It’s time for Notre Dame fans to start caring a lot more about the order of this and other polls. Last week we found our first lively discussion about the slotting of teams with just another week to go until the first official College Football Playoff Poll is unveiled. Let’s get to it.
Top 11
1 Alabama (E, 8-0, 45-7 W vs. Tennessee)
The Tide embarrass the Vols and are closing in on +300 point differential already.
2 Georgia (E, 7-0, Bye)
The Dawgs best win on the road against Notre Dame keeps them in my second spot.
3 TCU (E, 7-0, 43-0 W vs. Kansas)
Quietly moving into place as a playoff team with 2 ranked wins at the moment.
4 Penn State (E, 7-0, 42-13 W vs. Michigan)
You wish it was anybody else but that win over Michigan was sweet, sweet nectar.
5 Clemson (+2, 6-1, Bye)
Heck of a bye week! Move up two spots giving them the benefit of the doubt with their injured QB plus a pair of Top 20 wins in their back pocket.
6 Notre Dame (+6, 6-1, 49-14 W vs. USC)
Choo, choo! The Irish have wins over 2 ranked teams and a close loss to No. 2 this feels right.
7 Wisconsin (-1, 7-0, 38-13 W vs. Maryland)
Using whatever metrics you’d like they may not have faced a Top 50 team yet. It’s pretty ridiculous.
8 Miami (-3, 6-0, 27-19 W vs. Syracuse)
Haven’t looked great very much, best win is Georgia Tech, but they are No. 11 in S&P rankings.
9 Ohio State (-1, 6-1, Bye)
The Buckeyes have the opportunity to shoot back up the rankings this weekend.
10 Oklahoma (E, 6-1, 42-35 W at Kansas State)
Struggled all day in the Little Apple and were nearly upset by the Wizard.
11 Oklahoma State (E, 6-1, 13-10 W at Texas)
Also struggled on the road but picked up the win.
Next 2
Virginia Tech (+1, 6-1, 59-7 W vs. North Carolina)
Only 3 wins from Power 5 teams, that opener against West Virginia looking solid.
NC State (NR, 6-1, Bye)
Visited Five Guys this weekend prior to their trip to South Bend.
Dropped out: USC
G5 Top 3
1 UCF (E, 6-0, 31-21 W at Navy)
Very solid win at Annapolis could lead to a boring stranglehold on this top spot.
2 USF (E, 7-0, 34-28 W at Tulane)
Tough and gritty win on the road against secretly not-terrible Tulane.
3 Memphis (E, 6-1, 42-38 W @ Houston)
Perhaps a season defining big comeback on the road against a top conference foe.
You Were Bad
Michigan & USC
Kansas
Averaged a strong 0.43 yards per play this weekend.
North Carolina
Demolished by Va Tech and might have to fight hard late in the season against Western Carolina to prevent 1-11.
Colorado
Shut out by Washington State and looking like a bottom feeder in the Pac-12 again.
Arkansas
Blown out by Auburn and have lost their last 5 SEC games dating back to last year.
Purdue
The Jeff Brohm hype train is humbled by Rutgers.
Virginia
For allowing Boston College to defeat them by 31 points.
BYU
Lost heavily to East Carolina, have score over 20 just once this year, and are 3rd worst nationally in scoring.
Week 9 Preview
Enemy Watch
#20 Stanford (-23) at Oregon State
Florida State (-3) at Boston College
#8 Miami (-20.5) at North Carolina
Louisville (-3) at Wake Forest
#3 Georgia (-14) at Florida
#16 Michigan State (-1.5) at Northwestern
#21 USC (-3) at Arizona State
How appealing is that Oregon State job right now? This might be their worse year by record since 1980. Over/under on the Love rushing yards?
Florida State was the pre-season No. 3 team and is favored by just 3 in Chestnut Hill. Don’t you just love college football’s twists and turns?
I feel like there’s a lot of rivalry involved in that Georgia line. Surely, the Dawgs are good enough to cover and then some, I think.
Too Close for Comfort
Rutgers (+23.5) at Michigan
Would you trade a loss for Notre Dame this weekend in exchange for a win by Rutgers? You had to think about it, didn’t you?
Upset Pick of the Week
California (+3) at Colorado
Cal started off the year well enough and has really slowed down lately. So too has Colorado. I’ll take the Bears’ decent defense to get the underdog road win.
National Spotlight
#11 Oklahoma State (-7.5) at #22 West Virginia
#2 Penn State (+6) at #6 Ohio State
#4 TCU (-6.5) at #25 Iowa State
Houston (+10.5) at #17 USF
Georgia Tech (+14.5) at #7 Clemson
#15 Washington State (-2.5) at Arizona
I am here for Holgo hosting Oklahoma State on Saturday at noon eastern.
Kind of a big game this weekend in Columbus, one that seems to have Urban Meyer win all over it. The Nittany Lions can’t possibly be this good, right?
***Iowa State is ranked for the first time since 2002.***
Arizona has won 3 straight and only dropped one game in Pac-12 play thus far. That winning streak has come with Khalil Tate at quarterback whose only run for 700 yards over that stretch.
Are you sure it was Five Guys that N.C. State visited? I heard it was Wendy’s.
I hate the skunkbears but I’ll take an ND win every time.
Great write up Eric.
Man, either or!!
They had plenty of time to go in, sit down so they didn’t need a place with a drive-thru. Im sure it was 5 guys or maybe even Applebees.
