Another season over and another long off-season begins. We embrace the darkness. As of this writing, we have 228 days until Notre Dame opens up the 2023 season across the pond in Dublin against Navy with a new head coach.
Our Fighting Irish had a heck of a ride in 2022 capped off by a nice bowl win over South Carolina. Now, a grad transfer quarterback is coming to town and we will go through the process of building hope this spring and summer wondering if someday Notre Dame can be the team destroying someone in the College Football Playoff National Championship.
18 Stripes Top 20 Poll
| RANK | TEAM | RECORD | RESULT |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Georgia | 15-0 | 65-7 W vs. TCU |
| 2 | TCU (+1) | 13-2 | 65-7 L vs. Georgia |
| 3 | Michigan (-1) | 13-1 | 51-45 L vs. TCU |
| 4 | Tennessee (+1) | 11-2 | 31-14 W vs. Clemson |
| 5 | Alabama (+1) | 11-2 | 45-20 W vs. Kansas State |
| 6 | Ohio State (-2) | 11-2 | 42-41 L vs. Georgia |
| 7 | Penn State (+4) | 11-2 | 35-21 W vs. Utah |
| 8 | Tulane (+5) | 12-2 | 46-45 W vs. USC |
| 9 | Washington (+3) | 11-2 | 27-20 W vs. Texas |
| 10 | Utah (-3) | 10-4 | 35-21 L vs. Penn State |
| 11 | USC (-1) | 11-3 | 46-45 L vs. Tulane |
| 12 | LSU (+3) | 10-4 | 63-7 W vs. Purdue |
| 13 | Oregon (+3) | 10-3 | 28-27 W vs. North Carolina |
| 14 | Kansas State (-5) | 10-4 | 45-20 L vs. Alabama |
| 15 | Florida State (+2) | 10-3 | 35-32 W vs. Oklahoma |
| 16 | Oregon State (+2) | 10-3 | 30-3 W vs. Florida |
| 17 | Clemson (-9) | 11-3 | 31-14 L vs. Tennessee |
| 18 | Notre Dame (+2) | 9-4 | 45-38 W vs. South Carolina |
| 19 | Pittsburgh (NR) | 9-4 | 37-35 W vs. UCLA |
| 20 | Troy (NR) | 12-2 | 18-12 W vs. USTA |
National Storylines
Way back 25 days ago, Troy beat UTSA to kick off the bowl season. They had to wait a long time to find out that Troy finishes the season ranked in our 18S Top 20 poll.
A cool 24 days ago, Oregon State absolutely obliterated Florida 30-3 in the Las Vegas Bowl. Beavers head coach Jonathan Smith just got a nice fat contract extension and should be on the short list for best coaching performances of the year.
Ratings went through the roof for the Gasparilla Bowl as Irish Nation tuned in to watch what turned out to be Sam Hartman’s last game for Wake Forest in a 27-17 win over Missouri. We had to wait 13 painstaking days but Hartman committed to Notre Dame eventually.
I thought Holton Ahlers was the most underrated quarterback in the country this year and would’ve had a huge amount of suitors this off-season if he had eligibility. The ECU quarterback dominated Coastal Carolina with 300 yards passing, 48 rushing yards, and 6 total touchdowns.
Interim head coach Jim Leonhard picked up a bowl win to finish 5-3 with Wisconsin. Right now, he is still looking for a job and is one of the most coveted defensive coordinators in college and the NFL.
The Holiday Bowl had a wild ending that saw Oregon doink their way past North Carolina to complete a 10-win season.
Old Man Elko down in Durham continues to DGTâ„¢ as Duke breezed past UCF 30-13 in the Military Bowl. Maybe I should’ve ranked the Blue Devils?
The Liberty Bowl was utterly out of control, easily one of the most entertaining and exciting games of the season with drama seemingly on every snap. It’s too bad someone had to lose.
Washington finishes the season with a really quiet but impressive 11-2 season capped off with a win over Texas in the Alamo Bowl. Perhaps the Huskies will be a team to watch out for in 2023? Or, maybe they are destined to flop?
