BYE Week

This bye week offered Irish fans the opportunity to take some time this weekend to focus on some other things besides watching her loyal sons take the field.  Clean out the garage, rake leave visit family, etc.  I took this opportunity to visit my Alma Mater (Springfield College) it induct a new school president, congratulations to Dr. Mary Beth Cooper (two doctorate degrees, two masters degrees but only one bachelor’s degree) as well as visit the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.  However I could not escape my thirst for college football and watched as much as I could especially games that were somehow contracted to Notre Dame.

First were teams that some sites are predicting to face the Irish in a possible bowl matchup.  Bleacher Report suggesting the formerly Brian Kelly lead Cincinnati facing the Irish in the Pinstripe Bowl whereas CBS Sports has Notre Dame facing Rutgers in NYC.  Other Bowls being bounced around include the Poinsettia in San Diego and Little Caesars Pizza Bowl in Detroit, let’s hope for the former.  Other opponents mentioned are the Boston College Eagles and the Duke Blue Devil, both interesting matchups; B.C. a rival Catholic University and Duke another academically respected sports school with very high graduation rates.   

The Cincinnati Bearcats beat Rutgers 52-17 this Saturday to go to 8-2 on the season with games against Houston and Louisville to finish the season.   Meanwhile the Scarlet Knights of Rutgers dropped to 5-4 with games against UCF, UConn and USF still on the schedule.  Boston College became bowl eligible Saturday with a 38-21 victory over the N.C. State Wolfpack moving to 6-4 wrapping up with Maryland and Syracuse over the next two weeks.   Finally Duke has looked strong this season at 8-2 with an impressive 48-30 win against Miami on Saturday.  There would be a unique storyline with any of these potential matchups.

The other group of teams I focused on this weekend were the opponents of Notre Dame, those already played and those to yet to come.  Many of these teams left me scratching my head wondering what this year could have been with a few changes in play calls, player health and a little luck.  Pitt, the team that ended Notre Dame’s BCS hopes lost 34-27 to a 5-5 University of North Carolina putting themselves at 5-5.  This only solidifying the belief that the Irish should have never lost to Pitt and raising the question; were the Irish unlucky or unfocused last weekend.  Either way it does not make the Irish look like an upper tier team.

Navy a team the Irish barley beat by four points became bowl eligible with a 42-14 beating of Southern Alabama.  Navy’s win may help the Irish in the computer rankings but its overall record only confuses Irish fans even more with a win over Pitt and 35-7 loss to Duke.

The USC upset of #5 Stanford could have really helped Notre Dames BCS argument if they did not have three losses.  Thank goodness the Irish played the Trojans when they did as USC has been playing like a top 10 team lately.  Note: USC is #25 in the USA Today Poll and #23 in the AP Poll.

#19 in the AP Poll and #22 in the USA Today Poll Arizona State is 8-2 after a win over Oregon State.  This is a team that the Irish beat this season making the Notre Dame faithful more frustrated.

Oklahoma kept rolling to 8-2 with a 48-10 trouncing of Iowa State.

Michigan State at 9-1 after 41-21 win over Nebraska is another raked team (#13 AP & USA Today Polls) that Notre Dame beat.  This is more frustrating than ASU.

Purdue still stinks at 1-9 after losing 21-45 to Pen State yet Notre Dame can only beat the Boilermakers by a touchdown.

Michigan a team that manhandled the Irish matched ND’s 7-3 record after beating Northwestern 27-19. 

Even in a three point loss to (then #17) UCF the Temple Owls looked impressive for a 1-9 team.

Notre Dame has beaten three top 25 teams; MSU, ASU and USC yet they are unranked due to poor performances in wins against Purdue and Navy in addition to its loss to Pitt.