Tag: Action Network

Notre Dame projected as College Football Playoff quarterfinalist

Minds are starting to change about the Irish.

For much of the time after Notre Dame lost to Northern Illinois, the Action Network’s Brett McMurphy was not empathetic. He consistently had the Irish in the Pop-Tarts Bowl, thus rendering their first season in the expanded College Football Playoff era a failure.

McMurphy has changed his tune about the Irish however. A week ago, he projected the Irish as the No. 10 seed in the playoff. While he had them losing to Penn State, it still was a sign of progress.

Now, McMurphy has flipped the seeds for the Irish and Nittany Lions, meaning the Irish now would host the first-round game. What’s more, he has the Irish winning the game, which would give them a New Year’s Day date with Georgia at the Sugar Bowl. Regrettably, that’s where he has the Irish’s run ending, but this still is a nice projection.

A lot has to go right for the Irish to get as far as McMurphy thinks they will, but that he even made this projection shows how much the narrative surrounding the Irish has changed for the better.

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Wisconsin returns to familiar setting in Action Network bowl projections after Week 9

Wisconsin returns to familiar setting in Action Network bowl projections after Week 9

The Action Network’s Brett McMurphy released his bowl predictions ahead of Week 10 of the 2024 college football season on Monday.

Wisconsin returns to the Pinstripe Bowl in McMurphy’s latest iteration of the bowl prediction list, the exact same game the Badgers were predicted to land in after Week 8.

This time, however, Wisconsin is slated to play NC State in the contest. The Wolfpack, a member of the American Athletic Conference, boast a 4-4 mark through eight games of the 2024 season. They are currently ranked No. 14 in the conference, only ahead of Stanford, Florida State and California.

The Badgers, meanwhile, are 5-3 after Week 9 after dropping its most recent game against No. 3 Penn State by two touchdowns. Luke Fickell’s program is in search of its 23rd consecutive bowl game appearance.

Action Network currently considers Wisconsin a 7.5-point favorite over NC State. If McMurphy’s prediction is accurate, this will be the first time the Badgers will play in the Pinstripe Bowl since 2018 season when they defeated Miami 35-3.

Wisconsin’s next batch of games could certainly alter where they land in the bowl game landscape. UW is yet to play Iowa, No. 1 Oregon, Nebraska and Minnesota. A strong showing in the regular season’s final month could push the Badgers into a better bowl standing.

Wisconsin returns to familiar stage in Action Network bowl projections ahead of Week 9

Wisconsin returns to familiar stage in Action Network bowl projections ahead of Week 9

Wisconsin returns to the Pinstripe Bowl for a matchup against Duke in Brett McMurphy’s latest bowl projections entering Week 9 of the 2024 college football season.

The Badgers are 5-2 after Week 8, in prime position to extend their record bowl streak to 23 seasons. Duke, meanwhile, is a strong 6-1 through the season’s midway point with wins over Northwestern, UConn, North Carolina and Florida State. Its only loss to this point was a 24-14 defeat at the hands of Georgia Tech.

Related: Ranking the biggest storylines entering Wisconsin’s premier matchup with Penn State

The Action Network projects Wisconsin as a double-digit favorite in the potential matchup with Duke — this projection made with a lot still left to change between now and bowl season.

If McMurphy’s prediction for the Badgers is to come true, the program will return to the Pinstripe Bowl for the first time since its trip to close the 2018 season — a 35-3 triumph over Miami.

https://twitter.com/Brett_McMurphy/status/1848384380281971176

Wisconsin first must reach bowl eligibility. Its remaining schedule includes vs. No. 3 Penn State, at Iowa, vs. No. 1 Oregon, at Nebraska and vs. Minnesota. One more win and its record-long bowl steak will extend another season.

Up first on that path for the Badgers is a primetime matchup with Penn State on Saturday.

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Brett McMurphy projects Notre Dame out of playoff, in Pop-Tarts Bowl

Maybe start booking your trips to Orlando now?

