for entertainment.” While both sides of the argument would agree that chess is a competition that provides entertainment, the physical exertion aspect is where the sides split and I begin my case that chess is not a sport.

Those in favor of chess as a sport cite the extreme exertion grandmasters experience while playing chess. One Stanford study found that grandmasters burn up to 6,000 calories during a game of chess, often leading to weight loss. There is no denying that chess can take a toll on a player, but I would argue that mental exertion should be placed in a different category than physical. After all, sitting in a chair for seven hours can hardly be considered exercise. Rather, the constant mental stress from a game causes high heart rates and, in turn, leads to weight loss and calorie burning.

Take the 1984 World Chess Championship, which was called off after five months of intensive chess games because competitor Anatoly Karpov lost 22 pounds and, as one commentator put it, “He looked like death.” This “looking like death” is not from physical strain but a symptom of prolonged mental stress, as evidenced by the way I look every time I walk out of Hes at 2 a.m. Anything that causes extreme stress cannot be considered a sport just because it burns calories. After all, if stress was a sport, then having a heart attack would be like winning a gold medal, which doesn’t seem right. Chess-as-sport debaters cite how the seven-hour-long games are filled with strategy, nerves and lots of sweat. But if strategy, nerves and sweat are all it takes to be considered a sport, then suddenly the socially awkward and kinda smelly guy who asks every girl he sees out is a top-tier athlete.

Another common chess-as-sport argument is done by carefully extracting aspects of sports and

showing how they can be found in chess. For example, like sports, chess is competitive and universal, requires skill and sportsmanship, inspires national fervor and has anti-doping regulations. This is all true, but just because chess has these elements does not mean it is a sport. It is easy to cherry-pick aspects of two things to make them seem comparable. To prove my point, I’ll claim that professional soccer teams are drug cartels. Soccer teams, like drug cartels, are composed of individuals who come together for a common purpose. Both groups work together to dominate their field, and the better they perform, the more money they make. They are both especially popular in Latin American countries. Rivalries between competitors are also common in both, and they both have a leader (a coach or a drug lord) who supervises the people in the group and plans strategies. As shown, they have quite a bit in common, but no one would go as far as to say Messi is scoring drug deals.

When we stretch the boundaries of what it means to be an athlete, it becomes harder to see where to draw the line. Extreme crafting, puzzles, climbing the ladder to get into my lofted bed at night: could these be the next big “sports”? We have to draw the line somewhere, and personally, I would like to draw it before we start calling teenagers on Chess.com, hunched over their computers munching on Doritos in their basement, top athletes.

At the root of this debate is the fact that people want to be athletes. There is no real reason that chess needs to be considered a sport other than a desire for prestige. I believe this is a result of the societal importance placed on sports over mental games and talents. Sports are a dominant form of entertainment, especially in America. The posters hung up in children’s rooms are favorite athletes, not famous astrophysicists whose work they really admire. People flock to the stadiums to see the biggest sports rivalries. It seems to me chess players just want a small piece of this reverence. My message to any chess player turned aspiring athlete is this: just do your own thing. Chess is an impressive game that takes far more strategizing and patience than I am personally capable of. Be proud of your classification as a strategic game, and don’t try and be something you are not!

Allison Abplanalp is a sophomore finance and accounting major. If she could change one thing about the English language, she would make “a lot” one word. Her least favorite month is March because every year she is devastated when she fails to pick the perfect March madness bracket.

The views expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.

7 THE OBSERVER | FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2023 | NDSMCOBSERVER.COM

Paying Attention?

Matt

Baird Are You

Allison Abplanalp Under Further Scrutiny

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By CECELIA SWARTZ Scene Writer

Last Friday, the Not-So-Royal Shakespeare Company (NSR) put on an unrehearsed production of “Henry IV Part I.” The play is one of Shakespeare’s less popular histories that tells the story of warring factions and attempted rebellion during the reign of England’s Henry IV. At least, that is about as much as I was able to get out of the plot during NSR’s unrehearsed version.

An unrehearsed production is exactly as it sounds. The actors are given cue scripts the day of the show with their lines, the final few words of the line right before theirs and nothing else. They do not know the plot or who everyone else is playing, turning Shakespeare into improv. They then try to put on the play and hilarity ensues — partially from the Shakespeare, partially from mishaps and partially from sparring with fish. Could I follow the plot? Sort of. Was I mildly confused? Yes. Did I have a great time watching intentionally “bad” theatre? Definitely. Ryan Mantey gets a special shoutout for how well he did at dying.

This enjoyable farce of a production brought to mind for me a question of how one adapts Shakespeare for a modern audience. NSR also does fully staged, rehearsed shows every year, and no two are ever quite the same. The same can be said for any professional Shakespeare company from the Chicago Shakespeare Theatre to

the Folger Theatre in D.C. to the Royal Shakespeare Company in London. In the last few years alone, Notre Dame has seen everything from professional, relatively tradition productions of “Hamlet” with Actors from the London Stage, an NSR production of “Hamlet/5,” featuring only five actors, and “Hamlet 50/50,” which sought to foreground an equitable gender balance. All were “Hamlet,” but none were alike. That, I think, is part of the beauty of Shakespeare. There is no “original version.” For some of the plays, the oldest copies we have were printed in the First Folio in 1623, seven years after he died. This means for performance, there is no such thing as an “authentic” or “historically accurate” way of putting on the plays. They are living, breathing works meant to be performed and adapted, on to both stage and screen, in whatever way feels right for both actors and audience. Some adaptations might be more successful at certain things than others. “Henry IV Part I,” for instance, was funny and enjoyable to watch, but it ran for nearly three hours, and it was hard to follow the plot. It was an adaptation for fun, not for academic study or serious contemplation of the themes of the play, and in that sense, it succeeded.

This flexibility is part of the reason the English literary and dramatic world keeps returning to Shakespeare. The plays themselves are masterpieces, yes, but the fact that they can be put on is so many ways almost makes

them eternal works in progress. There is a certain sublimity in being able to watch the same “Hamlet” as an audience from four hundred years ago. It is not the same “Hamlet,” however, because the play in 2023 has been adapted to a modern version where half the lines are spoken by female presenting characters, or there are only five actors. Even with these modernizations, both are still “Hamlet,” and each is just one “Hamlet” in a long line of “Hamlets” — no two of which will ever be the same, extending back into the past to Shakespeare himself and as far into the future as there is theatre. “Hamlet” is thus never quite finished because there is will never be a “final” version.

There is something deeply human in this seeming contradiction that all productions of “Hamlet” have some same intrinsic qualities that make them “Hamlet,” yet no two are ever alike, and the play as an entity remains unfinished. In theatre, Shakespeare is inescapable, but that is because we have decided that the plays reflect the human experience both in their content and in how we put them on. Each new adaptation is a marriage of the words of the Bard and the societal contexts born of the time and place in which it was produced, ever-evolving, ever-changing and eternally beautiful.

So, how do you adapt Shakespeare? However you want.

