ESPN FPI projects remainder of Notre Dame football season (updated)

8 games to go. What do you have Notre Dame’s final record being?

Notre Dame is just 2-2 despite dominating at North Carolina last weekend and are fresh off a bye as they prepare to take on BYU in Las Vegas this coming weekend. With eight games to go the Irish have plenty to play for even if the College Football Playoff and New Year’s Six are off the table.

Is Notre Dame certain to go bowling at all this year? How likely are the Irish to win eight or more games? Both seem a lot more likely following the 45-32 victory in Chapel Hill and obviously didn’t take a hit during the bye week.

I’m in a love-hate relationship with ESPN’s FPI. I say it almost weekly but it’s true. It takes emotion out of the rankings and uses mathematical formulas to rank all Football Bowl Subdivision teams 1-131 weekly. However, it seems lacking when it comes to teams regularly find ways to lose or sneak out wins, something that is hard to quantify but is impossible to convince me isn’t real (see Auburn).

BYU fans tweet thoughts during team’s last game before Notre Dame

Cougars fans aren’t happy.

With BYU ranked and Notre Dame not, the Cougars should be the favorites for the Shamrock Series game in Las Vegas, right? Well, Cougars fans are starting to have doubts after their team had to battle to beat struggling Utah State, 38-26, at home Thursday night. Sure, they’ll take a 4-1 record as fans of any team would. However, more than a few are pessimistic about their team’s chances against the Irish if it plays like it did against the Aggies.

Though the Cougars never trailed after the second quarter, they didn’t hold a double-digit lead until the third. Unimpressive play was enough for fans to take to Twitter and say their team is in big trouble when it faces the Irish. Then again, the Irish haven’t exactly done a lot to convince people that they can just walk into any game and turn it into a romp. Nevertheless, Cougars fans are worried, and here are a few of them saying such:

BYU vs Utah State Prediction, Game Preview

BYU vs Utah State game preview, prediction, and breakdown for the Week 5 game on Thursday, September 29

BYU vs Utah State prediction, game preview, how to watch. Week 5, Thursday, September 29

BYU vs Utah State How To Watch

Date: Thursday, September 29
Game Time: 8:00 ET
Venue: LaVell Edwards Stadium, Provo, UT
How To Watch: ESPN
Record: BYU (3-1), Utah State (1-3)
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BYU vs Utah State Game Preview

Why Utah State Will Win

This is one of those games.

It’s not necessarily a “throw out the records” type of game, but Utah State always tries to bring a little something extra when it gets to deal with the guys from Provo.

It’s been a wee bit of a rough run over the last few weeks – to be nice about it – but there’s enough of a passing game to at least press the Cougar secondary a bit.

The defensive front doesn’t generate a pass rush, but it gets behind the line, the takeaways were there with seven before not getting any in last week’s loss to UNLV, and …

– NFL Expert Picks, Week 4

Why BYU Will Win

Yeah, Utah State is having problems.

It starts with the turnovers. The offense has to press with all the problems it’s having getting anything going, and the mistakes follow from there.

The positive: there weren’t any turnovers against Alabama. The negative: there were 12 in the other three games including ten over the last two games.

BYU isn’t taking the ball away, but this is the game to start generating more big things.

The Cougar lines should take over right away, the defense should stuff everything the Aggies want to do on the ground, and …

– Schedules, Previews College | NFL

What’s Going To Happen

Utah State’s secondary is about to get hit hard.

It wasn’t totally awful against Alabama, and it hasn’t been a disaster, but QB Jaren Hall and the BYU passing game have been rolling no matter who’s out there are receiver.

The offense is averaging close to 300 yards per game through the air with ten scores. Utah State has yet to allow anyone to hit 70%. That’s about to change.

– CFN Expert Picks, Week 5

BYU vs Utah State Prediction, Line

BYU 44, Utah State 10
Line: BYU -24, o/u: 60
ATS Confidence out of 5: 3.5
BYU vs Utah State Must See Rating (out of 5): 2

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Utah State vs. No. 19 BYU Game Preview, How to Watch, Odds, Prediction

Aggies look to course-correct on the road against ranked BYU This game is sure to be super fun and definitely not terrible Contact/Follow @Logantj & @MWCwire Utah State vs. No. 19 BYU Game Preview, How to Watch, Odds, Prediction WEEK 5: Utah State …

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Aggies look to course-correct on the road against ranked BYU

This game is sure to be super fun and definitely not terrible

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Utah State vs. No. 19 BYU Game Preview, How to Watch, Odds, Prediction

WEEK 5: Utah State (1-3, 0-1 MW) vs. No. 19 BYU (3-1)

WHEN: Thursday, Sept. 29, 2022 at 6pm

WHERE: LaVell Edwards Stadium (63,725), Provo, UT

TV: ESPN

RADIO: KSL (1280 AM/97.5 FM), or online at kslsports.com/kslsportszone

SERIES RECORD: Utah State trails BYU in the all-time series 37-50-3, which includes an 18-28-1 road record.

LAST WEEK: Utah State dropped its homecoming game against UNLV 34-24. BYU won at home vs. Wyoming 38-24.

