OK St. 37, Notre Dame 35
Football is overrated..until next season.
Football is overrated..until next season.
They may have missed out on the college football playoff (by one spot!), but the #5 Fighting Irish of Notre Dame can still put an exclamation point at the end of a great year by crushing the Oklahoma State Cowboys, starting in a little more than an hour (at 1 p.m. ET). The game will be televised on ESPN; what better way to ring in 2022?
Go Irish!
As anticipated in this post, Benedict Arnold Brian Kelly found the British bribes LSU's financial enticements irresistible, and has left the University of Notre Dame, a week after saying he'd "never leave" unless offered a colossal amount of money that exceeded what LSU offered. We wish him well hope he loses every game at LSU. Coach Arnold Kelly tried to take his offensive and defensive coordinators with him, but both offensive coordinator Tommy Rees and defensive coordinator Marcus Freeman decided to remain in their current jobs...kind of. Rees remains the offensive coordinator (though I suspect he'll take a head coaching position somewhere next year - and it will be a well-deserved opportunity), while Freeman was upgraded and is now the new head coach of the Fighting Irish.
As for the postseason: Notre Dame came within one spot of making it to their third national championship playoff in five years, but finished in a very creditable fifth place. They will play in the Fiesta Bowl in Glendale, Arizona on New Year's day against the 9th ranked Oklahoma State Cowboys. Freeman will already be the head coach for the game, as the previous occupant of that position has long since vacated the premises.
Go Irish!
Brian Kelly, who has been the head coach of Notre Dame for 12 seasons, is apparently headed for LSU. It's not official yet, so maybe he won't turn out to be Benedict Arnold, but it's not looking good.
On the other hand, the one team that defeated Notre Dame this year, 12-0 Cincinnati, may supply us with a replacement. Oddly, the 48-year-old Luke Fickell is about (or maybe exactly) the same age as Kelly was when he came here, and Kelly came from Cincinnati as well. That's even less official that Kelly's departure, however, so it's too soon to rejoice once more in the luck of the Irish.
Another week, another victory. Now we wait to see who loses next week, to see if Notre Dame gets into the playoff for the third time in five years or will "only" a top bowl game. It has been too long since they won their last national championship, back in 1988!
Record so far: 11-1
Next victim: TBD
Tune time!
#6 Notre Dame - probably #5 this coming Tuesday, thanks to Ohio State's loss - finishes up their regular season tonight with a trip out west to take on the Stanford Cardinal. Some years Stanford's pretty good, but this is not one of those years. Notre Dame was a heavy favorite, and at halftime (I'm late - world championship work comes first! - but when it comes to Notre Dame posts, later is always better than never) they lead 24-0.
Be sure to catch the rest of the tonight's action on FOX, but don't stay up too late, as game 3 of the Carlsen-Nepomniachtchi match starts at the night owl-unfriendly hour of 7:30 a.m. ET.
Time to do a little catching up after having my brother visit over the weekend. We watched in person as Notre Dame completely massacred the aptly nicknamed "Rambling Wreck" of Georgia Tech. It was 45-0 at halftime, which would have been a good moment for the game to end. Alas, there's no resignation or mercy rule in football. Anyway, Notre Dame is peaking at just the right time, and still has a shot at making the playoff for the third time in five years.
Record so far: 10-1 (one to go, not counting a bowl game/playoff)
Next victim: Stanford
Tune time!
A very good game by the Fighting Irish, who could easily have put at least another 10 points on the scoreboard. Virginia came into the game with the #1 offense in the country, but this was clearly more a function of who they had played before this game than an objective evaluation of their offense's potency. Still, Notre Dame played very well on both sides of the ball, and look very likely to run the table the rest of the year.
Record so far: 9-1 (two to go, not counting a bowl game/playoff)
Next victim: Georgia Tech
Tune time!
Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus...but he won't be playing for Notre Dame. The #9 Fighting Irish may give the Cavaliers a collective lump of coal in their stocking, though, on their way up the rankings as they scramble to make it into the top 4 by season's end.
The game starts at 7:30 ET, and will be televised on ABC. Go Irish!
It was an easy win, with some numerical oddities. Notre Dame outscored Navy 17-3 in both halves, and in both halves Navy scored first and was the only team to score in the first and third quarters, while Notre Dame "won" the second and fourth quarters 17-0.
Record so far: 8-1 (three to go, not counting a bowl game/playoff)
Next victim: Virginia
Tune time!