Contact Cecelia Swartz at cswartz@nd.edu By ARI DENNING Scene Writer

It has to be said, food can make or break a trip. Some would say scarfing down some lukewarm Chick-fil-a nuggets left over from the NC State cheerleaders’ lunch while an utter maelstrom rages outside would be a low culinary point, and they would be dead wrong. Those nuggets, at that moment, were a veritable hug from Mother Mary. They truly hit the spot, and I came to the realization that food doesn’t necessarily need to be highbrow or even a complete meal to be utterly satisfying. Thus, here is my food diary from my trip to the NC State football game. Warning: There are some extreme highs and lows in this review — a few pictures may be unappetizing. Read at your own risk.

This journey started as I was in Raleigh, North Carolina, to photograph the NC State football game for The Observer. Along for the ride were prolific sports writers J.J. Post and Matthew Crow. We hadn’t met before but were about to spend the next 72 hours together. The perfect solution to melt the ice? Eat some good meals together and explore the city.

For our first meal after we arrived in Raleigh, we went to the Morgan Street Food Hall. Now, this is probably the only actually popular place to eat that we went to. It’s a bustling food hall with a couple dozen food options from diverse and local vendors. Perfect for a bunch of hungry journalists who just got off a flight. It was a well-designed space, with a lodge-esque feel indoors and some lovely green spaces to sit at outside as well.

I had a hankering for a lobster roll, while Matt went for a Neapolitan wood-fired pizza and J.J. had a steak sandwich. While I didn’t get quite enough of a generous serving of lobster in my roll (I wanted it to be a beefy sandwich), it still tasted fresh and succulent. I even had room for homemade chorizo empanadas. This place was honestly delicious and everyone got to fulfill their cravings.

The next day — despite the group bonding that occurred through dinner, an escape room and a stint on a mechanical bull the previous night (we were in the south, so of course I rode a mechanical bull) — we were refreshed and ready to tackle the arduous day ahead covering the NC State game. I was preparing

to carry about 20 pounds of camera equipment for the next seven hours in the rain, and I needed to fuel. Then I saw the magical words at our lovely Fairfield Inn — continental breakfast included. Who doesn’t love a classic continental breakfast? I felt my salivary glands gush in anticipation as I saw the waffle machine and selection of pastries of a Danish variety. We dined like royalty and the waffles were golden brown and tender.

When we got to the press box at the stadium, there was luckily another buffet for the media team laid out. Chicken strips, crisp Caesar salads, brownies — it was honestly a pretty extensive spread. However, since we arrived closer to game time on account of the rain, pickings were slim. While I tried to create a balanced meal of protein and leafy greens, others chose the true meal of journalists: pure cane sugar. It had been sitting out a while when we arrived, but the food was still very welcome as a sort of hobbit-approved second breakfast.

McGuinness: MLB set for thrilling regular season finish

American League.

Andrew McGuinness Sports Editor

In some seasons, the final days of the Major League Baseball season can be kind of a dud. Other than deciding home field or maybe the last Wild Card spot, everything becomes clear weeks in advance. This is not one of those years. There are 12 postseason spots across the sport: six division titles and six wild-card spots. The NL East, AL Central and NL West are either already or close to being officially decided. The NL Central is a little more nebulous, although the Milwaukee Brewers are in solid control with a six-game lead. Two AL East teams are battling for the division and the first Wild Card. But everything else is wide open. There are dogfights for almost every Wild Card position and several division spots as well.

AL East

The Baltimore Orioles and Tampa Bay Rays have been two of baseball’s best all season. It’s no surprise that they’re two of the four clubs who have already punched their postseason tickets. But they’re going head to head for not just the AL East, but also the No. 1 seed in the

The teams split a critical four-game set in Baltimore last weekend. The Orioles, one of the most exciting young teams in all of baseball, currently sit two games ahead of the Rays as they search for their first division title since 2014. While Tampa Bay’s pitching depth may make them a tougher team to eliminate, it would be disappointing for the Rays not to win the division after starting the season 13-0.

AL West

This division contains a three-headed monster headlined by the defending World Series champion Houston Astros. The Astros are currently in position to win the division for the third straight season. But the Seattle Mariners and Texas Rangers aren’t making it easy on them.

The former has been one of the hottest teams in baseball for the last two months and are looking to wash away last October’s sour taste, when their first postseason appearance in 21 years ended in a frustrating sweep against Houston. The latter is trying to overcome an August slumber and a litany of injuries, including to their two star pitchers, Jacob deGrom and Max Scherzer. The Rangers led the division

for most of the season but are now just trying to reach the postseason for the first time since 2016.

AL Wild Card

The AL East loser will occupy the first of these spots, but it’s another three-team race for the last two. In Addition to the Astros and Mariners, the Toronto Blue Jays sit in solid position as well. They currently hold a slight half-game edge on Texas and Seattle. Toronto has been one of the most talented teams in baseball for the past couple of seasons, but hasn’t quite been able to put everything together at the right time. They have one of the strongest starting rotations in baseball, which is usually a sign of postseason success. The Mariners and Rangers play seven times before the season ends, which could decide each team’s fate. Texas has won five of the first six headto-head matchups, giving them a critical tie-breaker edge.

NL Wild Card

A whopping six teams currently sit in either a wild card position or within 3.5 games of one. It’s the definition of a wide-open race, with both seeding and just making the dance at stake. The defending National League champion

ND MEN’S SOCCER

Philadelphia Phillies currently sit in the best spot, sitting pretty in the first Wild Card spot with a three game cushion. Their spot isn’t secure yet, but the Phillies are close enough to be able to taste another Red October.

There are only 3.5 games between the Arizona Diamondbacks, who currently occupy the No. 2 wild card slot, and the San Francisco Giants, the last team with a legitimate postseason shot (apologies to the San Diego Padres and their +81 run differential). Arizona leapfrogged the Chicago Cubs by sweeping them in a threegame series last weekend. The Diamondbacks have an incredibly athletic team punctuated by a 1-2 starting pitching punch of Zac Gallen and Merrill Kelly.

Chicago is being chased by several teams for the final spot, including divisional rival Cincinnati Reds. Both are hoping to emerge from their rebuilds a bit earlier than expected. Excluding the 60-game 2020 season, the Cubs haven’t reached the postseason since 2018 and the Reds since 2013. The Cubs bulked up considerably at the trade deadline, so it would certainly be a disappointment for them to miss. Cincinnati has a

bright future but is trying to secure one last postseason run for veteran slugger Joey Votto.

Those droughts pale in comparison to the Miami Marlins, who have gone longer without playing a postseason game in front of fans than any other team in the four major North American sports leagues. Miami could be a tough task to knock out if Sandy Alcantara returns to last year’s Cy Young form and Jorge Soler doesn’t miss a beat in his return from injury.

The plucky, veteran San Francisco Giants, two years removed from posting baseball’s best record, are still hanging around. The Giants have been piecing things together for months now. But the back end of their bullpen and starters Logan Webb and Alex Cobb (who was just placed on the Injured List) are no joke.

Less than two weeks remain until the postseason begins. Time will tell which teams find themselves there. But no matter who does, it should be a thrilling journey. Even better, it’s only just the beginning.

