If you are a fan of chaos, Saturday was the day for you in college football. While Notre Dame was sitting at home eating cheeseburgers on its bye week, the college football top 25 was busy being turned upside down yesterday. Four top-10 teams and another two top-25 teams all lost, with all but one of them coming at the hands of unranked opponents.
The shocker of the day was Alabama’s loss on the road to Vanderbilt. Former Notre Dame defensive coordinator Clark Lea scored the upset win of his head coaching career in dispatching the #1 ranked Crimson Tide 40-35 at home yesterday. Alabama was fresh off its win over Georgia a week ago before falling flat under first-year head coach Kalen DeBoer against the perennial SEC doormat.
The hits kept coming for top-10 SEC teams, with #4 Tennessee losing to unranked Arkansas on the road. The Volunteers trailed 3-0 at the half before taking a 14-3 lead in the third quarter, only to watch the Razorbacks score 17 unanswered to end the game. Like Alabama, Tennessee was coming off a big win over a ranked opponent—#15 Oklahoma—last week.
Texas A&M, a team Notre Dame beat by 10 in their own stadium to start the year, scored easily the biggest win of Mike Elko’s first season in College Station with a 41-10 beatdown of #9 Missouri. Why the Tigers were ranked that high, to begin with, is a question, but the Aggies dominated the Tigers from start to finish in a win that should give Notre Dame’s week one victory some more credence.
Michigan, a team that looked like it was living on borrowed time, lost its second game of the season, falling to unranked Washington in a national championship game rematch. The Wolverines were ranked #10 on the strength of their win over USC two weeks ago, but it seemed like it was only a matter of time before they dropped another game. The Wolverines passing game has been even more anemic than Notre Dame’s this year and was again yesterday. Michigan quarterbacks combined to complete 13 of 25 passes for just 113 yards with a touchdown and an interception.
Speaking of USC, the 11th-ranked Trojans lost their second game of the season yesterday, a road loss to unranked Minnesota. USC led 17-10 in the fourth quarter but allowed PJ Fleck’s squad to row their way to 14 unanswered in the final 7:08 of the game. USC hosts #7 Penn State next weekend.
Notre Dame’s strength of schedule will take a hit after #22 Louisville dropped their game to unranked SMU at home. Louisville fans talked all week long about how they were the better team than Notre Dame, but the Cardinals didn’t back up that talk in losing to the Mustangs. Louisville never held a lead in the game, although they tied it heading into the fourth. However, More questionable late-game management from Jeff Brohm led to no points in the 4th quarter.
A fifth top-10 team almost went down as well. Miami, the 8th ranked team in the country, trailed by 20 points in the 4th quarter on the road against Cal before storming back to win by 1. The Hurricanes, like Michigan, feel like a team living on borrowed time after they escaped last week’s near Hail Mary against Virginia Tech. For now, though, the Hurricanes remain unbeaten with zero ranked opponents left on their schedule. Louisville is the toughest remaining game, but the Cardinals will surely be unranked after this weekend.
Notre Dame entered the weekend ranked #14 in the AP, and five teams ahead of them lost this weekend. Both Alabama and Tennessee were too far ahead of the Irish for Notre Dame to jump them—Alabama especially—but there’s a good chance that later today, the Irish will be at least three spots higher in the polls, as they will certainly be ahead of Missouri, Michigan, and USC.
The only team behind the Irish who could potentially jump them, ironically, is Texas A&M. Even though Notre Dame beat the Aggies by 10 in Kyle Field a month ago, it would not be surprising to see some voters – specifically those in SEC country desperate to rank anyone in the SEC high following all the upsets – putting them above the Irish. The logic would be that even though Notre Dame beat Texas A&M, the loss to Northern Illinois overshadows it. That narrative was already forming on Twitter on Saturday afternoon.
At worst, Notre Dame should be ranked #12 later today, and at best, it looks like #11. I don’t think there’s a chance Tennessee falls enough for Notre Dame to jump them as well. Tennessee will likely be #10, with the Irish one spot behind them. Where Texas A&M jumps to will be very interesting to watch.
Overall, it was not a bad weekend for the Irish, considering they were at home, resting on the bye. In an ideal world, Louisville would have come back for the win to help the strength of schedule, and Cal would have held on to their upset, but it was still a pretty solid weekend of scoreboard watching.
A Miami loss surely would have been icing on the cake.
Great opportunity for Notre Dame. ESPN has to pimp the SEC and still pimps the Big 18 knowing both conferences will form a prison league before too long. But now Notre Dame has an argument that one loss shouldn’t hurt. Already ESPN reporters are trying to justify Bama’s loss as better than ND’s. That tells you ESPN is afraid. Good.
Coach Freeman though needs to take warning. These upsets are a reminder that there’s actually more parity than anyone thinks. And any opponent who is trying to build or get notoriety for recruits might circle you with their game to upset someone.
There’s a documentary about Connor Stallions and in it they exposed that there is a business underground for stealing signs and otherwise scouting. Money exchanges hands.
How does a Northern Illinois squad that lost to Buffalo and had problems with UMass beat Notre Dame? I have no answers of course but it raises questions.
All that means is be even more prepared. Details matter. It’s physical, mental, and emotional. All must be focused.
The Irish have the talent to win out and even go deep into the playoff. Turn potential into results.
Notre Dame needs to win out. The remaining schedule is weak. USC in Los Angeles will be tough but ND will be favored and should win. ND will finish 11-1 and probably ranked inside the Top 7. Problem i see is the injuries and poor offensive line play will doom ND in a first round playoff game.