^Applebee’s isn’t a burger place – though more of a burger place than Arby’s
Are we certain this wasn’t CookOut? The lunch menu is definitely cheap enough for what I had as a college student. Not the best burger, but it makes up for it in price.
6 seems just about right. i want it to be higher, but the next 3 weeks will make or break that want.
I hope tOSU obliterates Penn State, but goes on to lose to Sparty. Wouldn’t it be crazy if Sparty won out?
I’ll hold off on cheering for Michigan State and USC and Stanford only if and until we’re 9-1 after beating Miami. Otherwise, it’s just not worth it.
Not cheering at all, just thinking out loud.
HCHog was totally cheering amirite. Obvious cheering was obvious. Quit cheering so much hog.
Wise words.
I *almost* found myself hoping Stanford would win tonight, but, nope. And they did anyways.
Just saw OSU will be wearing all gray uniforms. It’s gonna look strange against PSU’s all white.
Can we getting a ruling from clearwall on this? Would love it if tOSU had to change unis last minute because there wasn’t enough of a contrast.
If it’s being planned, then the conference has already approved it. We discussed that, I think last week. Actual jersey colors are the decision of the home team conference. The NUMBER color falls under the discretion of officials.
ALL GRAY! how will anyone be able to tell where one gray ends and the next begins!
Any truth to the rumor that the rule book isn’t clear on this issue? So much so that it’s even been called . . .
. . . a gray area?
If we’re getting choosy, PSU beats OSU (thus dropping OSU out of the conversation) and then next week, MSU beats PSU followed by beating OSU. Gets the more marquee win by beating #2 PSU and holding the head-to-head to get into the B10 Championship game.
Huge caveat being that in MSU’s 4 wins since losing to ND, their average MOV is 5.5 over Iowa-Michigan-Minnesota-IU. Not exactly a murder’s row; are we sure yet that MSU is any good? I guess the next 2 weeks will shed some light.
Also, everything is Moo if ND doesn’t keep winning.
“Not exactly a murder’s row; are we sure yet that MSU is any good?” It is strange that the #16 team in the country is favored by only 1.5 points over 4 and 3 Northwestern. I guess many people believe that the ranked, 6 and 1 MSU to be about as good as a 4 and 3 Northwestern.
On the other hand, unlike ND, they have shown that they can win close games. . . and apparently can only win close games.
ND at 6th? Look at these yards per play differentials:
#1 Alabama +3.08
#2 Penn State +2.73
#3 Georgia +2.50
#4 TCU +1.79
#5 Wisconsin +2.42
#6 Ohio State +2.92
#7 Clemson +1.74
#8 Miami +2.20
#9 Notre Dame +1.68
#10 Oklahoma +2.91
#11 Oklahoma State +2.96
#12 Washington +2.59
#13 Virginia Tech +1.32
#14 NC State +0.76
#15 Washington State +1.49
Haha yeah!!! Stick it to those crusty old curmudgeon board ops! Fight the power. Viva la revolucion!
I got my head right and found out we’ve only played 14 seconds in non-garbage time.
We’re actually at +6.74 YPP.
Team Average Scoring Margin
1 Alabama 33.2
2 tOSU 31.9
3 Penn State 30.4
4 Central FL 29.8
5 ND 24.9
6 Georgia 24.5
7 S FL 24.3
8 Virginia Tech 23.8
9 Wisconsin 23.3
10 Washington 22.5
11 Auburn 21.6
12 Okie Lite 21.4
13 TCU 20.7
14 Clemson 19.9
15 Oklahoma 17.0
16 Stanford 16.1
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21 Miami 12.0
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26 NC State 9.3
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37 Michigan 6.6
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41 Michigan St 5.9
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45 USC 5.0
I don’t need to point out the lack of FCS teams in some schedules
I don’t think it’s any secret that 2017 Notre Dame is a better team than 2015 Notre Dame. However, it’s funny to note that the ’15 squad was also 6-1 and ranked 9th in the AP Poll at this point in the season. I have a feeling we’ll see a much better ending to this season.
Here’s hoping!
Ummmm… Not really on topic but… Anyone know why Kevin Stepherson is not on the depth chart for NC State?!
I don’t mean he’s not listed as a starter, I mean he’s not listed AT ALL, starter or backup. Was there an injury or off-field issue that I missed? I’m really, really, really, really, really, really hoping it was just a clerical error.
Depth Chart: http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/nd/sports/m-footbl/auto_pdf/2017-18/release/release_20171024aaa.pdf
They only list like 7 on the depth chart and there are ~15 on the roster (of which he is still listed on). Perhaps he’s just not in the top 2 of any given position at this time.
Heh. I suppose that makes sense, I haven’t exactly followed the depth charts closely… I just happened to come across it and had assumed Stepherson had showed up on the v. USC depth chart based on how much he played. So he has been (and apparently still is) officially 3rd string or lower, but is playing like a co-starter. Works for me. Thanks for bringing me back to sanity.
He wasn’t on the depth chart for SC either, but he was 4th in WR snaps. ESB had 57, Claypool had 44, Finke had 40, and KJ had 18. Before you get too concerned about the disparity between #3 and #4, note that Stepherson’s snaps have gone up each week – 10 against Miami, 13 against UNC, and now those 18. It’s pretty clear they’re working him back up to speed.
“Would you trade a loss for Notre Dame this weekend in exchange for a win by Rutgers? You had to think about it, didn’t you?”
I would not, but it is hard because the wife is a grad student at Rutgers, so I’d get a win over Michigan by proxy.