Contact Andrew McGuinness at amcguinn@nd.edu

The views expressed in this Sports Authority are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.

Irish continue ACC play after draw against Akron

By NOAH CAHILL Sports Writer

At the end of each season, successful teams can often pick out key moments that got them where they are.

The Notre Dame men’s soccer team, in the event that they continue building on their strong start to the 2023 season, might pick out their 0-0 draw on the road against No. 4 ranked Akron as one of those moments.

As conference play in the ACC begins, the resilience showed in this non-conference test should encourage the Irish. Traveling to face

an Akron team that had opened the season outscoring opponents 16-5 en route to a 5-0-2 record would prove to be a tall task. The Irish defense, however, was up to the challenge.

Spearheading the effort was the brilliance of senior goalkeeper Bryan Dowd who made a massive 12 saves. Dowd made eight in the first half alone.

What makes this performance so special is more than the solid result against one of the country’s best teams. Notre Dame displayed character, especially defensively. The match

marked the team’s fourth clean sheet of the season, an impressive record considering the level of competition faced.

With the defensive unit performing as well as they have, the attack should be empowered to take chances and be creative in breaking down opponent defenses. The Irish will hope to put it all together and build on their gutsy performance as they face Virginia back at home on Friday night in a pivotal ACC matchup.

Virginia has opened up see MSOC PAGE 15

12 SPORTS

The Observer accepts classifieds every business day from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Notre Dame office, 024 South Dining Hall. Deadline for next-day classifieds is 3 p.m. All classifieds must be prepaid. The charge is 5 cents per character per day, including all spaces. The Observer reserves the right to edit all classifieds for content without issuing refunds. THE OBSERVER | FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2023 | NDSMCOBSERVER.COM

AUTHORITY

MADDIE SCHEARER | The Observer Irish junior midfielder Bryce Boneau shields off a defender during the Irish’s 3-2 win over the Clemson Tigers on Sept. 9 at Alumni Stadium.

SPORTS

Late goals lead to thrilling Irish win at Duke

By ADAM AKAN Sports Writer

ACC win on the road. The 10thranked Notre Dame women’s soccer team entered Thursday night’s game at 5-1-2, looking to continue its hot start to the season against the No. 16 Duke Blue Devils. With Pitt looming on the road Sunday, the Irish needed a strong result in Durham. They found it in a stunning, 2-1 victory. The game did not begin well for the Irish, who trailed 1-0 all the way into the 85th minute. The first 10 minutes saw the Irish threaten in the Blue Devils’ half, but the 14th minute brought a counterattack and opening goal from Duke. Despite a critical substitute of senior midfielder

Ellie Ospeck, the first half finished with the Irish down 1-0.

The Irish put the pressure on early in the second half, consistently playing the ball around the Duke defensive half. Duke managed one total shot while graduate forward Maddie Mercado and freshman midfielder Morgan Roy ripped shots on the Blue Devil net.

Finally, in the 85th minute, graduate student midfielder Kiki Van Zanten netted a scrappy goal off a calamitous Blue Devils defensive failure. One minute later, Roy received the ball off of a throw-in and crossed it into Duke’s box. There, sophomore midfielder Leah Klenke potted the go-ahead goal.

The Irish won the game 2-1

in a thriller, marking a potential defining moment for the season. On Sunday, the Irish will look to continue their momentum against Pittsburgh.

The Panthers have opened the season at a blazing 8-2. While Pitt has lost to its only ranked opponent, No. 21 Xavier, and feasted on a non-conference schedule, the Irish cannot take this game lightly as they look to build on the momentum Thursday night provided. Sunday’s 1 p.m. kickoff will air on ACC Network Extra. The Irish, eyeing a jump in the rankings next week, will seek a crucial ACC win on the road.

Contact Adam Akan at aakan@nd.edu

Saints struggle, Belles surge on the pitch

By ANDREW McGUINNESS Sports Editor

It’s been a busy week of soccer across the tricampus. The Notre Dame men’s team earned a gritty, hard-fought draw against Akron. The women’s team pulled off a thrilling win at Duke. As both of them look to return to the deep postseason runs of years past, Holy Cross and Saint Mary’s were in action as well. Both Saints teams took on St. Francis while the Belles faced off against Huntington.

The Saints men’s team continued its up-anddown season, falling 3-2 to drop to 3-5-1 on the year. The Saints’ defense has struggled as of late, conceding at least three goals for the second time

Predictions

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 16

Harrison Jr. and Emeka Egbuka. But the Irish should get just enough stops to stay in the game. Sam Hartman transferred to Notre Dame for matchups like this, and he’ll lead a gamewinning drive in the final minutes. Backed by a raucous crowd under the lights at Notre Dame Stadium, the Irish will officially enter the College Football Playoff race with the biggest win of the Freeman Era to date. Notre Dame 34, Ohio State 31.

in three games and the third time in their last six. Holy Cross dug itself into a deep hole, trailing 2-0 at halftime, allowing Sergio Fernandez-Arango to score his second of the game 2:10 into the second half.

The Saints would not go away quietly, however. Junior forward Isaac Filippo got Holy Cross on the board just five minutes later. Senior defender Kamoy Creary pulled the Saints within one with 15 minutes to play. But despite outshooting St. Francis 23-12, Holy Cross could not find an equalizer. The game was about as chippy as it gets, with nearly half of the Saints who played in the contest picking up a yellow card (with the team as a whole also earning one

Tom Zwiller, Senior Sports Writer

I completely believe in the ability of this Notre Dame team to go 11-1 this season. The loss? It is to the Buckeyes. Notre Dame can keep pace with USC this year, while Clemson looks much less challenging than it did a year ago. Ohio State, however, is a different animal entirely. The Buckeyes have a strong defensive line that can challenge and push around the Irish. Hartman will face a lot of pressure as the new guards, Spindler and Coogan,

in the 29th minute). They return to action Saturday at 3:30 p.m. on the road against Roosevelt.

The women’s team played a more defensiveheavy match, only registering eight shots, and the game remained scoreless deep into the second half. Despite the heroics of junior goalkeeper Taylor Primack, who made a season-high seven saves, St. Francis struck first on a goal by Ixchel Pelayo in the 66th minute. Like the men’s team, though, the women’s team didn’t back down. Just under 10 minutes later, sophomore midfielder Hannah Lemieux buried a feed from senior midfielder Olivia Shaw to even the score, this time for good.

The Saints sit at 3-4-1

are pushed to their limit.

Defensively, the Irish are facing Marvin Harrison Jr., Emeka Egbuka, Julian Fleming and Carnell Tate. Without a doubt, that is the best widereceiving corps in the country. The only limiting factor is Kyle McCord. I don’t think the Buckeyes can run the ball consistently on the Irish, so McCord will need to make some explosive plays. Notre Dame is completely capable of winning this game, and I do think they will keep it close. But I am going to take the Buckeyes narrowly. Ohio State 28, Notre Dame 24.

after this result, including 1-0-1 in conference action.

They will also travel to face Roosevelt on Saturday, with their match beginning at 1:00 p.m.

