The regular season is over (except Army-Navy of course) and now we await the concluding championship weekend before the last 4-team playoff, accompanied by the weird bowl system, finishes off this 2023 campaign.
Here’s the latest 18S Top 20 Poll.
18 Stripes Top 20 Poll
| RANK | TEAM | RECORD | NEXT |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Georgia | 12-0 | vs. Alabama |
| 2 | Washington | 12-0 | vs. Oregon |
| 3 | Michigan (+2) | 12-0 | vs. Iowa |
| 4 | Florida State | 12-0 | vs. Louisville |
| 5 | Texas (+1) | 11-1 | vs. Oklahoma State |
| 6 | Oregon (+2) | 11-1 | vs. Washington |
| 7 | Alabama | 11-1 | vs. Georgia |
| 8 | Ohio State (-5) | 11-1 | OFF |
| 9 | Oklahoma | 10-2 | OFF |
| 10 | Ole Miss (+1) | 10-2 | OFF |
| 11 | Missouri (+1) | 10-2 | OFF |
| 12 | Penn State (+1) | 10-2 | OFF |
| 13 | Tulane (+1) | 11-1 | vs. SMU |
| 14 | Louisville (-4) | 10-2 | vs. Florida State |
| 15 | Arizona | 9-3 | OFF |
| 16 | LSU (+1) | 9-3 | OFF |
| 17 | Notre Dame (+1) | 9-3 | OFF |
| 18 | Iowa (+2) | 10-2 | vs. Michigan |
| 19 | Oklahoma State (NR) | 9-3 | vs. Texas |
| 20 | Liberty (NR) | 12-0 | vs. New Mexico State |
Out:
#16 Oregon State
#19 Kansas State
National Storylines
Ole Miss hung on to win the Egg Bowl 17-7 over Mississippi State. Lane Kiffin has won at least 10 games in 4 out of his last 7 seasons in college football since leaving USC.
Surging at the right time, Oregon easily took care of business in a 31-7 win over Oregon State.
Texas has won 11 games for the first time since 2009 following a 57-7 beatdown of Texas Tech.
Missouri has their first 10-win season since 2014 after a 48-14 win in Fayetteville against Arkansas.
Points everywhere as Oklahoma defeated TCU 69-45 in the Sooners’ final Big 12 game.
Tulane is 23-3 over the last 2 seasons and clinched another conference championship game appearance following a 29-16 win over UTSA.
Georgia held of Georgia Tech 31-23 to extend their winning streak to 29 games.
Washington needed a late field goal to take the Apple Cup 24-21 over Washington State.
Florida State out-scored Florida 17-3 in the 2nd half to come from behind and win the rivalry game 24-15.
An insane late 4th down touchdown pass to Isaiah Bond gave Alabama a 27-24 win over Auburn in the Iron Bowl.
LSU needed a big 2nd half to come back and beat Texas A&M 42-30.
Iowa clinched a 10-win season in complete style with a 13-10 win at Nebraska.
Arizona quarterback Noah Fifita threw for 527 yards and 5 touchdowns as the Wildcats dominated Arizona State 59-23 in Phoenix.
Iowa State only managed 10 first downs but totaled 488 yards on just 35 plays(!!) to beat Kansas State 42-35 in the snow.
Oklahoma State recovered a fumble in double overtime to beat BYU 40-34 and clinch an appearance in the Big 12 Championship.
Liberty stayed perfect and moves into our top 20 following a 42-28 road win at UTEP.
Opponent Watch
Navy (5-6): The Middies were losing 52-14 at halftime and eventually fell 59-14 to SMU.
Tennessee State (6-5): Eddie George’s 3rd season finished with 3 straight losses, their season ended last weekend.
NC State (9-3): It took a while, but UNC fell on their face losing 39-20 to the Wolfpack. This is a sneaky good season for NC State. Meanwhile, North Carolina went 2-4 to finish the year after finishing 2022 going 0-4 and finishing 2-4 in 2021, as well.
Central Michigan (5-7): The Chips season ends with a 32-17 loss to top MAC team Toledo.
Ohio State (11-1): It was right there for the win and Ohio State let us all down. I don’t want to talk about it.
Duke (7-5): A nice 7-win season for Mike Elko after a solid 30-19 win over Pittsburgh. He’s now off to greener (money-wise for sure) pastures.
Louisville (10-2): This felt sort of inevitable given its Louisville and they had nothing to play for as they lose 38-31 to Kentucky.
USC (7-5): Their season finished last week, a fun off-season awaits!
