Best of Week 12: Notre Dame's Yankees-inspired pinstripe unis

Welcome to Week 12. It's a good week to take it easy and watch some football, before next week when you're going to be taking it easy, watching football AND eating a ton. Moderation is the key.

In a big one this week, No. 3 Notre Dame and No. 12 Syracuse are playing football at Yankee Stadium! That's a baseball field! What a world.

While they're there, the Irish are paying homage to the landlords.

Notre Dame and the New York Yankees are each known to inspire strong reactions, and not always of the positive type. So to see the Irish dressed up like the Yankees may seem like a bit of an unholy alliance. But we're not the experts here. So let's check in with the inimitable Paul Lukas and Uni Watch for his review. What's your take, Paul?

Let's be honest: This is not a uniform -- it's a costume. That doesn't necessarily have to be a bad thing (Oregon's entire program is based on costumes, and some of them are pretty good), but costumes don't seem a good fit for a legacy program like Notre Dame.

More to the point, this doesn't seem like a very good costume. Putting pinstripes on everything -- even the shoes -- feels like overkill, and the helmet logo feels uninspired. If a superhero wore this costume ("Look, up in the sky, it's Yankees Man!"), he'd probably end up as a minor character at best. No movie deal, either.

But here's the biggest issue: Why should a proud football program like the Irish be subordinating their visual identity to a baseball team? Think of it this way: If the Yankees played a game at Notre Dame Stadium, would they wear gold batting helmets? No way -- they'e the New York freakin' Yankees, and they're not gonna change their uniforms for anyone! The Irish could learn something from that attitude. -PL

Marty takes Manhattan (well, the Bronx)

Meanwhile, our resident Southerners, Marty Smith and Ryan McGee -- of the SEC Network's cleverly named Marty & McGee show -- discuss the game, which Marty has been covering this week.

Take that, Marty

Northwestern puts on a clinic on how to prepare for a game in a cold-weather setting.

The big games

All times ET

• No. 10 Ohio State at Maryland, noon, ABC
• No. 12 Syracuse vs. No. 3 Notre Dame at Yankee Stadium, 2:30, NBC
• No. 9 West Virginia at Oklahoma State, 3:30, ABC
• No. 24 Cincinnati at No. 11 UCF, 8, ABC
• No. 16 Iowa State at No. 15 Texas, 8, Longhorn Network
• Arizona at No. 8 Washington State, 10:30, ESPN

You won't like them when they're angry

In 2015, a 7-3 Citadel team beat 3-7 South Carolina 23-22. This was a huge upset and source of pride for a military college with about 2,300 undergrad students, who make up the South Carolina Corps of Cadets. This season, a 4-5 Citadel team is playing 10-0 Alabama (noon ET, SEC Network), and their social media folks are having a little fun online. While we're not sure that's the best idea, we're definitely sure Nick Saban appreciates it, since it's the antithesis of rat poison, proving how seriously the Crimson Tide should take this opponent. Thoughts and prayers, Bulldogs.

Big day for a couple of Dubs

Dubs, a very good Alaskan Malamute who has been leading the Washington Huskies out of the tunnel since 2009, is heading off into retirement.

Carried away

Since at least 1963, Nebraska fans have a tradition of releasing balloons after the first touchdown of the game, as seen in this photo from 2016:

In Tyler's words

Earlier this week, Purdue superfan Tyler Trent, who is battling a rare form of bone cancer, got his own bobblehead, with a portion of the proceeds going toward cancer research.

On Saturday, the team will be wearing helmets featuring Tyler's descriptions of what Purdue football is all about.