Five Wide Fullbacks returns with Notre Dame having the week off resting up for their trip to Las Vegas. In this week’s edition we’ll discuss re-ranking our top 25 Notre Dame players, the Heisman race, the post-season picture after a third of the season, the remaining Irish schedule difficulty, and if it is wise to take the open jobs at Georgia Tech or Nebraska.

1) Rank the 8 remaining regular season Notre Dame opponents from easiest to most difficult.

Boston College – Funny, this was supposed a mildly challenging to possibly an upset special on Senior Day for the Irish. Lately, the Eagles have looked all sorts of horrible with perhaps the worst offensive line in Power 5. Many have been eager to watch the return of Phil Jurkovec to South Bend and there’s about a 15% chance he’ll stay healthy enough in this offense to make it that far in the season.

UNLV – This isn’t the year to be disrespecting a Group of 5 team! I will say nothing further.

Navy – I’m sticking to a theory that something broke with Navy’s offense in late 2020 (13 points over their final 3 games) and they haven’t been able to put it back together ever since. Unless Notre Dame has a Very Bad Day on offense this shouldn’t be a particularly close game.

Stanford – The Cardinal now sit just 10 and 9 spots above UNLV and Navy respectively in the latest FEI rankings. They have a couple nice pieces on the roster but not much beyond that.

BYU – This game could be one spot higher if it weren’t for the Shamrock Series boost.

Syracuse – This has potential to be a massively important game for both teams. The Orange will be 5-0 after this week (mighty Wagner on tap) and then face NC State and Clemson. Split those and Syracuse should be ranked when the Irish visit. Are they actually any good? They’re 42nd in FEI just 4 spots below BYU right now.

Is this game going to be hard?

Clemson – The Tigers play NC State, Florida State, and as mentioned above, Syracuse before coming to Notre Dame so there’s opportunity to trip up soon. I like Notre Dame with home field advantage compared to the hardest game below.

USC – There’s too much uncertainty from both programs and this game is so far away to predict too much but right now USC’s offense (1oth in FEI) could be a lot to handle. Let’s hope the Irish fly out to Los Angeles with something to play for and with plenty of motivation.

2) Now that the regular season is a third of the way through, what does the post-season picture look like? Is there any way Notre Dame can grab a good bowl game?

I think we can safely put an appearance in the playoffs to bed, although a lot of national carnage with Notre Dame beating a combined 22-2 Clemson and USC would be a good way for a 2-loss team to make it. You never know!

It’s possible a 11-1 Clemson makes the playoffs. If not, and assuming for argument’s sake that Notre Dame finishes 10-2, there could be a rematch between the Tigers and Irish in the Orange Bowl. Realistically, Notre Dame is fighting for these bowl options:

Cheez-It Bowl – This would be a Thursday, December 29th 5:30 PM timeslot against a Big 12 team. As a top tier non-NY6 bowl slot we’d be looking at the next best from the conference not to win the Big 12. Maybe it’s Baylor? Oklahoma? Texas?

Taxslayer Gator Bowl – Held on Friday, December 30th at 3:30 PM against a SEC team that’s probably somewhere around the bottom of the top 25 rankings or just outside. It could be Texas A&M, Arkansas, Ole Miss, or maybe a Tennessee team that didn’t finish the year very strong.

Duke’s Mayo Bowl – Okay, this would be where things start to get dark. Held on Friday, December 30th at Noon it could pit Notre Dame against a .500 level Big Ten team. Perhaps Indiana, Maryland, Purdue, or Wisconsin? I’m sure for social media purposes Duke’s is salivating over a Notre Dame game.

3) Who are some of the disappointments from the 18 Stripes Top 25 Players list from August and who are some of the players that are on track to make the list if you could re-do it today?

You can re-read our top 25 list HERE or read it for the first time if you missed it published right before the season. A bunch of thoughts on the list now:

  • As mentioned when we published, Avery Davis is done with football after another injury. Buchner is also done for the year, so 2 more spots open up!
  • Brandon Joseph (4), Marist Liufau (6), Jayson Ademilola (7), and Cam Hart (9) would all be moving down if we ranked them after 4 games so far.
  • Blake Fisher (3) doesn’t seem to be having the type of excellent year we’d hoped for while Joe Alt (11) should be in that number 3 spot right now.
  •  I’m not sure Braden Lenzy (16), Zeke Correll (20), Logan Diggs (23), and Xavier Watts (25) have done enough to still be in the top 25. We know Tobias Merriweather (21) is still without a target or catch which doesn’t feel great for that prediction.
  • I think I just took out 7 players from the top 25. In their place I would put, in alphabetical order, DJ Brown, Audric Estime, Justin Ademilola, Drew Pyne, Ben Morrison, Jaden Mickey, and Jon Sot.
  • Clarence Lewis is the 8th player I considered, does he deserve to get in over Mickey or maybe Ademilola?