Let’s get one thing straight: Notre Dame will aim for the College Football Playoff as long as it has a chance. At this point, the best thing it can do is run the table for the rest of the regular season. But there always is a chance that that won’t happen, and the Irish thus will be on the outside looking in.

Brett McMurphy of the Action Network has released his weekly bowl projections, and he has the Irish out of the playoff. Instead, he projects that the Irish will face TCU in the Pop-Tarts Bowl.

It’s worth noting that McMurphy has had the Irish in this particular game ever since they lost to Northern Illinois. The only thing that occasionally has changed during that time is the opponent. So in his view, the Irish have not beaten anybody of high-enough quality since that loss to prove they belong in the playoff.

While it would be fun to see the Irish end their season eating their bowl game’s mascot, it’s not the end goal. Hopefully, they can make it so that it won’t have to be.

Contact/Follow us @IrishWireND on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Notre Dame news, notes and opinions.

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Notre Dame projected to make College Football Playoff, go to Rose Bowl

That’s more like it.

It’s funny how one quality road victory by Notre Dame can change people’s opinions.

Before the Irish beat Texas A&M in their season opener, many college football experts had them on the outside looking in when it came to the College Football Playoff. Brett McMurphy of The Action Network was one of them.

After the Irish’s victory though, McMurphy has jumped into the Irish believers camp. He released his latest bowl projections, and it’s definitely an improvements from his previous projection of Notre Dame playing in the Holiday Bowl.

McMurphy not only has the Irish making the playoff as the eighth seed, but he sees them making the trip to Pasadena on New Year’s Day:

https://twitter.com/Brett_McMurphy/status/1830679017466536206

Losing to the top seed in the bracket would be nothing to be ashamed of and a positive step toward the future. If the Irish take care of business throughout the regular season though, we could be looking at even grander predictions for them.

Contact/Follow us @IrishWireND on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Notre Dame news, notes and opinions.

Follow Geoffrey on X: @gfclark89

Another College Football Playoff projection leaves Notre Dame out

Stick this one on the bulletin board, too.

As we get closer to the 2024 season, it’s becoming increasingly clear that Notre Dame will need to prove a lot of people wrong. Even with the College Football Playoff expanded to 12 teams, no one is going to just let the Irish in. Some expert predictions in recent days are evidence of that.

Days ago, CBS Sports’ Jerry Palm left the Irish out of his playoff projection. Now, you can add The Action Network’s Brett McMurphy to that list. Instead, he has the Irish facing Washington in the Holiday Bowl, a bowl the Irish haven’t played in before:

So again, the Irish find themselves on the outside looking in of one expert’s bracket. The past few days have given them a heavy dose of reality that they’ll need to win almost every game to give themselves a shot at making it. Hopefully, all of this will give them the motivation to do just that.

Contact/Follow us @IrishWireND on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Notre Dame news, notes, and opinions.

Follow Geoffrey on Twitter: @gfclark89

Wisconsin faces SEC power in Action Network bowl prediction for 2024 season

Wisconsin faces SEC power in Action Network bowl prediction for 2024 season

The Action Network’s Brett McMurphy released his final preseason bowl predictions for the 2024 college football season on Monday.

His postseason picks come with Week 0 taking place on Saturday.

McMurphy has Wisconsin facing Texas A&M in the Music City Bowl on Dec. 30 in Nashville, Tennessee. While it would mark the Badgers’ 23rd consecutive year in a bowl game, it would certainly be an underwhelming result knowing the dynamic created by the newly expanded 12-team College Football Playoff.

Wisconsin has appeared in the Music City Bowl once before, falling to Auburn 28-14 in December of 2003. Last season’s matchup in the game was between Auburn (6-6) and Maryland (7-5), so that’s roughly where McMurphy expects Wisconsin’s record to fall in the regular season.