Meanwhile, the Saint Mary’s soccer team kept its red-hot offense going strong Wednesday against Huntington. After going scoreless in their first three games, the Belles have tallied eight times in their last three contests, scoring multiple times in each. Their 2-0 win against the Foresters brought them back to .500 on the season at 3-3.

Freshman forward Layne Ridderman led the way for the Belles, tallying not just the first goal of her collegiate career but the second as well. The first came on the rebound of a shot

Fandom

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 16

AP Poll, this is the 37th game between top-10 teams inside Notre Dame Stadium.

And while my class has already witnessed two of those, this is the first real one. The 2020 win over Clemson was special, but there were no fans other than students in the stadium, and Clemson rolled out a backup quarterback. The other one was a buy game against Cincinnati that we lost.

Considering the long ups and downs of Notre Dame football, we’re lucky to go to school here right now. Not only are we about to see a bona fide top-10 game at home. But the defensively

by freshman midfielder Margaret Slove in the 41st minute, immediately following a diving stop by sophomore goalkeeper Caroline Miklavcic. The Slove-Ridderman connection struck again in the 75th minute, with Slove chipping the ball ahead for Ridderman to track it down and beat Huntington keeper Ireland Aerni for the second time. The match continues a strong season for Slove, who leads Saint Mary’s in points with seven (two goals, three assists). The Belles return to action Friday at 6:30 p.m. for their Mental Health Awareness Game at home against Great Lakes Christian.

Contact Andrew McGuinness at amcguinn@nd.edu

pessimistic optimism that has plagued every big game since the Bush Push is gone.

Notre Dame fans are experiencing genuine optimism and excitement for a big game. Call it the Sam Hartman effect. Or Hartmania.

Whether we lose 56-0 or win a nailbiter, what we’re experiencing right now is the peak of Notre Dame football. Well, it’s a peak. Because no matter how miserable it makes us, it will always be there for us.

Contact Ryan Peters at rpeters5@nd.edu

The views expressed in this Sports Authority are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.

NDSMCOBSERVER.COM | FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2023 | THE OBSERVER 13 SPORTS ND WOMEN’S SOCCER

ARISA CUSTODIO | The Observer Irish graduate student midfielder Kiki Van Zanten dribbles the ball during Notre Dame’s 3-0 victory against Wake Forest on Sept. 15. HCC & SMC SOCCER

a lot to me. I’m treating it like the biggest exam I’ve ever taken. But this game is only an exam because I’m making it into one. I expect Saturday night to be one of the best nights of my life. My adrenaline will be through the roof. This is all because I love sports. Of all leisure activities, I’m often happiest at a huge, meaningful game.

However, not everyone is, and we need to stop acting like Notre Dame Stadium is a universal heaven. Many students at Notre Dame follow sports, especially football, but not all. Not everyone rushed the field against Clemson. Not everyone went to Linebacker Lounge after Mike Brey’s last home game.

We need to recognize that if we lose, my sadness is different than my neighbor’s. This game means more to me. If we win and rush the field, I’ll have fun, but a freshman will have a blast. It will mean more to them — it’s their first time.

Additionally, to some people, regardless of what

happens on Saturday night — win or loss — they won’t really care. It’s not a test. It’s... it’s just a meaningless football game! An occasion to be with friends or get drunk!

Every person on this campus needs to find their test. Further, it’s important to stress healthily about things they enjoy (i.e. something other than school), trying to make each night “better than the last and create lifelong memories. It could be testing yourself to find a better party, concert, prayer experience, conversation, D&D game or whatever you enjoy. If your test isn’t football, don’t sweat it.

On Saturday night, we’ll be wearing green. We’ll have our wristbands on. We’ll be singing the fight song. And we could not be more different. Some of us just sat down in the exam hall to take the biggest test of our lives. If that’s not you, create your own test. But just for me, cheer really loud.

Contact Jake Miller at jmille89@nd.edu

The views expressed in this Sports Authority are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.

Irish host Boston College, Syracuse to start ACC play

By ANNIKA HERKO Sports Writer

The Notre Dame women’s volleyball team has a busy weekend ahead of them. The 6-2 Irish will host Boston College on Friday and Syracuse on Sunday to start their conference schedule.

Eight games into the season, Salima Rockwell’s team has come together well. Looking sharp in their non-conference slate, the Irish have won four consecutive games, including a pair against Toledo last weekend. In the home-and-away duel with the Rockets, Notre Dame won 3-1 at home before collecting a sweep on the road. The visiting win was an impressive one for the Irish even though Toledo has played to a 2-9 record so far.

Boston College should pose more of a challenge. The Eagles are on a

nine-game winning streak and are 11-3 on the season. In fact, Boston College has not lost a set since Sept. 3, sweeping each of its last eight opponents. Over the last two seasons, BC has blazed out of the gate, opening 10-1 in 2021 and 10-0 a year ago. This season, the Eagles have averaged 13.6 kills per set while holding their opponents to 10.8. On the defensive side, Anna Murphy was named the ACC Defensive Player of the Week this past Monday. The senior libero and Indiana native led the conference with 4.67 digs per set throughout the week. Boston College will look to use Murphy and its early-season momentum to grab a fifth victory in 27 all-time meetings with Notre Dame.

Unlike the Eagles, Syracuse has not gotten off to a hot start this year. Only 2-8 on the season, the

Orange must also travel to No. 5 Louisville before coming to South Bend. Syracuse has knocked off Cornell and Morgan State but has failed to win a set in any of its eight losses. The young Orange were led by sophomore Ariana Joubert’s career-high 16 kills in last weekend’s defeat of Morgan State. Freshman Mira Ledermueller, who ranks within the ACC’s top 10 for assists, contributed 33 of them against the Bears.

It’s been a tale of two seasons for Notre Dame’s opponents this weekend. The Irish hope that one strong weekend on the court is in order. Notre Dame will host Boston College at 6:30 p.m. Friday before facing Syracuse at noon Sunday. ACC Network Extra will carry both contests at Purcell Pavilion.

Contact Annika Herko at aherko@nd.edu

THE OBSERVER | FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2023 | NDSMCOBSERVER.COM 14 SPORTS

PAID

Tests CONTINUED FROM PAGE 16

ND VOLLEYBALL

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 12

the season 4-2-1 overall with a 1-1 conference record. The Cavalier attack has produced nine goals in seven matches. It has been led by freshman forward Stephen Annor Gyamfi who has a team-high four goals in seven appearances. Senior forward Leo Afonso has four goal contributions of his own, scoring two and assisting two in six appearances.

The defense has allowed just eight goals through seven matches. Senior goalkeeper Holden Brown has saved 11 of the 16 shots he has faced in his six appearances. Both units will need to be at the top of their game

SMC VOLLEYBALL

Lange: ‘Hartmania’ has infected the student body

After enduring the COVID-19 pandemic for the last couple of years, we now have a much more daunting plague to worry about: “Hartmania.”

It’s as if it happened overnight. While it briefly popped up last semester, it didn’t fully infect the student body until August of 2023. While “Book Fever” seemed to mainly manifest in the female population during Ian Book’s tenure, the Hartmania virus seems to be infecting both males and females alike.

