Most pre-season prognosticators had the Georgia Bulldogs atop the polls to start the year. A strong finish to the 2007 season coupled with incumbent quarterback Matthew Stafford, star running back Knowshon Moreno, and freshman phenom A.J. Green led many to believe the Bulldogs had the inside track at the national championship. Obviously, the crystal football […]

With the offense out of the way, it’s time to move on to the defense. For comparison purposes, the mid-year defensive review can be found here. The numbers haven’t changed appreciably, neither has the season story for the defense. Most pre-season prognosticators believed the Achilles’ heel of the Irish defense would be stopping the run. […]

Notre Dame has concluded their regular season, and a reflection on the Irish offense’s progress (or lack thereof) is warranted. The mid-year numbers are here, and this analysis was performed in similar fashion by benchmarking against the competition. Facing the 73rd toughest AV Ranking strength of schedule, the Irish only managed to go 6-6. But […]

The Fighting Irish limped through their season finale against USC last Saturday. The game proved to be a resounding exclamation point to a dismal second-half season and sparked a frenzy of conjecture over the future of embattled head coach Charlie Weis. Media pundits, Irish haters, and loyal fans all have opinions. The pundits compare his […]

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 […]

To put it mildly, USC had their way with the visiting Fighting Irish. In most games you can find a silver lining, but in this contest looking for good in the Irish performance is an exercise in futility. While Notre Dame stayed even in turnover margin, they failed to enter the red zone, held the […]

For the third time this season, and second at home, the Fighting Irish squandered a double-digit lead to lose the game. The first two times this occurred against average competition. Against Syracuse, Notre Dame’s implosion took place against an obviously less talented opponent at home on senior day. Make no mistake about it, Syracuse isn’t […]

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 […]

It was a bipolar affair for the Fighting Irish against Navy (more on this here). On special teams the Irish made both attempted field goals, held the Midshipmen to negative punt return yardage, and blocked a punt. However, they also allowed two consecutive onside kicks to be recovered despite the painfully obvious situation in which […]

The story for the Irish this year is completeness, as in playing a complete game. The pieces are present—a dynamic vertical passing threat, a recently developed dependable kicking game and solid defense, excellent special teams coverage units, and talent at nearly every skill position—to be a good team, but Notre Dame has yet to put […]