Michigan Preview: Hunting Big, Smelly Weasels
From Wikipedia: The wolverine, Gulo gulo (gulo is Latin for "glutton") is the largest land-dwelling species of the family Mustelidae [the weasel family]... Like many other mustelids, it has potent anal scent glands used for [...]
18S Top 20 Poll: Lord Chaos, He Stayeth
The ranks of the undefeated shrank once again over the weekend. Wisconsin faltered on the road as major favorites against Illinois, providing a fresh shake up to the Big Ten if not the national picture [...]
Advanced Stats Review: USC
Notre Dame hung on to a massive first-half advantage to defeat the Trojans in a three-point win in South Bend. Despite controlling the game, SP+ gave Notre Dame a 28% postgame win expectancy looking at [...]
Saturday Night in Ann Arbor & Ian Book’s 2020 Return
There's an old quote attributed to Lou Holtz that sums up fans insatiable desire for more that goes: "First they told me we didn't win enough, so we won more. Then they said we didn't [...]
2019 Playoff Big Board: Week 9
As we round the turn into the second half of the season, it's time to revive the Playoff Big Board. Our board will consist of all ranked undefeated teams and all ranked one-loss Power 5 teams [...]
Midpoint Musings: Notre Dame’s 2019 Second Half Preview
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 [...]
18S Top 20 Poll: Embracing the Chaos
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 [...]
Midpoint Musings: Revisiting Our 2019 Preseason Predictions
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 [...]
Notes on the Evolving Nature of Football Stadiums
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 [...]
Week 7 SP+ Win Probability Matrix Update
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 [...]
USC Review: Irish Hold Off Pesky Trojans
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 [...]
Southern Cal Preview: A Wounded but Dangerous Foe
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 [...]
Advanced Stats Review: Bowling Green
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 [...]
18S Top 20 Poll: The Sorting Begins in the SEC
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 [...]
Week 6 SP+ Win Probability Matrix Update
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 [...]
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