Florida State also quietly put together a very good season after sneaking past Oklahoma in the Cheez-It Bowl. I am certain hype for the ‘Noles is going to be jacked up this off-season.
Tennessee finished their best season since 2001 when they were 4th in the country. That’s also where I put the Vols this season, although the AP had them down at 6th.
Anyone want to talk about the Terps? They snuck past NC State in the Duke’s Mayo Bowl and got to 8 wins for the first time since Ralph freaking Friedgen’s time at Maryland.
The blue-chip rate was pretty ugly for Kansas State in comparison to Alabama and the result on the field prove just that. Now, we’ll see if the Tide get players drafted 1-2 in the NFL this spring.
Ratings were down for the Rose Bowl as boring Penn State beat boring (especially with injured Cam Rising) Utah in Pasadena. Honestly, I have the Lions at 7th and it feels so incredibly unearned but whatever. Someone has to be in that spot.
God bless Tulane and TCU for giving us a wonderful start to the New Year.
Unfortunately, things didn’t go as well in the National Championship for TCU but we deeply appreciate their sacrifice in the semifinals taking out Michigan.
Georgia completed their back-to-back championships with a 58-point win featuring a +401 total yards edge and a mind-boggling +4.50 yards per play differential. We will show compassion and not link to the highlights.
18S Pre-season ranked to unranked:
No. 7 Texas A&M (5-7)
No. 9 Oklahoma State (7-6)
No. 10 NC State (8-5)
No. 11 Oklahoma (6-7)
No. 14 Miami (5-7)
No. 15 Arkansas (7-6)
No. 16 Iowa (8-5)
No. 17 BYU (8-5)
No. 18 Texas (8-5)
No. 19 Michigan State (5-7)
No. 20 Air Force (10-3)
Yeesh! The back half of the rankings were destroyed!
I did have Penn State and LSU as darkhorse teams who ended up doing pretty well. And, I was pretty firm that Baylor (6-7) was a complete stay away despite the national rankings having them really high back in August. I think a lot of us felt uneasy about Texas A&M being so high when their offense was so unproven and had so many question marks. That, checked out.
OUT:
No. 14 UCLA
The Bruins lost their quarterback and choked away their bowl game to Pitt. This was a pretty good season though with wins over Washington and Utah. A very weird loss to Arizona still makes no sense.
No. 19 South Carolina
It’s hard to judge a team during the post-season when they were missing so many starters. But, we won so ha ha.
Opponent Watch
Here’s how Notre Dame’s 2022 opponents finished the season:
Ohio State (11-2): Weird season in Columbus marred by injuries and the loss to Michigan. They actually acquitted themselves extremely well against Georgia and go into the off-season with some momentum. I dropped them below Tennessee and Alabama because screw the Big Ten.
USC (11-3): The embarrassing loss to Tulane puts the entire USC defensive operation on the hot seat.
Clemson (11-3): This was absolutely not a good 11-win season by any measure. In fact, it was probably one of the worst for a major Power 5 program in recent memory.
North Carolina (9-5): What an absolute flop to end the season for the Tar Heels. Drake Maye should’ve hit the portal, collected tons of money, and found a better program.
Marshall (9-4): One of the nation’s best defenses finished strong to 2022 with 9 wins, Marshall’s most since 2018.
BYU (8-5): The Cougars held off SMU to win the prestigious New Mexico Bowl.
Syracuse (7-6): The Orange lost by a touchdown to Minnesota in the Pinstripe Bowl.
No Bowl Game Losers:
UNLV (5-7)
Navy (4-8)
California (4-8)
Stanford (3-9)
Boston College (3-9)
We will note that Notre Dame faces Ohio State, Clemson, USC, Navy, and Stanford again on the 2023 schedule this fall.
Out of curiosity, whats the reasoning behind putting Clemson one spot above ND? I can see it, but wondering your reasoning.
I just dropped them really far and though it was a good place to stop.
I realize now this is like asking “How did you get so open today” and it’s like me saying “I don’t know I’m just making’ plays!”
I don’t know what else you would reasonably do, but something doesn’t sit right putting TCU at #2 after last night. I’d have half a mind to put Bama there. Not really meaningful at all, but that stood out seeing the AP polls and all to me too.
