Tag: Bill Bender

College football: Sporting News releases post-spring top 25 poll

Another day and another post-spring college football top 25. Did this one get Notre Dame the most right yet?

As we’ve discussed this week has been a big week for post-spring college football rankings.  I’m not going to lie, it seems a little bit absurd to put a whole lot into what is said with over 100 days until the season kicks off.

However.

There is almost always a however.

I’m no idiot, either.  I see the numbers that these rankings do whenever they’re posted so since you the people want them then we’ll continue to post and share them.

The latest comes from Bill Bender of The Sporting News.  He put out his piece on college football’s post-spring top 25 on Thursday.  In it Notre Dame found a top-1o landing spot so they check in higher than ESPN had them but lower than what USA TODAY Sports said earlier in the week.

Perhaps the surprise isn’t that Notre Dame is tenth, that’s right about where we would have them if we did our own, but some of the teams they’re both ahead of and trail stick out the most.  Here is Bender and The Sporting News’ entire top 25:

What the experts are predicting: Notre Dame vs. Marshall

The Irish got this, or so people think.

Notre Dame will have another chance get on the board for the 2022 season Saturday. Against a program like Marshall, that shouldn’t be a problem. Then again, college football has seen crazier things happen.

Let’s look at what some college football experts, including fellow College Wire sites, are predicting for this game:

Alabama Football: Sporting News predicts Crimson Tide’s postseason opponents

Sporting News predicts Alabama to make another National Title appearance in 2022

The Alabama Crimson Tide has won three out of the eight college football playoff national championships to date, with another two champions coming from fellow SEC schools, LSU and Georgia.

With one of the best quarterbacks and rosters in program history, anything short of a playoff appearance will be a disappointing season in the eyes of the Crimson Tide faithful. Fortunately for them, it’s hard for anyone to imagine the Tide not finishing the season among the top four.

Bill Bender of Sporting News predicted all of the bowl and playoff games for the upcoming 2022 season, including a third consecutive playoff birth for Alabama.

Bender projects that the Crimson Tide will meet up with a familiar foe, the Clemson Tigers, in the Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl. After beating Clemson, Bender thinks that they will face the Ohio State Buckeyes for all of the marbles in the 2022 national title game.

Ohio State would love a chance to get some revenge on Alabama after the smacking the Tide put on them in the 2020 national title game when Heisman Trophy winner DeVonta Smith posted the absurd stat line of 12 catches for 215 yards and three touchdowns all in the first half.

Do you think Nick Saban can capture number eight this season?

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What the experts are predicting: Fiesta Bowl

Notre Dame hasn’t won a major bowl in over a quarter of a century. It can snap that skid against Oklahoma State in the Fiesta Bowl on New Year’s Day. All eyes will be on Marcus Freeman in his first game as head coach of this legendary program. A …

Notre Dame hasn’t won a major bowl in over a quarter of a century. It can snap that skid against Oklahoma State in the Fiesta Bowl on New Year’s Day. All eyes will be on Marcus Freeman in his first game as head coach of this legendary program. A victory would go a long way in giving the Irish confidence for the 2022 season.

Let’s look at what some college football experts, including those on the Wire sites, are predicting for this game:

What the experts are predicting: Notre Dame vs. Navy

Who are you picking?

It’s a shame that Notre Dame and Navy couldn’t play last year. However, that’s in the past, and the present looks slightly better. Something just feels right whenever one of the oldest rivalries in college football gets renewed. Plus, it always is an honor when the Irish get to host future sailors at Notre Dame Stadium.

Let’s look at what some college football experts, including those on the Wire sites, are predicting for this game:

What the experts are predicting: Notre Dame vs. North Carolina

Which team are you picking?

Going into the season, Saturday’s game between Notre Dame and North Carolina was hyped up one to watch. Instead, there is less attention on this game now the Irish aren’t a lock for the College Football Playoff and the Tar Heels have not performed up to preseason expectations. Still, that doesn’t mean we won’t have a good one in South Bend. Things could turn unpredictable despite one being ranked and the other not.

Let’s look at what some college football experts, including those on the Wire sites, are predicting for this game:

Sporting News ACC Preview has us thinking crazy ‘what if’ for Notre Dame

So if Notre Dame and North Carolina are both unbeaten the day after Thanksgiving….

Notre Dame will make it’s debut as an official football member of the ACC on September 12 when the Irish welcome the Duke Blue Devils to South Bend.

In what has been an insane year, perhaps an even crazier college football season awaits us in under two weeks.

Today The Sporting News broke down the ACC and as a surprise to absolutely nobody, Notre Dame will be not just a major story-line all fall for the league, but a player for the conference championship.

Bill Bender is a favorite of ours for The Sporting News and wrote the ACC preview.  Here is what he said about Notre Dame, who he predicts will finish second in the league.

Here are other Notre Dame mentions from Bender in his ACC preview:

  • Calls Notre Dame joining the conference for 2020 the biggest story-line entering 2020.  That might seem obvious but remember that the consensus top team in the nation this pre-season also calls the ACC home.
  • By no means does he call him a favorite for the award but Bender lists one Notre Dame player as a Heisman Trophy contender:  Ian Book.
  • In his conference games of the year, Bender has Notre Dame hosting Clemson and their trip to North Carolina as the two biggest games of 2020 in the ACC.

If you’d like a quick glance at the entire league to become familiar we strongly recommend reading Bender’s entire piece, something you can do by clicking here.

I never thought about this until right now but walk with me for a second here.  What if Notre Dame beats Clemson on November 7 and enters the North Carolina game unbeaten and then say North Carolina is also unbeaten at that point.

You know where I’m going.

Do you perhaps, not run a full playbook and perhaps walk out of Chapel Hill with a loss that doesn’t make you that upset because it’d mean a rematch with the Tar Heels in the ACC Championship instead of a second game with Clemson?

Then again Boston College remains a week after for the Irish and we’re all aware of what they’ve done to Irish teams with championship dreams before.

Sporting News ranks best programs of the decade, Notre Dame ranked highly

Bill Bender of the Sporting News came up with a formula to determine the best schools from the last decade and Notre Dame finished high.

The end of the decade has brought many people to retrospectively look at what has happened in the last 10 seasons.

Bill Bender of Sporting News came up with a system to determine the best schools, giving 10 points for a national title, 5 points for each title game appearance and college football playoff selection, 3 points for a New Year’s Six or BCS bowl appearance and 2 points for each Heisman winner. Winning percentage, All-Americans and NFL draft picks were also part of the equation.

With that scoring system, the Irish amassed 27 points, which put them 12th. Bender breaks down the last 10 years of Irish football, noting that “Brian Kelly led the Irish to a BCS championship appearance and a College Football Playoff appearance as part of undefeated regular seasons, but the reality checks Alabama and Clemson provided show what it takes to reach those national championship heights. The Irish are 33-6 the past three seasons and have produced the 11th-most NFL draft picks.”

Looking at the top five schools, Alabama, Clemson, Ohio State, Oklahoma and LSU, only the Sooners have not won a championship in that time frame. The Nick Saban-led Crimson Tide dominated the decade, resulting in 166 points, over 40 more than second-place Clemson. Not too hard when you played for a championship 6 out of the 10 years.

Only 7 points separated the Irish and Auburn, which was 10th, while 8.5 points away was Wisconsin at 8th. The Irish are not that far away from being viewed as one of the best teams of the decade, and, hopefully, this decade is a bit more fruitful than last 10 years.