Notre Dame’s 66-7 shellacking of Purdue on Saturday was enough for the AP Poll to temporarily forget about last week’s loss to NIU and push the Irish up one position, to 17th, over Michigan despite the Wolverines winning their contest with Arkansas State 28-18.
Notre Dame fell from 5th to 18th last weekend in the fallout from their home loss to Northern Illinois, which remains ranked 23rd in the latest AP poll after sitting idle this weekend. However, Notre Dame’s win over Purdue was enough to push the Irish up a spot following Michigan’s uninspiring win over Arkansas State. Notre Dame’s next ranked opponent, Louisville, who comes to South Bend in two weeks, remained ranked 19 after an early season bye week.
The Irish officially have a win over a ranked opponent again, too, with Texas A&M sneaking back into the top 25 at #25 following their road win at the Swamp over hapless Florida.
Aside from Louisville, the only other future Notre Dame opponent ranked at the moment is #11 USC, who, like many teams around the country, also sat idle this weekend. The Irish end the season in Los Angeles against the Trojans, who still must take on #18 Michigan, #10 Penn State, and #22 Nebraska before hosting the Irish.
Unless something drastic happens, Notre Dame will have six games between contests against ranked opponents.
If the Irish can take care of business again this weekend – a big assumption after the NIU loss – they could move up again next week. Four teams currently ranked ahead of the Irish faced ranked opponents.
- #6 Tennessee @ #15 Oklahoma
- #11 USC @ #18 Michigan
- #12 Utah @ #14 Oklahoma State
Of course, none of these rankings ultimately matter since the real rankings won’t be released for a few more weeks.
Angelli or Carr should be starting QB. Angelli had a very good bowl game last year. If Freeman keeps goung to the porthole for QB’s he will never have a 3 or 4 year starter at that position.
The way I look at this is the rest of the season hinges on Riley Leonard. If He improves as a passer including seeing open receivers and getting them the ball along with throwing downfield with consistent accuracy, NotreDame goes 11 and 1. If he plays like the first 3 games your looking at 9 and 3 and the gator bowl. I am not optimistic he is going to be better than what he has shown these 1st 3 games. I hope to God I am wrong because I love NotreDame and Freeman and want them to win the national championship. Finally, have Angeli ready
Honestly I potentially see Leonard as a potentially great running back. It’s frustrated to see sometimes. You see a QB that couldn’t barely throw a 5 foot pass, but can run like hell with the ball. And I think to myself, they’d probably make a great RB. But QB is the ‘star position’ and it seems any other position is treated as a demotion.
I think Angelli gives up the best chance to win games. He’s got a good QB skill set. But I don’t want to see Leonard riding the bench either. With his legs and elusiveness he can still absolutely contribute to winning games with our other RBs.
But in the game of football that’s seen as a demotion. Such a shame.
Who knows what to expect from the Irish game to game at this point. Will they dominate like Purdue? Or lay a massive rotten egg like NIU? At this point it’s reasonable to assume they could go either way.
I really don’t understand it at all. Where was this team last week against NIU? Sure, Purdue is hardly a powerhouse football program. But on most days even they could beat a midlevel MAC team like NIU. Why were the Irish caught so badly flatfooted? Hell, even BK led teams usually beat NIU type teams (at least after the 2016 debacle season). BK’s problem is he can’t beat the elites (at least as far as wins/losses).
I still believe that NIU loss is going to hang on to ND like a noose. It’s nice that NIU is ranked right now and all. And if they were somehow to win out the season and go undefeated that would undoubtedly loosen the noose. But does anyone really believe they will win out? The only other possibility is if ND dominates most, if not all, the remaining games. And judging from the Jekyll and Hyde games, as Frank puts it in his overreactions, I doubt that will happen either.