Hey Iowa, you want to talk alternative unis? Check out this abomination. (AP)

1. So, Notre Dame doesn’t heart the Big Ten, so what? — Notre Dame once again falls into compost and comes up with a Rolex on both wrists. With a four-team playoff coming to an FBS field near you, the Irish looked at a nuclear winter in regard to scheduling and the postseason. Yes, the deal with the ACC is full conference affiliation for all sports but football and hockey, but football gains solid footing with five ACC football games a year and inserted itself into the ACC’s bowl tie-ins. All this while retaining NBC TV money and the golden chalice of independence. Win, win, win. Upside for the Big Ten? ND could play in the Rose Bowl opposite the Big Ten.

2. Bucket head — Remember when running back Damon Bullock played wide receiver? It was early, very early, last season. On the first series against Tennessee Tech, Bullock burned his redshirt as a slot receiver. He dropped a pass and, later, watched RB Mika’il McCall break his ankle, which shipped him back to running back. Bullock was asked for his take on being an Iowa wide receiver this week. “There’s more conditioning, I can tell you that,” Bullock said this week. “Last year, I went to receiver and I was dead the first practice, I was just dead. I had my head in the Gatorade bucket.”

3. Remember Eric Sanders? — James Vandenberg’s dad, Toby, remembers. Sanders walked on to the UNI program from Oelwein High School and he lit up the Panthers’ record books. He holds the FCS record with a career completion percentage of 69.59 percent. He had a 35-9 record as a starter and led UNI to 12 fourth-quarter or overtime comeback victories in his career. He threw for 70 TD passes and just 23 interceptions. Easy to be a fan. “That Sanders guy, he could play,” Vandenberg said. “He’s one of my dad’s favorite quarterbacks of all time. He literally always talks about him.”

– Marc Morehouse