Julian Love almost became the 35th unanimous All-American in Notre Dame football history today. The Walter Camp Foundation, the Associated Press, the Football Writers Association of America, and the Sporting News had all previously named him to their first teams; the American Football Coaches Association was the final piece of the puzzle. As fate would [...]
Welcome back to the playoff big board! We had to sweat more than we wanted, but this became a phenomenal weekend for the Irish faithful: We're in, and Michigan sucks. Q.E.D. Our board will consist of all ranked undefeated teams and all ranked one-loss Power 5 teams from the the playoff committee rankings. I define [...]
As we nestle into the halfway point of the season, we notice that it's time to revisit our predictions from our staff and commentariat polls right before the season started. No doubt you remember our hilarious, Caddyshack-themed 2018 preseason prediction post. Well, good news folks; now that 12-0 is in the books... I almost included this [...]
Welcome back to the playoff big board! One fringe contender fell by the wayside and one more very nearly did, and a couple of serious contenders looked sluggish before taking care of business. You know who didn’t fall into either category? Yeah, you know who... The astute among you may notice that last week’s post [...]
Notre Dame's recruiting machine added an unexpected piece today when linebacker Marist Liufau became the 20th member of the 2019 class. The 6'3", 210-pound Hawaiian wasn't on the radar of any casual fans and, in fact, many more dedicated recruitniks. He was, however, just on campus for an official visit, so he was quite clearly [...]
Welcome back to the playoff big board! Another week that was chalk for our contenders... Our board will consist of all ranked undefeated teams and all ranked one-loss Power 5 teams from the the playoff committee rankings. I define "resume wins" for our purposes as wins over currently-ranked teams; it gets too complicated to project [...]
Welcome back to the playoff big board! Our board will consist of all ranked undefeated teams and all ranked one-loss Power 5 teams from the the playoff committee rankings. With the playoff rankings out now, I've changed the board format from undefeated/one-loss to in-the-playoff/in-the-conversation. I define "resume wins" for our purposes as wins over currently-ranked teams; [...]
Welcome back to the playoff big board! Most of the higher-ranked teams played as expected, but overall it was a very bloody day for ranked teams. No fewer than eleven AP top 25 teams lost this week, and eight of those eleven fell to unranked opponents. Ouch, as they say. Our board will consist of [...]
Welcome back to the playoff big board! Not too many upsets this week, but one of the few was an earth-shaker. Boiler Up! Our board will consist of all ranked undefeated teams and all ranked one-loss Power 5 teams - first from the AP poll, then from the committee rankings when they're available in a [...]
Welcome back to the playoff big board! Man, week 7 was eventful, as four of the top eight teams in the AP poll went down. As you might imagine, that shook up the board quite a bit. Our board will consist of all ranked undefeated teams and all ranked one-loss Power 5 teams - first [...]
Notre Dame has opened a season 6-0 for the third time in Brian Kelly's tenure, joining 2012's 12-0 start and 2014's 6-0 start. The Irish have achieved that only two other times since Tony Rice graduated: a 10-0 start in 1993 and an 8-0 start in 2002. We know not to get too excited; after [...]
As we nestle into the halfway point of the season, we notice that it's time to revisit our predictions from our staff and commentariat polls right before the season started. Later in the week we'll bring you a preview of Notre Dame's second-half opponents and discuss - gasp! - a potential march to the playoffs. Big [...]
Welcome to a new feature here on 18Stripes, where we dig into potential playoff teams by tier and take a shot at how things could shake out. Our board will consist of all ranked undefeated teams and all ranked one-loss Power 5 teams - first from the AP poll, then from the committee rankings when they're [...]
From the 1925 Rose Bowl to Charlie Weis's penultimate season in 2008, Notre Dame and Stanford met 23 times. Notre Dame won 17 of those games, usually in resounding fashion; the average Irish win featured an 18.5 point scoring margin. Included in that 17-6 record is a seven game win streak from 2002 to 2008. [...]
Notre Dame sits at 3-0 and ranked in the top ten this week. You would think that's a good place to be, but many Irish fans understandably grumbled about the offense's performance to date. Now it looks like that performance might have the coaching staff grumbling too; word leaked out yesterday via multiple outlets that [...]
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