Pitt (3-9): Now the Panthers have to move on from star quarterback Phil Jurkovec.
Clemson (8-4): Now 4 straight wins for Clemson following a 16-7 win at South Carolina.
Wake Forest (4-8): Syracuse fired their coach and Wake Forest lost to them anyway 35-31.
Stanford (3-9): The Cardinal will try desperately to hold on to their roster with the Portal™ opening up.
Week 14 Games to Watch
All time are eastern.
*Conference USA Championship*
New Mexico State [+10.5] at Liberty
Friday, Dec. 1st, 7:00 PM, CBS Sports Network
New Mexico State won a couple of league titles back in the 1970’s as part of the Missouri Valley Conference and that’s been it in modern times. Who could make a list of the best NMSU moments in their history? They just joined the C-USA this season after being independent for 5 seasons. We’re talking about one of the most nameless and forgettable football schools in the country. The Aggies winning this game would be really cool for the sport.
*Pac-12 Championship*
Oregon [-9.5] at Washington (Las Vegas, NV)
Friday, Dec. 1st, 8:00 PM, ABC
Seemingly everyone is on the Oregon bandwagon (is this finally THE year the Ducks can actually win it all?) and it’s clear they look like the best team in the Pac-12 in recent months. Since losing to Washington earlier in the season Oregon is +157 in point differential while the Huskies have been a more mediocre +39 despite staying undefeated. This looks like a big Oregon win and Bo Nix Heisman coronation. This could also put head coach Dan Lanning into the next stratosphere after I didn’t think he was that great of a hire for the Ducks.
*Big 12 Championship*
Oklahoma State [+14.5] vs. Texas (Arlington, TX)
Saturday, Dec. 2nd, 12:00 PM, ABC
I was talking about Mike Gundy maybe losing his job earlier this season and here they are in the league championship! What a bizarre year. The Cowboys lost by 26 to South Alabama, by 7 to Iowa State the next week, and also by 42 points to UCF. However, their win over Oklahoma was crucial as both teams finished 7-2 in league play. I’d imagine Oklahoma State will be frisky but Texas holds on with a shot at the playoffs in sight.
*MAC Championship*
Miami [+8] vs. Toledo (Detroit, MI)
Saturday, Dec. 2nd, 12:00 PM, ESPN
Back in 2016, Chuck Martin started 0-6 but won a share of their MAC division title. In 2019, he started 2-4 and went on to win the MAC title outright. Now, he’s back in the MAC Championship and actually put together a full season of quality wins. Can he beat this Toledo death machine?
*Mountain West Championship*
Boise State [-3] at UNLV
Saturday, Dec. 2nd, 3:00 PM, Fox
UNLV just finished the season losing to San Jose State 37-31 throwing the Mountain West into a 3-way tie among those 2, plus Boise State. Somehow, someway, a collection of computers picked UNLV to host Boise State. The Broncos fired their coach recently and still made it here. Things are not going great in the Mountain West conference.
*SEC Championship*
Georgia [-5] vs. Alabama (Atlanta, GA)
Saturday, Dec. 2nd, 4:00 PM, CBS
Tommy Rees needs to do the right thing and sabotage this game so that Michigan doesn’t get matched up with Florida State in the playoff semi-finals. Or, maybe the Noles will just lose on Saturday anyway. I’m fascinated to see how Georgia reacts to this matchup. With their long winning streak and soft schedule it’s pretty crazy that we’ve gone this far without really knowing how good they are in 2023.
*AAC Championship*
SMU [+4] vs. Tulane
Saturday, Dec. 2nd, 4:00 PM, ABC
Tulane wins this game and Michael Pratt immediately announced he’s transferring to Notre Dame, right?
*Sun Belt Championship*
Appalachian State [+6] at Troy
Saturday, Dec. 2nd, 4:00 PM, ESPN
I have nothing to offer.
*Big Ten Championship*
Iowa [+23] vs. Michigan (Indianapolis, IN)
Saturday, Dec. 2nd, 8:00 PM, Fox
The more Michigan wins the more their cheating will get glossed over as they continue their sickening march to overcoming adversity. This has the chance to be the worst season in college football history, IMO.
*ACC Championship*
Louisville [+3] vs. Florida State (Charlotte, NC)
Saturday, Dec. 2nd, 8:00 PM, ABC
The Tate Rodemaker performance this past weekend against Florida (12 of 25 for 134 yards, no touchdowns, sacked 3 times) doesn’t lend much hope to the Seminoles being able to compete in the playoffs, and it might cost them this game too. I don’t know how many people feel bad for Florida State but this could be a pretty sad ending to an era for a program that’s won 18 straight games and never really got close to a National Championship.