Luke Fickell and his squad have a rather challenging schedule in 2024, facing upper-echelon programs Alabama (home), USC (road), Penn State (home) and Oregon (home). The Badgers enter the season as underdogs in seven games, so McMurphy’s prediction isn’t a slight toward Wisconsin by any means.

Wisconsin’s 2024 campaign shapes up to be a memorable one thanks to the high number of of marquee matchups on the schedule.

Will Alabama football reach double-digit wins in 2024?

Can Alabama football reach double-digit wins in 2024?

The biggest storyline in college football this off-season has been the Alabama Crimson Tide’s transition from legendary head coach [autotag]Nick Saban[/autotag] to [autotag]Kalen DeBoer[/autotag]. Replacing a seven-time national champion coach who owns essentially every record in the book is nearly impossible. However, DeBoer is as good as it gets as in just two years with the Washington Huskies he guided them to a 25-3 record as well as a national title berth this past season.

There was some transfer portal movement as a result of Saban’s retirement, but the Crimson Tide roster will be as good as any in 2024 with Jalen Milroe running the show. Alabama will have their work cut out for themselves though as they play one of the most difficult schedules in the country in the newly expanded SEC.

The Action Network projects the Crimson Tide to win between 9-10 games in 2024 as they have set their win total at 9.5 games. It’s a really tricky line with road trips to Wisconsin Badgers, Tennessee Volunteers, LSU Tigers and Oklahoma Sooners as well as Georgia Bulldogs, Missouri and Auburn Tigers coming to town.

Fortunately, 2024 marks the beginning of the expanded College Football Playoffs with 12 spots up for grabs this year opposed to the four in the past. The SEC will likely have about four to five representatives, so winning the conference title doesn’t quite carry the same value it once did.

Contact/Follow us @RollTideWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Alabama news, notes and opinion. You can also follow Sam Murphy on Twitter @SamMurphy02.

Where Action Network has LSU in way-too-early 2024 bowl projections

Can the Tigers break the inaugural 12-team playoff field?

Spring ball for the 2024 season hasn’t even started, but it’s never too early to start making some projections.

This will be the first year of the 12-team College Football Playoff format, and that means the concept of the New Year’s Six is also a thing of the past.

Action Network’s Brett McMurphy recently released his way-too-early bowl projections for the 2024 season, and unfortunately for the Tigers, he has them missing the CFP field.

He instead predicts a matchup against Miami in the TaxSlayer Gator Bowl. He also thinks LSU would be a heavy favorite in that game, projecting a spread of 10.5 points.

While there’s no way of knowing how accurate this will prove to be, it does go to show that the national media has some key questions about LSU entering 2024.

Contact/Follow us @LSUTigersWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Louisiana State news, notes, and opinions.

Follow Tyler to continue the conversation on Twitter: @TylerNettuno

UVA’s cheap rebound on a game-ending heave was one of the most unbelievable bad beats

With 0.1 on the clock!

Bad beats come in many forms, some more anticipated than others. As for the one that happened at the buzzer of Virginia’s game against Clemson on Tuesday, nobody could have seen that coming.

That’s because it happened at the buzzer — only it wasn’t the typical bad beat on a game-winning shot.

This bad beat involved a player’s rebounding prop, suggested hours earlier by Action Network analyst Sean Koerner on the Green Dot Daily! show. He predicted Virginia forward Ben Vander Plas would fall under 6.5 rebounds.

That pick was right up until the final tenth of a second when Vander Plas caught rebound No. 7 on a pointless half-court heave by Clemson.

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Koerner and everyone who tailed him felt that one in the gut.

What makes it worst is Vander Plas didn’t need to catch it. The clock still would have struck zero before the ball hit the ground had he let it go. But no player is passing on that opportunity to pad the ol’ stat sheet, so he caught it over the shoulder like a receiver in the end zone — almost like he knew the stakes of the rebound.

Koerner called it one of his worst beats.

Yeah, it’s pretty hard to top that.

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