Is this weekend needed for college football fans? As Irish fans (I wonder how many non-Notre Dame readers lurk out there!??) the answer for us is a convincing no. But as the 12-team playoff lurks just around the corner later this month, this feels like an especially boring conference championship weekend. From the big 4 [...]
The Irish sealed a playoff berth with a wild win in Los Angeles, beating USC by a final score that was far more comfortable than the advanced stats (and lived experience). SP+ gives Notre Dame an adjusted margin of +5.7 points, the lowest in any game this season. This game was definitely tight, but one [...]
Georgia survives Georgia Tech, Syracuse upsets Miami, Clemson drops one to South Carolina, and Ohio State losing their 4th in a row to Michigan were the highlights of week 14 in college football. With conference championship weekend coming up we are mere days away from the final college football playoff committee rankings of the 2024 [...]
They say winning is hard. Notre Dame never trailed in a nervy-filled back and forth regular season finale against USC that morphed into a 2nd half shootout. In the end, a bruised Irish secondary came up with a pair of back-breaking long pick sixes to seal the win and Notre Dame's spot in the first [...]
The regular season concludes this Saturday in Los Angeles as Notre Dame looks to secure its place in the first 12-team college football playoff with a win over long-time rival USC. Despite an early season hiccup of all hiccups, the Fighting Irish arrive in Southern California as one of the strongest teams in America and [...]
We've reached the final regular season week of the season. Congratulations to everyone for sticking around this long and reading 18 Stripes this season. This season is far from over! 2024 Betting Record ATS: 48-52-1 SU: 63-32-0 I am clawing myself back to .500 against the spread in 2024. This past weekend I picked up wins [...]
When Miami (Florida edition) dropped Notre Dame from the 2024 schedule late in the process (as scheduling goes), the Irish pivoted to hosting Army. Everything after that point turned into the ideal outcomes Marcus Freeman's team, with the Black Knights entering the game undefeated and incredibly ranked #19 in the CFP rankings and Notre Dame [...]
This past weekend was a tough one for several programs. Penn State was awfully close to a bad loss at Minnesota but they escaped. Elsewhere, seven teams from our 18S rankings came away with a defeat after week 13. Ouch! I'm glad it wasn't Notre Dame. Here's the latest 18 Stripes Top 20 Poll: 18 [...]
Undefeated Army faced its most talented opponent of 2024 on Saturday night in Yankee Stadium and the result was a bloodbath. In all aspects (well maybe not kicking field goals) Notre Dame dominated the action from the opening whistle to secure Marcus Freeman's second straight 10-win season with the Irish. Let's recap the blowout win [...]
It was yet another day where the biggest issue Notre Dame fans faced was annoyance at a garbage time touchdown by the other team, and the Irish walloped previously unbeaten Army 49-14 to move one win away from hosting a playoff game. Pretty much everything was hitting on all cylinders for the Irish, except for [...]
Just a couple more weeks remain in the regular season. This 2024 campaign has been quite the slow burn, especially as Notre Dame works its way back from the NIU loss and has been slowly moving up the rankings each week. 2024 Betting Record ATS: 44-50-1 SU: 63-32-0 I had a good week 12 with [...]
Notre Dame dominated Virginia down-to-down, but officiating and startling momentum shifts on Senior Day gave this game a strange flow. Once again Al Golden's defense was dominant, forcing 5 turnovers and Cavs QB Anthony Colandrea to the bench after he accumulated -17 expected points added (total EPA) for the game. For a second straight week [...]
If you were hoping for BYU to lose for general chaos reasons, your wish was granted on Saturday night. The no. 1 team in the land nearly lost in Jump Around land but came back to remain unbeaten. We'll cover that and more in this week's recap from week 12. Here's the latest 18 Stripes [...]
Notre Dame hosted Virginia on Saturday afternoon for the final home game of the 2024 regular season and after a sleepy start put away the Cavaliers in another blowout win for the Irish. This is now 8 straight wins since the unfathomable NIU loss with Notre Dame outscoring opponents 343-85 over that timespan. Not bad! [...]
I don't know if I've ever seen a team ignited by a flag before, but that's what happened Saturday as an arcane rules interpretation screwed up the coolest fake punt of all time and pissed Notre Dame off enough to finish delivering a 3-touchdown second-quarter rage bomb in a 35-14 win over Virginia. First up, [...]
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