Tommy Rees deserves Broyles Award for coaching up Jalen Milroe this season (Saturday Blitz)
Saban: Tommy Rees has done ‘outstanding job’ as Alabama OC (al.com)
Alabama OC Tommy Rees linked to Power 5 head coaching job (Saturday Down South)
If Alabama beats Georgia….
Death, taxes, and UNC collapsing in November.
I assume they will be top 15 preseason in 2024.
James Madison and Jacksonville State despite NCAA rules are going to bowls because not enough teams had 6-6 records. But what phenomenal finish to the season to get them there.
Utah State beat New Mexico in 2 OTs on Friday to qualify. Nebraska lost by 3 on Friday. and were out, ending the year with four straight losses.
By Saturday, twenty-four teams were 5-6 needing that one win for fifteen bowl slots. By 6:30, six more had punched their ticket including ODU who scored eleven points in the last 1:37 to win by one and Syracuse who intercepted Wake on the 1 yd line with two minutes to go. For JMU and Jax St six out of the nine 5-6 teams left to play needed to lose.
Illinois lost by 2 pts when on a two point conversion attempt failed with 55 secs to go. A defensive PI on that attempt was wiped out since the ball was tipped.BYU lost to Oklahoma State in 2 OTsWashington State lost on a walk-off FGFlorida lost to FSU and S.Carolina lost to ClemsonMarshall and USF punched their tickets with winsCal beat UCLA to qualifyLate into the night – or early in the morning – Colorado State lost to Hawaii on a fifty-one yard FG with no time left. The Rams were out.
With seventy-nine bowl slots filled and three open slots, the Dukes and the Gamecocks qualified and are going bowling! Minnesota (5-7) also is going bowling based on the highest APR of those teams.
While Navy and Army each have five wins, wins after Championship Weekend do not count as bowl bids go out after those games. Navy lost to SMU on Saturday effectively eliminating them.
Iowa at 10-2 and almost 11-1 is one of the most beautifully hideous things I’ve ever seen. The most wins any FBS school has ever had while totaling as few offensive YPG as Iowa this year is 4.
If I could have one more football wish this year, it’s Iowa beating Michigan 15-11, somehow.
And that 15 points comes on 3fgs and 3 safeties
“Texas has won 11 games for the first time since 2009″ – their inability to be great over that period remains remarkable to me. Who would prefer to go to school in Norman, Oklahoma (or College Station, NIL money aside) over Austin? And yet!
Also, how about Freeman going ride-or-die with Parker today? I can’t tell if it’s just coachspeak or if he’s seriously going to keep going with this dude. If the latter, that is truly continuity for continuity’s sake – big “Steelers keeping Matt Canada” vibes.
Probably a lot of people. Lots of people like college towns. College football demographics don’t necessarily overlap that much with wowza Austin is the coolest place in the world.
I grew up an OU fan; my dad is an alum. Norman is a cool little college town, and a totally different vibe from the big city that Austin has become
Tyree enters the portal
Zeke Correll as well.
I don’t see the benefit for Tyree unless he wants to move back to RB
Perhaps he saw that next year both Faison and Greathouse were going to be eating into the snaps that he would see in the slot. He was playing overall very well this year and still ended up 3rd I think in terms of snaps at WR.
Now we really have to add a WR in the portal b/c I would be shocked if Colzie stays. We simply need more bodies at the position.
We probably need to add at least 2 veteran WRs then actually. How many upperclassmen WRs do we have? One can’t count on Freshmen to play a bunch of snaps (even if 1 or 2 turn out to do so).
Nana too. Sad to see him go, but after senior day he seemed like he knew he wasn’t going to be around next year
Interesting. Has to think his draft stock would get a nice bump by going somewhere else, I’d guess.
I think Nana is not athletic enough to be thinking about the NFL. He’s been a solid backup and somewhere else he’s likely to get a chance to start (at a lower level) for a year before being done with football.
Sorry, meant Tyree. Nana I presume would go for more playing time somewhere else or maybe be closer to home or something.
A bit surprising but like Goldendomer said below perhaps he was worried about the young guys eating into his snaps. One would have thought Tyree would continue to improve as well since he’s only played WR for a year. He seemed to be our best big-play guy. Maybe he thinks he’ll be a better fit/get more balls thrown his way in a different offense that doesn’t play so many TE’s.
