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, [...]
Notre Dame is set to open the season on Labor Day evening live from Louisville. As usual, it's been a long off-season and yet a pretty quiet one until August camp began and more news items started hitting the Irish landscape. Before the ball kicks off I wanted to recap some of the things going [...]
Aaaaaand... We're back, folks! It's been a loooong [checks calendar] eight months without college football. We're maybe not better than ever after the schlock-fest that opened the season this past weekend. (Can we really consider what Florida and Miami did "football"? And how on earth did Hawaii go -4 on turnover margin and still beat Arizona?) [...]
The 2009 Notre Dame football season marked the end of an era in South Bend. The Irish finished 6-6 on the field after a wild season which saw 10 one-possession games and their third consecutive year of 7-wins or less. Charlie Weis was fired by second-year AD Jack Swarbrick after Weis started his career by [...]
College Football kicked off this past Saturday night with a highly viewed Week 0 matchup between Florida and Miami that was as sloppy as it was entertaining. Another Power 5 conference team also got their season started way off in the island of Hawaii and didn't fare so well. As we head into the first [...]
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