4) Did C.J. Stroud do enough against Notre Dame to keep the top spot with the best odds for the Heisman and is anyone else challenging him for the trophy?

Looking at the odds below, knowing how much weight is placed on staying undefeated, and looking at Ohio State’s schedule it’ll be tough to unseat Stroud. They play Penn State and Michigan still but no one else who should be competitive with them.

It wasn’t a ‘wow’ game for Stroud against Notre Dame but it was fine enough and he made a few really remarkable throws in the win. Since then he hasn’t had a single game under a 200 passer rating, which helps the cause.

I don’t view Hartman, Gabriel, or Martinez as true candidates. They’ve each lost a game already, come on that seems ridiculous to me.

OSU better beat UM by 6 million. 

Hooker would be one heck of a guy to get behind if Tennessee could upset Alabama in a few weeks. The Vols have to get through Arkansas and Texas A&M first, so that’ll be tough.

I’d add a few more players to the list with decent odds:

Mohamed Ibrahim – Currently the star of undefeated Minnesota and 2nd nationally in both yards per game on the ground and rushing touchdowns.

Michael Penix, Jr. – Washington has improved a lot this year and are unbeaten with their quarterback leading the whole damn country in passing yards per game and 19th overall in passer rating with just 1 interception.

DJ Uiagalelei – Clemson’s quarterback has to be on the list now. He has to play better to be in serious contention (still just 40th in passer rating) but his numbers so far really haven’t put him out of contention as long as the Tigers stay undefeated.

5) Who are the best options to replace Geoff Collins at Georgia Tech and Scott Frost at Nebraska? Where would you rate each program on a scale of 1 to 10 on being a good job to take?

What a fascinating study in contrasts these 2 schools are right now! Both have plenty of belief that they should be much better than they’ve become with Nebraska not being truly nationally relevant since 2001 and Georgia Tech, outside of 1990, only having a small handful of nice seasons in my whole lifetime.

However, Nebraska still has a heaping side of haughtiness that, if it ever existed at Georgia Tech, has long ago been erased.

Here are some of the names linked to each job:

Nebraska: Matt Campbell, Lance Leipold, Bill O’Brien, Mark Stoops, Jim Leonhard, Gary Patterson, Urban Meyer(!), Zac Taylor (lol), Bob Stoops, Chris Petersen, Luke Fickell, P.J. Fleck, Matt Rhule, Pat Narduzzi, Dan Mullen, Jeff Monken, Dave Doeren, Dave Aranda, Tom Herman, and Jamey Chadwell.

Georgia Tech: Deion Sanders, Todd Monken, Shawn Clark, Tyson Helton, Jamey Chadwell, Dan Mullen, Lance Leipold, Bill O’Brien, Al Golden (oh?), Jeff Grimes, Jeff Monken, Sean Lewis, Brian Hartline, Doug Belk, and Alex Golesh.

Most of the Georgia Tech names make sense. The Nebraska list (granted the internet loves throwing stuff against the wall for blue bloods and former blue bloods) is full of delusion. That’s definitely a list of a program that’s still 10th all-time in winning percentage not really living in a reality where they’re barely hanging on inside the top 40 in winning percentage since 2002.

Hell, throw his name in the hat, too.

As such, Nebraska will feel pressure to swing big and hire someone “proven” when they are just as smart to hire an up-and-coming coordinator from somewhere. This will be the 5th head coach to give Nebraska a try since Frank Solich and we have piles of evidence that the glory days are not coming back.

Which job is better and how much does conference realignment play a part?

The bar is lower at Georgia Tech–and given its location in a recruiting hotbed–I think it’s the better job for someone looking to climb the ladder. You can go into that program, win 20 games in 3 years, and come out with the country thinking highly of you.

I’m not sure clearing that bar at Nebraska–a place where they’ve averaged 5 wins per season since Bo Pelini was fired–is even deemed good enough. There’s just so little upside to working in Lincoln right now and plenty of downside. I’d rate the Nebraska job at a 3 out of 10, and the Georgia Tech job a 4 out of 10.