Notre Dame travels to Ann Arbor Saturday to face what appears to be a rejuvenated Michigan team under second year head coach Rich Rodriguez. Both teams easily dispatched their first opponents as the Irish scored a dominant win against Nevada and the Wolverines routed Western Michigan. But convincing opening week wins are largely overshadowed by […]

Notre Dame opens the 2009 season Saturday by welcoming Nevada to South Bend. For many this is the “make it or break it” year for head coach Charlie Weis. Two consecutive disappointing campaigns have exhausted all the leniency from the overachieving Irish squads of his first two years. Weis made several changes in the off-season: […]

It always starts the same way. Media pundits gushing over video-game offensive and defensive statistics, touting playmakers and storylines, and predicting the winner or the next “game of the year, decade or century.” It fires up the fans. This year will be no different: it may not be Oklahoma’s unthinkable, record setting offense or USC’s […]

Disclaimer: The following is not intended for betting purposes. The AV Ranking was two for three in conference championship picks from last week. It was much less accurate, however, predicting the odds of beating the spreads. While the AV Ranking was able to successfully predict Oklahoma beating the 17 point spread in the Big 12 […]

Disclaimer: the following is not intended for betting purposes. As promised here and here, this week the AV ranking will be used to predict the Big 12, ACC, and SEC conference championship games. Forgetting for the moment that the AV Ranking would have put Texas in the Big 12 championship over Oklahoma, these conference championship […]

The season is winding down and the BCS picture is becoming more and more clear. With so many one-loss teams a controversy is brewing, but a lot (albeit not all) should be settled with the conference championships. Visit these links to see the prior releases of the ESP for weeks eight, nine, ten, eleven, and […]

The Irish welcome Syracuse to South Bend for their home finale this weekend. The Orange come in as a decided underdog against an Irish squad that hasn’t met many fans’ expectations this season. The Orange are anything but stellar themselves. Syracuse averages fewer than 300 yards of total offense per game, with 133.4 coming through […]

Little has changed from week eleven to twelve of the ESP. The difference in the top teams lies largely in who does and who doesn’t control their own desitiny. As the season draws to an end, the national championship picture becomes more clear and the AV Ranking more closely approaches Sagarin. Similarly, the ESP approaches the […]

The United States Naval Academy always presents a unique challenge for the Fighting Irish. This weekend, with the memory of last year’s win fresh in the Midshipmen’s minds and Notre Dame losing three of their last four, it figures to be an uncharacteristically close affair. The Midshipmen run an unconventional option offense to the tune […]

It’s time for week eleven of the ESP. To observe the trends of the ESP and AV Ranking check out weeks eight, nine, and ten. Also, check back in at the end of the season where there will be a few validation studies of the AV Ranking as well as predictions of the BCS bowl […]