Most of us expected great things from the Irish this year, and we've gotten pretty good things that feel a little disappointing. In an odd way that's an excellent sign of how well the program has rebounded from the 2016 debacle - if your fan base feels unfulfilled by a 5-1 start that includes a [...]
It finally happened. One of the top teams in the country went down in a major upset this past weekend and shook up the polls at least a little bit. The Georgia Bulldogs inexplicably tripped up against South Carolina and now are forced to run the table and hope a playoff spot still awaits. The [...]
As we nestle into the halfway point of the season, we notice that it's time to revisit our predictions from our staff and reader 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 postseason possibilities. Big Picture Questions 2019 Record A whopping [...]
As humans, and as Americans, we are accustomed to believing that bigger is better. Take for example, car manufacturers like General Motors and Ford who are quickly approaching 90% of their sales in either SUV's or trucks. At least in the auto industry bigger can be spun as safer but it's also more about the [...]
The Irish used a relentless offensive game plan and a calculated defensive game plan to hold off a talented rival in a marquee matchup. SP+ didn't view that performance so kindly, largely because patient offense and bend-but-don't-break defense tend to work counter to the metrics that SP+ considers important. Could the Notre Dame offense have [...]
A packed Notre Dame Stadium watched the Irish start slowly offensively but take a 17-3 lead into halftime all the same. In the second half, USC awoke on offense and nearly put together one of the better comebacks in series history. However, thanks to a gutsy touchdown drive led by Ian Book and Tony Jones, [...]
For the past few weeks at 18Stripes, we've been chronicling Charlie Weis's fateful last year in South Bend (Click here for the awesome UW game). The next installment will be the 2009 USC-ND game when the Irish tried to knock off the title-contending Trojans in order to help save Weis' job. At the time, USC [...]
Notre Dame played the worst team in FBS per the latest SP+ rankings, and dominated as expected with season-high advantages in explosiveness and efficiency. Where can the Irish continue to improve, what were the most impressive stats from the blowout win, and what challenges USC brings to South Bend next week. Per SP+ garbage time [...]
This past weekend saw the first big ball to drop in the SEC and for the national picture. As per the usual breakdown, a few teams in the back half of the rankings fell as the top half continues to be remarkably consistent. However, we did shuffle a few teams around even with several byes [...]
Did we play this weekend? Was I sleeping? Have I slept? The Irish went on the Patented Wolverine SP+ Plan this week and boosted their rating substantially by pounding a hapless foe. If you read last week's post you know I lobbed a few shots at SP+ for the rather strange evaluation of the Virginia [...]
At times it looked like Notre Dame was scrimmaging against the annual fantasy camp members made up largely of middle-aged men who looked awkward in full pads and a helmet. On Saturday, a completely overwhelmed Bowling Green team tried their best to compete with the Top 10 Fighting Irish and came away with a goose [...]
There was pretty much nothing to take from today's 52-0 Notre Dame win over Bowling Green except that it was great to see ND, for the second time this season, take care of a totally overmatched opponent. It says a lot about the team's focus level. For the record, I have no problem with playing [...]
The MAC league is good for one thing and that is just about every program will go through periods of ups and downs, and the tug and pull in each direction can be as wild as any conference. The cradle of coaches is known for nursing young talent on the sidelines who increase their programs' [...]
Mack Brown was so close to bringing utter chaos to the college football world on Saturday. Instead of kicking the extra point late against Clemson, the Tar Heels attempted a 2-point conversion for the win that sadly did not work. Alas, back to the drawing board for the big upsets that mark each season in [...]
Notre Dame covered the spread while defeating #18 Virginia in a drama free 4th quarter, yet fell in SP+ rating. The Irish havoc rate was outstanding, the offense perfect in the red zone, and the defense limited Bryce Perkins and the Cavs when they had great field position. But the advanced stats see some sustainability [...]
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