Another season over and another long off-season begins. We embrace the darkness. As of this writing, we have 228 days until Notre Dame opens up the 2023 season across the pond in Dublin against Navy with a new head coach.

Our Fighting Irish had a heck of a ride in 2022 capped off by a nice bowl win over South Carolina. Now, a grad transfer quarterback is coming to town and we will go through the process of building hope this spring and summer wondering if someday Notre Dame can be the team destroying someone in the College Football Playoff National Championship.

18 Stripes Top 20 Poll

RANK TEAM RECORD RESULT
1 Georgia 15-0 65-7 W vs. TCU
2 TCU (+1) 13-2 65-7 L vs. Georgia
3 Michigan (-1) 13-1 51-45 L vs. TCU
4 Tennessee (+1) 11-2 31-14 W vs. Clemson
5 Alabama (+1) 11-2 45-20 W vs. Kansas State
6 Ohio State (-2) 11-2 42-41 L vs. Georgia
7 Penn State (+4) 11-2 35-21 W vs. Utah
8 Tulane (+5) 12-2 46-45 W vs. USC
9 Washington (+3) 11-2 27-20 W vs. Texas
10 Utah (-3) 10-4 35-21 L vs. Penn State
11 USC (-1) 11-3 46-45 L vs. Tulane
12 LSU (+3) 10-4 63-7 W vs. Purdue
13 Oregon (+3) 10-3 28-27 W vs. North Carolina
14 Kansas State (-5) 10-4 45-20 L vs. Alabama
15 Florida State (+2) 10-3 35-32 W vs. Oklahoma
16 Oregon State (+2) 10-3 30-3 W vs. Florida
17 Clemson (-9) 11-3 31-14 L vs. Tennessee
18 Notre Dame (+2) 9-4 45-38 W vs. South Carolina
19 Pittsburgh (NR) 9-4 37-35 W vs. UCLA
20 Troy (NR) 12-2 18-12 W vs. USTA

 

National Storylines

Way back 25 days ago, Troy beat UTSA to kick off the bowl season. They had to wait a long time to find out that Troy finishes the season ranked in our 18S Top 20 poll.

A cool 24 days ago, Oregon State absolutely obliterated Florida 30-3 in the Las Vegas Bowl. Beavers head coach Jonathan Smith just got a nice fat contract extension and should be on the short list for best coaching performances of the year.

Ratings went through the roof for the Gasparilla Bowl as Irish Nation tuned in to watch what turned out to be Sam Hartman’s last game for Wake Forest in a 27-17 win over Missouri. We had to wait 13 painstaking days but Hartman committed to Notre Dame eventually.

I thought Holton Ahlers was the most underrated quarterback in the country this year and would’ve had a huge amount of suitors this off-season if he had eligibility. The ECU quarterback dominated Coastal Carolina with 300 yards passing, 48 rushing yards, and 6 total touchdowns.

Interim head coach Jim Leonhard picked up a bowl win to finish 5-3 with Wisconsin. Right now, he is still looking for a job and is one of the most coveted defensive coordinators in college and the NFL.

The Holiday Bowl had a wild ending that saw Oregon doink their way past North Carolina to complete a 10-win season.

Old Man Elko down in Durham continues to DGTâ„¢ as Duke breezed past UCF 30-13 in the Military Bowl. Maybe I should’ve ranked the Blue Devils?

The Liberty Bowl was utterly out of control, easily one of the most entertaining and exciting games of the season with drama seemingly on every snap. It’s too bad someone had to lose.

Washington finishes the season with a really quiet but impressive 11-2 season capped off with a win over Texas in the Alamo Bowl. Perhaps the Huskies will be a team to watch out for in 2023? Or, maybe they are destined to flop?

Florida State also quietly put together a very good season after sneaking past Oklahoma in the Cheez-It Bowl. I am certain hype for the ‘Noles is going to be jacked up this off-season.

Tennessee finished their best season since 2001 when they were 4th in the country. That’s also where I put the Vols this season, although the AP had them down at 6th.

Anyone want to talk about the Terps? They snuck past NC State in the Duke’s Mayo Bowl and got to 8 wins for the first time since Ralph freaking Friedgen’s time at Maryland.

The blue-chip rate was pretty ugly for Kansas State in comparison to Alabama and the result on the field prove just that. Now, we’ll see if the Tide get players drafted 1-2 in the NFL this spring.

Ratings were down for the Rose Bowl as boring Penn State beat boring (especially with injured Cam Rising) Utah in Pasadena. Honestly, I have the Lions at 7th and it feels so incredibly unearned but whatever. Someone has to be in that spot.

God bless Tulane and TCU for giving us a wonderful start to the New Year.

Unfortunately, things didn’t go as well in the National Championship for TCU but we deeply appreciate their sacrifice in the semifinals taking out Michigan.

Georgia completed their back-to-back championships with a 58-point win featuring a +401 total yards edge and a mind-boggling +4.50 yards per play differential. We will show compassion and not link to the highlights.

18S Pre-season ranked to unranked:

No. 7 Texas A&M (5-7)
No. 9 Oklahoma State (7-6)
No. 10 NC State (8-5)
No. 11 Oklahoma (6-7)
No. 14 Miami (5-7)
No. 15 Arkansas (7-6)
No. 16 Iowa (8-5)
No. 17 BYU (8-5)
No. 18 Texas (8-5)
No. 19 Michigan State (5-7)
No. 20 Air Force (10-3)

Yeesh! The back half of the rankings were destroyed!

I did have Penn State and LSU as darkhorse teams who ended up doing pretty well. And, I was pretty firm that Baylor (6-7) was a complete stay away despite the national rankings having them really high back in August. I think a lot of us felt uneasy about Texas A&M being so high when their offense was so unproven and had so many question marks. That, checked out.

OUT:

No. 14 UCLA

The Bruins lost their quarterback and choked away their bowl game to Pitt. This was a pretty good season though with wins over Washington and Utah. A very weird loss to Arizona still makes no sense.

No. 19 South Carolina

It’s hard to judge a team during the post-season when they were missing so many starters. But, we won so ha ha.

Opponent Watch

Here’s how Notre Dame’s 2022 opponents finished the season:

Ohio State (11-2): Weird season in Columbus marred by injuries and the loss to Michigan. They actually acquitted themselves extremely well against Georgia and go into the off-season with some momentum. I dropped them below Tennessee and Alabama because screw the Big Ten.

USC (11-3): The embarrassing loss to Tulane puts the entire USC defensive operation on the hot seat.

Clemson (11-3): This was absolutely not a good 11-win season by any measure. In fact, it was probably one of the worst for a major Power 5 program in recent memory.

North Carolina (9-5): What an absolute flop to end the season for the Tar Heels. Drake Maye should’ve hit the portal, collected tons of money, and found a better program.

Marshall (9-4): One of the nation’s best defenses finished strong to 2022 with 9 wins, Marshall’s most since 2018.

BYU (8-5): The Cougars held off SMU to win the prestigious New Mexico Bowl.

Syracuse (7-6): The Orange lost by a touchdown to Minnesota in the Pinstripe Bowl.

No Bowl Game Losers:

UNLV (5-7)
Navy (4-8)
California (4-8)
Stanford (3-9)
Boston College (3-9)

We will note that Notre Dame faces Ohio State, Clemson, USC, Navy, and Stanford again on the 2023 schedule this fall.