Symptoms include short attention span, hysteria, hot flashes and loss of filter. It often originates from contact (or even thought of) patient zero, Sam Hartman, who shows no symptoms himself. Alias for patient zero include Sam, Sammy Heisman, No. 10, QB1 and King of the Irish.

NOTRE DAME’S STARTING QUARTERBACK?! He looks like he should be saving the princess from her castle surrounded by dragons, and you’re telling me he’s good too? He looks like he just took on High School Musical’s football edition.”

I think it’s safe to say that Hartmania is spreading to the outside world. Here on campus, it’s manifesting in group chats titled “Down BAD for Sam Hartman,” and even some group chats specifically designated to notify friends of “sightings in the wild” (meaning on campus).

While some might be concerned that this is a little extreme, I ask you what are 20-something-year-old’s to do? We grew up in the age of Justin Bieber mobs and One Direction hordes. This is simply how Gen Z reacts to handsome and talented men.

of their opponents after a game. In Hartman’s case, he showed his true colors after the game against North Carolina State. After the game, Hartman waited to hype up the Irish fans until after North Carolina’s band finished playing their alma mater.

He’s even a man of the people. At last Saturday’s game against Central Michigan, he gave a special shoutout to the fan who stole everyone’s hearts: Obi. “Obi, wherever you are man, you rock! Yaaa!” he said in a post-game interview.

going into their matchup with the No. 15 ranked Irish.

Notre Dame seeks to improve their ACC record to 2-0-1 and remain at the top of both the Coastal division and the entire conference. Following a disappointing 1-1 draw in their last ACC match against North Carolina, the Irish will look to feed off of the home crowd’s energy and spark a bit more creativity in front of the goal. They likely will create chances against this Virginia defense. The question is: will they finish them? This will be answered on Friday at 8:00 p.m. at Alumni Stadium and on the ACC Network.

Contact Noah Cahill at ncahill2@nd.edu

All jokes aside, some say that Notre Dame football does better when fans find the quarterback leading the team attractive. Sam Hartman’s presence on the team seems only to add stock to this theory. Marcus Freeman’s smile doesn’t hurt either.

A senior in the student section of Saturday’s game against Central Michigan called the pair “THE most attractive head coach and quarterback duo in the country.”

A TikTok floating around the internet embodies the sentiment on campus. The TikToker with the handle @uncrediblesports said “You expect me to believe that this [pointing to a picture of Hartman] is

For those who want to debate his talent, keep it to yourself. I have the stats to back it up. In his four career games with the Fighting Irish, Hartman has only been sacked four times, all within one game against North Carolina State. Additionally, Hartman has had zero interceptions so far this season, and 13 passing touchdowns in his first four games. He now leads the FBS in touchdown passes for this season. He even threw a pass for 76 yards to Chris Tyree during the Central Michigan game. He has something I like to call “football etiquette.” Usually, I define this as a player helping an opposing team’s player, whether that be helping them off the ground after a play, or the way some players will make sure to shake the hands

The Fighting Irish fans have really fallen hard for their new QB1, myself included. In a recent argument I got into with a friend’s boyfriend who is an Ohio State fan (GROSS!), I may have taken the trash talking a little too far, but it was all for the love of my QB and my team.

He accused Hartman of being “geriatric“ and needing to be resuscitated on the sideline. I responded that a line of people, including his girlfriend and his mom, would be ready to bring Hartman back to life. In my defense, his mom is a huge Notre Dame fan.

The only thing Sam Hartman should worry about is the next game, and maybe the girls fawning over him. But it all comes from a place of love and admiration and really, they can’t help themselves. They’ve caught the bug.

Contact Meghan Lange at mlange03@saintmarys.edu

The views expressed in this Sports Authority are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.

Belles drop home opener to Manchester

By ANDREW McGUINNESS Sports Editor

After snapping a threegame losing streak with a 3-0 win over Kenyon, Saint Mary’s volleyball were unable to continue their momentum Tuesday. The Belles came out rusty after a season-long 10-day break. Their home opener ended with a three-set loss to Manchester by scores of 25-18, 25-23 and 25-19. It’s just the second time in eight matches

this season Saint Mary’s has failed to win a set.

The Belles immediately got off to a slow start, falling into an early 12-6 deficit. Although Saint Mary’s would eventually pull within two, an immediate 6-2 response run from the Spartans secured them the first set. Saint Mary’s did start the second set strong, jumping out to an 8-4 advantage. Manchester made a couple of subs that helped turn the momentum, as the

Spartans went ahead by as many as four thanks to a 7-1 run.

Saint Mary’s showed an impressive fight, winning four consecutive Manchester match points.

Junior outside Cali Allen recorded two kills, and a double block by junior middle hitter Shay Theile and setter Shani Russell brought the Belles within one. But the Spartans closed the set out just before the Belles could draw back even. Coming so

close and still falling had an adverse effect on the Belles, especially at the end of the third set. Down 21-19, Saint Mary’s dropped the final four points of the match, with three of them coming on errors by the Belles.

Allen led the Belles with eight kills in the match. Theile and freshman middle hitter Caroline Carens each had two blocks. Junior libero Bethany DeSilvestro paced the team with nine digs as well.

The loss drops the Belles to 3-5 on the season.

Manchester, meanwhile, improved its record to an impressive 8-3. Saint Mary’s returns to action on Friday against Beloit. After that, the Belles begin conference play, starting next Tuesday against Kalamazoo. Friday’s match also marks the beginning of a season-long fivegame road trip.

Contact Andrew McGuinness at amcguinn@nd.edu

NDSMCOBSERVER.COM | FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2023 | THE OBSERVER 15 SPORTS

MSOC

HARTMANIA

ARIANNA DENNING | The Observer Irish graduate student quarterback Sam Hartman smiles on the field of Carter-Finley Stadium before Notre Dame’s 45-24 win over NC State. Meghan Lange Saint Mary’s News Editor

Miller: Create your tests

By JAKE MILLER Senior Sports Writer

just for me, cheer really loud. I have a lot of challenges in my life. The vast majority of these are good challenges, helping me grow, learn, develop and mature. But they can be difficult at times. Between working on countless group projects, writing papers, grading papers, running NDTV, organizing music for two different groups and planning my next vacation, I’ve got my hands full.

Somehow, though, Saturday’s game feels like the most pressing of these challenges. It almost feels like a test. Am I excited? Of course. But like a student awaiting their test scores, I’m nervous about my score. At the end of the night, each student will experience a

PREDICTIONS

result. After the big game, I’ll find myself asking introspective questions about the outcome of the game and my preparation:

How happy are you? Are you optimistic about what the future entails? Did this game meet your expectations?

If we win, my answers to these questions will be positive. I receive an A! I’ll be optimistic. If we lose, Notre Dame’s performance has meaningful consequences. If we lose, per ESPN, our chances of making the College Football Playoff fall to 35%. The buzz around campus will simmer. The prospect of a January trip to sunny Pasadena and the Rose Bowl might become an afterthought.