Maybe hoping someone sees him in a hybrid slot/RB role like Deebo
Correll in the portal too but that’s probably because Craig is slated to be the starter at center next year anyway.
Well said about New Mexico State. The Aggies are a great example of how an experienced coaching staff, crafting schemes to the skills of your players, recruiting less heralded players and a good defense can succeed. Las Cruces isn’t the easiest place to do summer practices with 100+ degree days. But Kill’s staff has recruited from Oklahoma, Texas, Arizona, California and picked up C.C.players. Fourteen transfers in the last two classes is not that many. Those experienced players with fifty-two signees indicates they will continue to be a force in the CUSA. I don’t see any other offers for their dual threat QB, Diego Pavia, who was in the 2022 class.
The MWC would have been the natural fit, but without ESPN changing the current contract, adding NM St would have diluted existing teams’ media money shares. Traveling in the CUSA, recruiting and salaries to keep coaching staff there required a commitment from the University publicly funded in a state that is not wealthy. The buy-in game money helps and wasn’t Auburn shocked? A great college football story!
New Mexico State athletics receives $3.15M for capital projects
Portal losses so far:
Am I missing anyone?
Tobias Merriweather in the portal. Maybe the most disappointing yet, I still think the best is to come for Toby.
Agreed. Esp. with a new WR coach. Saw CB to Washington for him.
We are going to have to take 3 portal WRs at this point at least. I’m not sure that’s even possible for us (given typical limitations).
Stuckey is gone it seems. Not too shocking
I wonder if the timeline is moving up for assistant coaches to be “fired.” I thought that usually happened after the bowl game.
If true, that could mean that Parker is staying for next year.
MF’s presser seems to indicate he is leaning very heavily to keeping Parker.
True, but in his presser he mentioned all staff and a day later we part ways with Stuckey, so I don’t know that I would read too much into what Freeman said at the press conference.
Yea I would never take anything said in a presser at face value.
What’s he supposed to say before a bowl game like this?
“Yea we intend to replace a couple of coaches after the bowl but I haven’t told them yet who it is.”
OK, noted and I am abashed. The Stuckey business is conclusive. So much for MF wanting continuity. I just hope they can pony up some more $$$ and an even fancier title for Al Golden.
Totally agree on this note. And don’t feel bad. It is certainly possible that there behind the scenes things going on that changed what MF thought and felt about keeping Stuckey.
I think that all depends on if Golden wants to jump back into being a college HC in the pay for play era (I kind of doubt it), or if the NFL comes calling and he feels like moving his family. I’m more worried about the latter.
Think his preference is to keep guys through the bowl season. But apparently nearly the entire WR room was ready to hit the portal if Stuckey stayed.
Makes Tyree leaving make a little more sense. Instead of taking a chance on a new WR coach, transfer to a WR coach and OC who are known commodities since he only has one more year.
Wow really? It seemed like we brought him in for his people skills so to speak (or at least this was a large reason). But Irishtexan said the same thing below that he was not well-liked. Hadn’t heard rumblings about that before. But that makes it far more understandable that they let him go then of course.
Maybe the media liking you, is different than the players liking you.
I guess my memory of him at Baylor was of a player’s coach kind of thing. Maybe I’m mistaken or the reports were wrong or he changed. Who knows.
Or maybe that was just with the recruiting side but then when he coaches his guys he’s a real hardass or something?
My gawd that’s Chip Long’s music
Rumor mill (i.e. Driskell) suggests Styles leaving was the first rumbling of problems. It was curious at the time, would have been nice to have another proven outside guy this year.
Is this in an article or on the Irish Breakdown message boards?
podcast, actually. Didn’t mention Styles by name but spent five minutes on the situation of a WR who transferred out last spring. Wasn’t hard to put together.
say whaaaat
I am kind of shocked. I feel like he didn’t have much to work with and was recruiting well.
Colzie- hard to judge b/c of injuries
Salerno- same
Thomas- looked good and ready to take next step. Not Stuckey’s fault for his hamstring.
Merriweather- underperformed. This is a strike against Stuckey.
Greathouse- 4 star freshman looking pretty good
Flores- 4 star freshman looking pretty good
Tyree- 1st year WR, looking pretty good but apparently not sticking around
Faison- lacrosse player who was a breakout player by end of freshman year
This seems on the whole to be some pretty good coaching if you ask me. On top of good recruiting over the past 2 cycles and I’m a bit confused as to why we are parting ways if looking only at on field production and recruiting.