Nick Saban was right! They should’ve gotten a shot!
Sorry, but for me if you give Bama credit for close losses to good teams, you have to knock them for close wins to bad teams.
That is fair. My case for Bama being #2 (which again I don’t think is that strong or a hill worth dying on) is mainly based around them boatracing the team that beat TCU more than overall resume.
Also, hypothetically, if you lined TCU and Alabama up, who wins? That game would be at least a 10 point spread for Bama.
Part of me wishes that TCU lost to MI so that we could have seen Georgia destroy MI vs a respectable (but still great) 6 point lost to TCU.
More unintended consequences of free agency in CFB.
I would probably have Ohio St above Bama, since MI is rated above TN. Hard to say though, felt like this was a down year for a lot of traditional powers and the power 5 conferences playing a bit below their weight.
Sad to see college football go into the off season. However is probably good for my marriage.
Agree the FSU hype train gonna be full steam ahead and they’re usually pretty active in transfer portal, but they also went 10-3 against what we all agree is a bad conference. If clemson 11-3 was so underwhelming and they won the conference and beat FSU, should we be a touch more cyclical about FSU? I mean after LSU not sure what good wins they had the rest of the year.
FSU (#14) actually had a higher F+ rating than Clemson (#17) this year.
ACC seems headed the direction of the Big East.
Yes, a loong wait to Dublin. I am still desirous of organizing an 18 Stripes event there!
I intend to be there and had tickets to the 2020 game in Ireland, but right now the only game tickets are available through Aer Lingus travel packages, which I do not want to buy, so hopefully they’ll be more broadly available soon and I can start making more firm plans.
Yeah, I’m in the same boat. Waiting to see how accessible the tickets are on the resale market or other ways to get them besides that.
I’m tempted to soon just book the other part of the trip and plan on somehow getting in for the game. I mean, if you’re in Dublin that day and really want to get in, how hard could it be right? (Famous last words..)
OK, guys, so here’s a deal hopefully: the ND Alum Clubs in Europe get to try to reserve tix without the travel packages (yours truly did some serious lobbying to that end). If we the Paris Club get what we requested, I may have a couple available. I’ll let you know how this plays out!
I appreciate the honesty about ranking Ohio State that low because of Big 10 hate. They just about took out Georgia without the top receiver in the country and their starting running back, and they lost their #2 receiver in the game*. They laid one egg against Michigan, sure, but Bama just about lost to aTm! No way at the end of the year OSU isn’t at least #4.
In my rankings, I have them #2 because screw Michigan, but also how they were playing overall at the end of the year, and how badly TCU lost.
*Are we noticing a trend that UGA only wins Natty’s when the other team is down their top two All-American receivers? Sorry, but Jameson Williams and Jaxon Smith-Njigba play in those two games, and Georgia loses both. I know you need injury luck to win it all, but c’mon.
Yeah, I got a lot of pushback in the writers room w/r/t Ohio State.
🙂
Eric, your opinions are worth every penny I pay for them 🙂
Thanks for the work you do, it’s your poll, you can do whatever you want. Arguing about this stuff (and Cardinals Baseball, the team, not the poster on this site) are what gets us through the off season.
Worse than the JSN absence was Day’s mismanagement of the last drive. I kinda feel like that is the Patriots too, where other teams vast incompetence fuels a lot of their ultimate success (Seattle, Atlanta). As if the lesson is to just stay out of your own way long enough when you have such a great team and fate will fall in your favor. But so it goes.
Also, UGA’s schedule next year is a joke. Weak OOC to the point they might as well not play it, and their cross-over to the SEC West is a best case to not see the strong teams (they have Mizzou, Ole Miss). Might as well already pencil them into 12-0 going into the SECCG right now.
For what it’s worth UGA outgained OSU and had a +1.8 ypp advantage in that game. So it isn’t like OSU was clearly the better team and UGA won a fluky game.
Also, Stroud averaged 10y/a, so not sure JSN would have made that big a difference. He would have just taken a less good future first round pick off the field.