If you can’t tell, I’m stressed. This game means

see TESTS PAGE 14

FOOTBALL FANDOM

Peters: Irish look to peak on their everlasting climb

By RYAN PETERS Managing Editor

Notre Dame football is a family affair for many. I’m fortunate to have that be the case for my family. My cousins and I are the fourth generation to attend Notre Dame.

Growing up in the Charlie Weis era and enduring the beginning of the Brian Kelly era, Notre Dame football elicits rather painful memories. My family would usually go to one game a year. But even with such a small sample size, I’ve witnessed some doozies.

There’s the quadruple overtime loss to Pitt in 2008. The next year, I saw the Irish lose to UConn in double overtime. The year after that, Notre Dame lost to Tulsa. A game that on the surface could have been fun for my family — quarterback Tommy Rees, who’s from the same town as me, plays in his first college game against the small school

from the city my mom grew up in — capped a miserable threeyear stretch of games to go to.

So when I think of Notre Dame football and my family, the lows definitely come to mind. But the fact that people like my family are dumb enough to sit through those lows shows just how special it is. There’s a reason you drive over five hours roundtrip to South Bend to sit on metal bleachers in freezing weather just to watch Northwestern kick a game-winning field goal. Because at some point, you know there’s a chance of experiencing that moment where you jump up and down in your grandparents’ living room in Michigan when Notre Dame beats USC to clinch a spot in the BCS Championship. But we don’t watch it because of those highs. We watch it because the thought of those highs and the tradition that comes with it brings us together.

I’ve always heard about

the national championships, Catholics vs. Convicts, the “Game of the Century.“ Heck, my dad took photos of that 1993 Florida State game for these very pages.

Right now, we’re finally lucky enough to be experiencing one of those highs. I’ve seen enough Notre Dame football to know there’s a decent chance it’s short-lived. But no matter how long it lasts, we have to savor it.

The build-up we’re experiencing right now is something fans of all but a dozen or so schools will never experience in their lives. Two of the biggest brands in sports facing off under the lights in the most iconic football stadium in the country.

In fact, most Notre Dame students never get to experience this. It’s not often your walk to class gets interrupted by the setup for ESPN’s College Gameday. In the 87 years of the

see FANDOM PAGE 13

Observer sports staff predicts score of No. 9 Notre Dame vs. No. 6 Ohio State

By Observer Sports Staff José Sánchez Córdova, Assistant Managing Editor

Its finally here. The Saturday we all circled on the calendar at the start of the season. And it’s everything we could have imagined: a top-10 matchup, College

Gameday, undefeated teams under the lights at The House that Rockne Built. I think this game will live up to the hype. I’m predicting a tight, one-score Irish win when it is all said and done. More than anything, this game comes down to the matchup in the trenches. Whoever is able to keep their quarterback safe will win this game. But I also think this a game where experience will be key. Sam Hartman has nearly 50 more collegiate starts than Kyle McCord, and I expect him to rise to the occasion and lead the Irish to a historic victory in South Bend. Notre Dame 35,

Ohio State 31.

Andrew McGuinness, Sports Editor

This just feels like one of those games that is going to go down to the wire no matter what. The Irish don’t want to turn this game into a shootout, but they also don’t need to be on chew-clock mode from the get-go like they were in Columbus last year. This will come down to Notre Dame’s ability to navigate the passing game. Can the offensive line, specifically junior guards Pat Coogan and Rocco Spindler, hold up? Can Notre Dame’s receivers (or other pass-catchers) make plays when called upon?

Graduate student quarterback Sam Hartman must play great, but he won’t be able to carve up the Buckeyes secondary for big plays like against Central Michigan. This isn’t just the biggest game for the Irish under Freeman. It’s the biggest of Hartman’s

collegiate career. Look for him to make it count. Notre Dame 31, Ohio State 24.

J.J. Post, Associate Sports Editor

There are a few parallels between this year’s game and last year’s contest in Columbus. Notre Dame will likely look to once again control the tempo of the contest. Ohio State will no doubt hope to set free their explosive wide receiver room. But it’s difficult to find a more stark contrast between the Irish’s situation at quarterback last season and their new veteran triggerman, Sam Hartman. Notre Dame can now try to control the tempo, but with the additional benefit of a quarterback who can keep the Buckeyes honest. Safe money says the winner of the quarterback duel between Hartman and the talented but inexperienced Kyle McCord will also win the game. And if that is indeed

the case, it’s difficult to not ride with the man making his 50th career start under the lights in South Bend. Notre Dame 38, Ohio State 35.

Emily DeFazio, Associate Sports Editor

I’m going to keep this one short and sweet and say I’m cautiously optimistic. With the way this team has been performing under Sam Hartman, if there was any time to pull off a big win like this, it is now. As long as the defense can keep Kyle McCord and the Ohio State offense contained in as few attempts as possible, I think we might stand a chance here. Give me a picksix to turn the tide and edge the Irish to a victory. Notre Dame 31, Ohio State 28.

and some of the best wide receivers in the country. However, the Irish have a leg up in the quarterback room with veteran Hartman. Opposite him, the Buckeyes’ young McCord has struggled to find his rhythm and may be stunned under the bright lights of a Saturday night primetime game.

The Irish have not put together a complete game yet this season, something vital for success this weekend. Even so, the Buckeyes know this game is a must-win for them and their national championship aspirations. It will be a nail-biter, but Ohio State will ultimately come out victorious. (Prove me wrong, please!) Ohio State 31, Notre Dame 28.

Matthew

Crow, Associate Sports Editor

Madeline

Ladd, Associate Sports Editor

The game we have all been waiting for is finally here. Notre Dame will undoubtedly be tested by the Buckeyes’ elite linebackers

This feels risky, but I’m going with Notre Dame. Unlike last season, the Irish appear to have an offense very capable of scoring on the Buckeyes. For me, the bigger

16 THE OBSERVER | FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2023 | NDSMCOBSERVER.COM

FOOTBALL COLUMN

see PREDICTIONS PAGE 13

he did. He’s like a coach out on the field.”

This concern from opposing coaches regarding the Notre Dame receiving corps wouldn’t occur with many other quarterbacks under center. The unit lacks a true star, as well as general experience. Just one senior will be in the receiver rotation against the Buckeyes, and no player will enter with more than a dozen catches in 2023.

But Hartman’s cool patience in the pocket has made the collective unit a potent one for the Irish. With the composure of a player who will start his 50th collegiate game against the Buckeyes, Hartman always takes his time to survey all his options. He’s got the touch to find freshman Jaden Greathouse in a pocket of space over the middle, and the strength to hit streaking sophomore Tobias Merriweather down the sideline. If an Irish receiver can get open, Hartman will hit them. If they can’t get open, Hartman still might find them.

“He’s an NFL guy,” Merriweather said after the Central Michigan win. “The difference between college and NFL is a lot of the time the quarterbacks just don’t give the receivers a choice but to catch it. They just throw it on you, and it’s going to be there, and you expect it to be there. And I think that’s what Sam does for us. He just lets us make plays, puts the ball in our hands and lets us do what we do.”

