With all due respect to the first two opponents on the Notre Dame schedule, everyone with a pulse knew in August that this season will likely be determined by what happens next Saturday at Georgia. Nothing has changed in that department after the Irish's 66-14 rout of New Mexico, a game that bore a slight [...]
New Mexico hired current Maryland coach Mike Locksley in 2009. He, uh, "led" the Lobos to a 2-26 record before being canned part way through the 2011 season; his tenure there made the writers of Days of Our Lives seem unimaginative. He was sued for sexual harassment before he even coached a game (a suit [...]
In week one, Notre Dame destroyed a decent Nevada squad 35-0 in South Bend. Ten years ago this week, the Irish traveled to Ann Arbor to take on RichRod's second Michigan team. A Forcier to be reckoned with? The 2008 Michigan Wolverines were a complete disaster, finishing 3-9 and losing five games by 18 or [...]
While Notre Dame enjoyed some cheeseburgers most of the rest of the country battled it out on the gridiron. Last week we learned the bottom of the SEC had a rough start, however, week two brought us the return quite possibly of a dominant LSU program that hasn't really been an elite team since 2011. [...]
You've heard us talk about SP+ many times here - in our advanced stats discussions, in our game previews, in our playoff projections, etc. Last year, an enterprising Reddit user who should be nominated for sainthood created a win probability matrix for every team in FBS and updated it every week. The same user did [...]
Bill Connelly, formerly of SB Nation and now with ESPN, was releasing historical SP+ ratings on Twitter in recent weeks that are a really fun look at how college football teams have progressed (or not!) over the years. Here are some thoughts about Notre Dame's graph that caught my attention for this storied program we [...]
During the spring I highlighted 6 snaps from the loss to Clemson where Ian Book needed to calm down and trust himself more in the pocket. His skill-set is such that his optimal performances happen when he's able to deliver the ball accurately, on time, while allowing pass catchers to continue down field without breaking [...]
SP+ predicted a 35-16 Notre Dame win at Louisville. The spread in Vegas was 18 points in many places. But the Irish win to open 2019 didn’t feel particularly fun, did it? Breaking down reasons to be encouraged, concerned, and confused using advanced stats from the season opener. Something not clear? Check out this handy [...]
Welcome to the recap of the first full week of college football. It wasn't exactly a wild ride of a week for some of the stronger team and yet there were plenty of fun and entertaining games littered through Monday's action. While the top teams in the SEC fared well others in the lower regions [...]
Last week, we set the stage for the 2009 football season and the wild ride ahead for Notre Dame. This week is game week, as the Irish took on the Nevada Wolf Pack on September 5th in South Bend. Here Comes the Pistol The teaser for this game mentioned Colin Kaepernick, who might be the [...]
Notre Dame found itself amidst a frenzied Labor Day crowd on Monday night cheering on a rejuvenated Louisville program shaking off the shackles of the Petrino/VanGorder 2018 season. After the 1st quarter in a tight contest it looked like the Irish defense was lost which then bled over to the offense. The Irish did settle [...]
There was a time, not so long ago, where Notre Dame beating a Power 5 team - any Power 5 team - by 18 points on the road would've been cause for celebration, if not a parade. The two most talented Notre Dame teams of the Brian Kelly era prior to the 2016 debacle and [...]
Welcome to the Louisville Gameday Chat! In 2017 we switched to Slack, a very popular chat and collaboration tool, for our gameday chat. Slack boasts much better functionality and ease of use, and it also works waaaay better on mobile devices. Win-win! Reminder (or intro, if you’re new to it) on the ground rules: Real [...]
You'd think Brian VanGorder's stock couldn't get any lower after 2018, yet he's still coaching at 60 years old and became Bowling Green's defensive coordinator this off-season--a team the Irish will face in week 6, no less. The former Notre Dame defensive coordinator spent one devastatingly poor season at Louisville a year ago leaving behind [...]
What do projection systems like SP+ (newly re-named!) and FEI see for Notre Dame in 2019? A much more difficult schedule, an improving offense, and a defense that will hope its strength in the passing game helps it continue to be a top-10 unit. Transparently, this was intended to be a multi-part series, but hey, [...]
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