About Eric Murtaugh

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So far Eric Murtaugh has created 1651 blog entries.

2025 College Football Playoffs Quarterfinals Preview

Okay, fine. I'll write something about the College Football Playoffs. But I'm not happy about it! But first, a look back at the first round of games and surprise surprise ratings and excitement were down this year. Alabama-Oklahoma, 8 p.m. (Friday): 14.9 million (ABC/ESPN) Miami–Texas A&M, noon: 14.8 million (ABC/ESPN) Tulane–Ole Miss, 3:30 p.m.: 6.2 [...]

By |2025-12-27T15:42:42-05:00December 29th, 2025|Football|10 Comments

Notre Dame & USC No More: Conference Realignment (and Cowardice) Finally Stings the Irish

Checking the drafts, this article title was created way back on May 13th of this year. That was when rumors started spreading that the Notre Dame-USC series future may be in doubt. After some concern during the summer things looked like they were on track for at least a short-term solution between the schools as [...]

By |2025-12-22T13:21:56-05:00December 22nd, 2025|Football|23 Comments

Thrown Into Chaos: A Wild Week in South Bend

My head has been spinning. On Sunday afternoon I was shocked, surprised, and then distraught. What the hell just happened? Wait, Notre Dame didn't even make the playoffs? Remember the Vegas odds!?? The expected trip to Norman?? The Irish should skip the bowl game now, it'll be a shell of a football team participating in [...]

By |2025-12-11T07:48:33-05:00December 11th, 2025|Football|22 Comments

Four Simple Ways to Make the Best 16-Team Playoff

Well, this article now has a different flavor since Notre Dame got left out of the 2025 College Football Playoffs. We were already supposed to know about the future of the College Football Playoff back on December 1st but disagreements about the format and proposals between the brokers involved led to a deadline extension. Now [...]

By |2025-12-09T14:16:19-05:00December 9th, 2025|Football|14 Comments

Postseason Pain: It Was Always About Alabama, Not Miami

It wasn't expected but always lurking in the background in the lead up to the final College Football Playoff Committee Rankings this Sunday afternoon. Notre Dame could have the rug pulled out from underneath them at the last moment. That's exactly what transpired as the Irish get left out of the 12-team playoff in favor [...]

By |2025-12-07T16:17:00-05:00December 7th, 2025|Football|33 Comments

2025 College Football Week 15 Picks: Fight, Raiders, Fight

Notre Dame will learn its fate for the playoffs in just a couple more days. But first, the cabal of television partners disguised as conference mates need to play their league championship games to provide more clarity to the 2025 season. The final CFP selection show will take place on Sunday, December 7th beginning at [...]

By |2025-12-04T08:57:26-05:00December 4th, 2025|Football|9 Comments

Notre Dame Recruiting 2026 Early Signing Day: The Launch Pad

In the past, Notre Dame had lightly knocked on the door to a breakthrough recruiting class. Maybe a couple taps one year, or a solid early tap or two that never came good. As the 2025 regular season has concluded, the Fighting Irish have finally put together something within shouting distance of the best recruiting [...]

By |2025-12-02T11:01:21-05:00December 2nd, 2025|Recruiting|29 Comments

The 18 Stripes Top 20 Poll: Okay, They’re No. 1 Now

Just a few more games remain until Notre Dame finds out if their 10-2 record with 10 straight wins is enough to make the playoffs. The way things have shaken out lately it's going to make Irish fans sweat until the very end. That is, unless we receive some blessings during conference championship weekend. Here's [...]

By |2025-12-01T07:39:41-05:00December 1st, 2025|Football|2 Comments

2025 College Football Week 14 Picks: Goodbye to the Regular Season

It leaves a bad taste in your mouth when it's the regular season finale and a weekend full of great rivalry games only for Notre Dame to face a 4-7 Stanford team with an interim head coach. That this game kicks off at 10:30 PM ET is even more insane. As you'll see below, the [...]

By |2025-11-25T20:03:03-05:00November 26th, 2025|Football|1 Comment
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