For all his ability throwing the ball though, Hartman’s greatest asset for the Irish on Saturday will likely be his leadership. It’s not easy to arrive on a new campus after five years with the same teammates. It’s even harder when you’ve been anointed

with the expectation of being the one to take your new team to the next level.

Yet from the day he arrived for the spring semester in South Bend, the praise for Hartman was as much about his ability to connect with teammates and lead his new team as it was his artful deep ball. He officially received the designation of team captain just five months after his first spring practice, an honor he has proven worthy of at every step.

Hartman’s leadership in the locker room shows on the field as well. There’s a visible assurance in his voice from the offense that helps the unit move with precise efficiency when they find their rhythm.

He has already successfully engineered three two-minute drills before halftime in just his first four games. When watching those drives, it’s impossible to miss the speed with which Hartman can reorganize the offense after every play.

“Every play you play is going to be different than the last,” Hartman said. “It’s just going to be about trusting the guys around me and knowing that the support group around me is really, really talented. And they believe in me, and I believe in them.”

Notre Dame is ready for its national television close-up. They’ve felt that way in previous years, only to be proven wrong in the biggest moments. But things may be different this time because the Irish finally have a quarterback equipped with the physical and mental tools to lead his team into the spotlight.

“This moment won’t be too big for Sam. I mean, [it’s] year six for him,” said Freeman. “I have a lot of confidence that he’ll be well prepared.”

Contact J.J. Post at jpost2@nd.edu

Keys to victory: Notre Dame vs. Ohio State

By ANDREW McGUINNESS Sports Editor

Last year, Notre Dame entered its top-five clash with Ohio State as decided underdogs. The Irish were 17-point underdogs on the road with a head coach possessing the experience of one game, which was still more experience than his quarterback had as a starter. Though the Irish put up a good fight, the Buckeyes were clearly the superior team.

Things are different this time around. Ohio State is still favored, but only by about a field goal. Notre Dame’s head coach has learned from his mistakes and successes. The Irish possess one of the country’s most experienced signal callers. Oh, and this year, they’re bringing the party to South Bend.

It will certainly feel like a party all morning and afternoon Saturday as the atmosphere of College Gameday heightens the tension of two top-10 blue bloods about to square off. Though they’ve tried to prepare otherwise, this is the moment the Irish have been waiting for, a chance to author a new reputation for the Freeman Era and erase the negative stereotypes surrounding a program that’s struggled to win “The Big One” for decades. Here’s what the Irish need to do to take their best shot.

Give Hartman the support he needs

There is little worry that graduate student Sam Hartman won’t meet the moment. He has been the quarterback Notre Dame has been waiting for since the days of Jimmy Clausen and Brady Quinn. The Irish didn’t have a roster capable of succeeding in big games for most of those tenures, though. That’s different this time around.

Still, it’s one thing to have the talent to win big games — winning them is another thing

entirely. The performance of junior guards Pat Coogan and Rocco Spindler needs to improve against a talented Ohio State pass rush, albeit one that’s dealing with a similar problem as Notre Dame’s (more on that in a little bit). The wide receiver room has delivered when called upon, but that hasn’t been all that often this year.

Hartman and the suspect secondaries have mostly been enough to facilitate a quality aerial attack on their own in the first four games. That won’t be the same against a talented Buckeye secondary that includes one of the nation’s top corners in Denzel Burke. Junior running back Audric Estime has a similar level of confidence from the fanbase as Hartman. But the rest of Notre Dame’s primary ball carriers are all underclassmen. A big play from them would be nice, but being clean in pass blocking and keeping the ball off the ground may be even more meaningful for them.

Turn pressure into points

It doesn’t have to be as dramatic as last year’s Clemson game when the Irish defense and special teams matched Clemson’s point total on their own. And the opportunities have been there for the Irish this season. Al Golden’s defense has generated 23 quarterback hurries and forced seven fumbles. But it’s only turned that into six actual sacks and hasn’t recovered a fumble yet.

It’s not that the Irish haven’t made big plays — the Irish are tied for 11th in the country with five interceptions, three of which came against their lone Power Five opponent thus far. Making Kyle McCord sweat and putting the Buckeyes behind the chains is valuable on its own. But since 2020, Notre Dame is 2-1 against top-10 opponents when it wins the turnover battle and 0-5 when it doesn’t. That feels like

a trend that’s likely to continue Saturday, one way or the other.

Ohio State has reasons to feel confident on offense. Even though Notre Dame’s secondary has been stout, it can’t expect to fully contain the dynamic duo of Marvin Harrison Jr. and Emeka Egbuka. The Irish don’t have much depth at linebacker, and that’s even with accounting for graduate student JD Bertrand’s anticipated return from a concussion. While selling out for another double safety blitz is probably ill-advised, finding smart ways to give Ohio State as little time to exploit those advantages as possible should be a priority.

Remind everyone who’s Tight End U

Arguably no position’s production has fluctuated more in our weekly grades articles than tight end. The unit produced next to nothing against Navy, totaled 12 catches for 200 yards and three touchdowns the next two weeks, then went back behind the curtain last week. In fairness, the Irish didn’t have junior Mitchell Evans due to concussion (like Bertrand, the Irish expect him back Saturday).

Last year, the Irish held an undisputed edge at the position with perennial All-American Michael Mayer leading the way. Sure enough, Mayer wound up accounting for half of Notre Dame’s receptions and nearly 20% of its receiving yards. Evans, sophomore Holden Staes and junior Davis Sherwood likely won’t have that type of impact on Saturday. But the Irish need them to play a key role. It doesn’t necessarily have to be catching passes. Whether it’s during upthe-pass blocking or showing off Mitch-A-Palooza in prime time, this group has the potential to make a difference.

Contact Andrew McGuinness at amcguinn@nd.edu

yards later in the game against Central Michigan. Most notably, he drilled a 54-yarder in wet conditions against the Wolfpack that gave him the longest field goal in Notre Dame history.

Even in a short time, Shrader has developed strong bonds with his new teammates. That off-the-field connection is a big part of what has made his transition to Notre Dame so seamless. And it’s what made his record-breaking kick that much sweeter.

“That was a really cool moment. [I’m] very, very blessed

to have the privilege of having a record like that at such a prestigious university,” he said. “But the thing that meant the most to me was my teammates’ support and their reaction when [head] Coach [Marcus] Freeman announced it in front of the team. That made it more special. The individual achievement is great, but it’s doing something for the team and for the guys around me.”

So what actually goes into Shrader’s new and improved mentality? What gives his coaches and teammates complete confidence in his ability to put the ball between the uprights every time he steps on the

field, even from more than 50 yards away?

It starts with treating every kick equally, as best he can.

“I’d be lying if I didn’t say I was aware of the distance — I am,” Shrader said. “But my approach, my mentality, is pretty much the exact same.”

He then eliminates the high stakes from his mind, instead focusing on repeating the same mechanics he’s been fine-tuning for years.

“I try to stay as focused as I can and just treat each individual kick for what it’s worth. You feel the environment, but it’s almost like a haze around you. And so it’s hard to imagine that

each individual fan is a person that either wants you to succeed or wants you to fail,” he said. “You kind of just block it out and get as much into a mindset of perfect execution as you can.”