This is where I am at too.
Not sure whose fault it is for not getting a veteran WR from the portal exactly but that’s another negative with the WR room.
Well we had a vet, from Virginia Tech and then he medically couldn’t continue…I don’t know whole story but we had a vet and then it didn’t pan out after Stuckey had him on campus.
I could take or leave Stuckey, but I think some ND fans (including me until recently) are perhaps giving him too much credit for just not being Del Alexander. That’s a lot of guys you have listed as “looked pretty good” but:
That simply isn’t going to elevate you into the elite tier of college football most seasons.
So maybe that’s on Parker. Maybe that’s on Hartman. Maybe that’s on Stuckey. Hopefully Freeman has made the correct analysis in regards to what exactly is going on with our pass catchers.
(And while his recruiting has been better than Del, he’s still only brought in one top 100 WR, right? I’m hopeful about our young freshmen making the jump next year, but Styles, Colzie, and Merriweather didn’t exactly make big jumps under Stuckey.)
The recruiting was a nice step up over Del but even that was handicapped by having to show immediate results given how bare the cupboard has been. But seeing our top receiver (Tyree) not even break 500 yards and the next best wide receiver (Flores) not even hit 400 is pretty damning. Evans added 422 yards but as a TE.
FWIW I would have been fine keeping Del and I am inclined to think (worry) this is a way to keep Parker while showing some change.
keeping STUCKEY. Keeping Del absolutely not
re: recruiting top 100 WRs
How many top 100 guys have we been bringing in at any position? I’m not sure that’s quite the right bar. Didn’t he have 2 top 150 WRs in the last class with James and Greathouse? And a 5 star this year (how many 5 stars have we gotten in the last decade?). And the blue-chip ratio is 83% (5/6 if I remember correctly).
I mean I’d always love more top 100 players (esp. 5 stars) at any position but I think that’s a championship level recruiting at a position usually, no? Every 2 years = 83% blue-chip ratio with a 5 star included.
I guess I was comparing to what Del Alexander had done, rather than comparing to our other position coaches. 2 top 150s in a class (Colzie and Styles) the year after a 5 star (Jordan Johnson) is essentially where Del was by the end of his time at ND.
The reason I compared to Del, rather than our other position coaches, is that there are more elite recruits at WR than any other position. For example, that 5 star WR is roughly the 9th ranked WR. I don’t think the 9th best QB is even a top 150 player. All else being equal, if our recruiters all have the same ability, we should be getting more elite WRs than other players simply because of the sheer volume of elite WRs.
But the problem with Del’s recruiting wasn’t exactly the quality he was bringing in (busts notwithstanding) but the numbers, no? (Though I don’t remember the quality before the 2 classes you mentioned here.) So even if they both had the same quality, if Stuckey is bringing in twice as many WRs – that’s much better recruiting. Though I think even his quality is better too.
Considering he had one quasi-hit (Thomas) in his last four classes, “busts notwithstanding” is doing a *ton* of work there.
Well my point is basically he had decent recruiting ranking of the players that actually came – trying to compare apples to apples (since we can’t compare how the careers of Stucky’s guys will play out).
But in 2022/2021 – Del got 100% 4 stars – 3 of them top 150 prospects.
In 2020, he had a top 50 prospect (Johnson didn’t end up as a 5 star), and X watts a 3 star.
so blue-chip rate is pretty high and decent talent, but not nearly enough guys (in terms of recruiting).
You can’t run a modern offense if you only recruit three receivers a year and two of them transfer or move to defense. The past two years they barely had enough wide receivers to run practices with.
Other sites have indicated that he was not a well-liked coach by the team, nor thought to be doing a good job.
Riley Leonard CBed to ND.
How many years of eligibility does he have? It seems like 2? Of course, if he has a huge year (big if) he could be gone after 1, but that might affect what Angeli does. Would Angeli at least stay the spring to see if he could win the job? And then bolt if he doesn’t?
How good really is Leonard? What’s his ceiling? I thought Herbstreit was talking him up during our game as a 1st round talent but I take that with a huge grain of salt. What’s the reality?
Just found this from two days ago from PFF draft rankings of QBs:
He only has one year. Played 7 (6 in relief) games in 2021 as a true freshman, all 13 as the starter in 2022, and 6 this year due to injury. So just missed redshirting twice.
What is the last class that gets the extra covid year?
It was 2020. So no COVID considerations for anyone who started in 2021, like Leonard, or later.