Finally, he feeds off the aforementioned energy from his teammates, letting their trust in him fuel his own self-belief.

“My mindset and my work ethic have shifted a little bit because I love being part of this team so much. I love my teammates so much that I think about working hard for them,” Shrader said. “I couldn’t care less about what’s next for me. I’m only focused on the moment. I just love competing with

these guys, and I want to work hard for these guys. And so that’s the coolest part about it.”

If Saturday’s showdown with No. 6 Ohio State comes down to a late kick with everything on the line (as big games often do), Irish fans can be confident in Shrader’s ability to stay calm and rise to the occasion. After all, his teammates and coaches certainly are.

“Yeah, it’s a little bit nervewracking, and it’s a big game. But at the end of the day, it’s just such a blessing to be here,” Shrader said.

Contact Matthew Crow at mcrow@nd.edu

NDSMCOBSERVER.COM | FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2023 | THE OBSERVER 3 INSIDER

Hartman CONTINUED FROM PAGE 4

Shrader CONTINUED FROM PAGE 4 KEYS TO VICTORY

Hartman, Notre Dame ready for season’s first marquee moment

By J.J. POST Associate Sports Editor

Sam Hartman will be the first one to tell you he’s not the star of Notre Dame’s 4-0 start to the 2023 season. In fact, he’d probably insist on it.

Every time the graduate student quarterback has faced the cameras this fall, he’s found new people to credit when asked about his success. Following his debut against Navy, he offered shoutouts to the University’s athletic administration, sports information department and Aer Lingus. After the team’s win over NC State, his praise went to, among others, the scout team and team dietitian Alexa Appelman.

Despite the best efforts of Hartman to stay humble though, it’s hard for him to deflect the spotlight any longer. On Saturday, the Irish will host No. 6 Ohio State in what’s set to be the

SHRADER FEATURE

biggest game Notre Dame Stadium has hosted (with fans, at least) in over a decade.

The Marcus Freeman era is fully underway in South Bend. The Ohio State game could be its defining moment. Last year’s Clemson game was a euphoric experience for the Irish faithful. But Notre Dame’s early season woes meant that even a dominant win put Freeman’s squad as, at best, a fringe top-15 team.

If the Irish beat the Buckeyes, they will immediately join the season’s premier title contenders. They will look ahead to a season where they are the ones being chased in the Playoff race, not doing the chasing.

The reason Notre Dame will walk into this monumental game at The House that Rockne Built with confidence? Sam Hartman.

The Irish brought in Hartman for moments like this. The sixth-year star

overflows with experience. He may have more snaps under the spotlight to his name than any other active collegiate player. Hartman’s college career is so extensive that he is closer in age (24) to Notre Dame’s youngest position coach (31-year-old safeties coach Chris O’Leary) than he is the youngest recruits the Irish will have visiting campus this weekend.

It’s easy to get starstruck by the primetime lights that will define Saturday’s contest. But Hartman was a picture of veteran maturity speaking to the media on Monday, both embracing the high-stakes nature of the moment and acknowledging the importance of day-in, day-out fundamentals to having success in it.

“It’s a big game. To shy away from that is foolish.” Hartman said. “But like every week it’s going to be about us executing at the highest level.”

Executing at the highest

level is something that Hartman has established quite a knack for in college. He arrived in South Bend with 110 career passing touchdowns and 12,967 career passing yards to his name. He ranks first and second on the all-time ACC leaderboard in each respective category.

Hartman also showed a knack last year for saving his best for the biggest moments. He started two games against top-15 opponents in 2022, posting a total of 10 touchdowns against one interception and a combined 657 passing yards.

The graduate student’s stacked resume has translated to a dazzling start at his final collegiate stop in South Bend. His 15 total touchdowns lead the country. His passer rating of 217.8 ranks third and his 1,061 passing yards rank fifth.

Notre Dame’s offense looks and feels different

with Hartman at the controls. The Irish had just one passing touchdown exceeding 50 yards last season, a 75-yard catchand-run by Logan Diggs in the Gator Bowl. Hartman threw two such deep scores last week against Central Michigan alone.

Hartman’s ability to stretch defenses is a unique weapon, one more recent Notre Dame offenses haven’t been able to deploy. There’s an ease in how well he sees the game. His arm allows him to access every area of the field. That combination makes shutting down the Irish offense a much harder task than in prior years.

“He’s just a smart player,” Navy head coach Brian Newberry said. “He sees the field really, really well, and he was able to identify things that we were doing really well, and he put the ball in the right places when

There’s no moment — or kick — too big for Spencer Shrader

By MATTHEW CROW Associate Sports Editor

Fourth-and-10 at the opposing 41-yard line could be described as “no man’s land” for an offense. Your first thought might be to punt and try to pin your opponent near its own goal line. Or maybe you go for it, counting on your defense to step up if you come up short.

Not many college teams would consider trotting out their kicker to attempt a 59yard field goal. But that’s exactly what Notre Dame did last weekend against Central Michigan. Graduate student Spencer Shrader has only been on campus for a few months, yet he might just be the most trusted player on the Irish football team.

Shrader and first-year special teams coordinator Marty Biagi both arrived in South Bend during the summer. One of the first items on Biagi’s to-do list was determining what kind of range his new kicker possessed.

“We always start close up,” Biagi said about evaluating kickers. “We work backward to see where his comfort zone is.”

Apparently, they didn’t stop moving back for quite some time. Through the first four games of the season, Shrader has received the type of green light on long field goal attempts that is typically reserved for NFL kickers.

“We don’t sit there and try and put a specific number on it, but he’s perfectly capable [of making long field goals],” Biagi said. “He’s kicked all the way back to 60, 65 yards, even a little further.”

No athlete is ever really a finished product, especially at the college level. But for Shrader, who arrived at Notre Dame having already made 28 career field goals as a multi-year starter at USF, opportunities for growth are more subtle than they might be for an 18-year-old freshman.

“I think the main thing is the mentality,” Shrader said about

how he’s improved during his time with the Irish. “Really, there’s no specific technique or form that’s necessarily going to help you have that distance. It’s just having the confidence in yourself that you can go out and execute a kick from 59 yards the same as you would do an extra point.”

The 59-yard attempt was ultimately no good, and Shrader’s current stat line — three-for-six on field goal attempts — sounds closer to average than elite. But while numbers don’t lie, they can mislead. And a deeper dive is needed to tell the full story of his performance this season.

All three of Shrader’s misses have come from over 40 yards. Two of them, the 59-yarder and a 56-yard attempt against NC State that bounced off the left upright, missed from well beyond that mark.

His makes have also come with a high degree of difficulty. Shrader connected from 50

4 THE OBSERVER | FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2023 | NDSMCOBSERVER.COM

HARTMAN FEATURE

GORDON | The Observer

52-3

over Tennessee State on Sept. 2. see SHRADER PAGE 3

CHANCELOR

Irish graduate student

kicker Spencer Shrader kicks the football off during

Notre Dame’s

win

see HARTMAN PAGE 3