WEBSITES: UtahStateAggies.com | Byucougars.com

ODDS: Money line: Utah State +1250, BYU -2800. Spread: BYU -24. Over/under: 59.5 points

Preview

Well. This should be an interesting voyage down to Provo for the Aggies, who are still searching for themselves this season after a disappointing 1-3 start. On the road against a top-20 opponent isn’t generally where you see a team figure out its offense, but hey — any given Sunday, er…Thursday, right?

…right?

Key #1: Limit BYU QB Jaren Hall

Hall has the goods to captain a ranked Cougar squad through its decently challenging schedule this season, already tallying 103-of-144 passing for 1,164 yards (291.0 ypg), nine touchdowns and one solitary interception. This year’s Aggie defense has routinely been placed in awful situations thanks to an offense that turns the ball over more often than it crosses midfield, but in the right circumstances the front seven in particular have flashed some playmaking ability.

Get creative, get to Hall, force difficult passes and perhaps Utah State can keep things competitive early.

Key #2: For the Love of God, Please Take Care of the Ball

Masochists who watched the UNLV game in its entirety technically witnessed six Aggie turnovers, but if you add unsuccessful 4th down tries and accidentally downing a punt attempt at the wrong 5-yard-line to the mix USU effectively gifted UNLV the ball nine times.

NINE TIMES? Nine times.

Rumors abound regarding Aggie QB Logan Bonner’s status for this game and an alleged foot injury that may cost him the rest of his season, meaning backups Cooper Legas and/or Levi Williams may well see action tonight. Whoever winds up under center (and let’s be honest, it could change more than once given the history of QB injuries for both teams in this series), the Aggies just can’t afford turning the ball over. This matchup is already lopsided in terms of the available talent on the field — give the ranked Cougars free passes into plus territory and the game’s as good as over.

Key #3 Be Better at Offense. And Eliminate Penalties. And Call Better Plays. And…

Just…play better football. You can point to a significantly reduced WR corps failing to create separation, a softer OL than USU anticipated and stale play calling as pretty critical holes in this team’s armor, but nothing excuses 11 penalties for 93 yards last weekend. This may not be a very fun game for the Aggie faithful or the dudes on the field, but controlling the things you can control even when you appear outmatched goes a long way.

BYU may throw all over this secondary, or find the edge repeatedly in the ground game once they shift things into cruise control mid-third quarter, but staying competitive through disciplined football would give reason for optimism in the rest of USU’s season.

Prediction

It’s tough to picture the Aggies pulling off a stunner in Provo considering how stagnant their offense has looked through four games. However, there’s a lot of easy room for improvement in terms of cleaning up dumb penalties and even dumber turnovers, not to mention simply acting like they’ve played in big games before (because they have!) which might make this one worth the watch for a quarter or two.

Final Score: BYU 42, USU 10

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ESPN FPI projects remainder of Notre Dame football season

Eight games to go and the Irish are 2-2. How do they finish this fall?

Notre Dame is still just 2-2 on the 2022 season after their dominating performance at North Carolina this weekend but with eight games still to go there is plenty to play for even if the College Football Playoff and New Year’s Six are off the table.

Is Notre Dame certain to go bowling at all this year? How likely are they to win eight or more games? Both seem a lot more likely following the 45-32 victory in Chapel Hill that can simply be described as better.

I’m in a love-hate relationship with ESPN’s FPI. I say it almost weekly but it’s true. It takes emotion out of it’s rankings and uses all mathematical formulas to rank all FBS teams 1-131 weekly. However, it seems to lack when it comes to teams that manage to regularly find ways to lose or sneak out wins.

Updated USA Today AFCA Coaches Poll sees shake-up after week 4 upsets

More than a few new teams makes the Coaches Poll

The Irish got a solid road win over North Carolina and that hopefully reflected in them getting more votes this week than last in the latest USA Today AFCA Coaches Poll. With just two votes in others last week, this week saw the coaches give Notre Dame not much more respect as they grabbed just one extra vote this week.

Multiple upsets once again happened this weekend which included No. 6 Oklahoma falling on the road to Kansas State, No. 20 Texas A&M beating No. 10 Arkansas, unranked Texas Tech besting No. 19 Texas and Middle Tennessee State shocking No. 25 Miami, FL.

Here is the updated coaches poll with last weeks ranking in parenthesis.

BYU vs Wyoming Prediction, Game Preview

BYU vs Wyoming game preview, prediction, and breakdown for the Week 4 game on Saturday, September 24

BYU vs Wyoming prediction, game preview, how to watch. Week 4, Saturday, September 24

BYU vs Wyoming How To Watch

Date: Saturday, September 24
Game Time: 10:15 ET
Venue: LaVell Edwards Stadium, Provo, UT
How To Watch: ESPN2
Record: BYU (2-1), Wyoming (3-1)
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BYU vs Wyoming Game Preview

Why Wyoming Will Win

It’s one of the underappreciated good things in college football so far this year …

Wyoming is good.

It lost a few top players through the transfer portal, the expectations were low to quickly rebound, and all of a sudden it’s 3-1 with a great win over Air Force, a better-than-it-looked-then shootout win over Tulsa, and now the defense that’s been great so far has to prove it can hold up against the Cougars.

Wyoming’s offensive line is playing well, the turnovers have slowed after giving up three in Week 0 to Illinois, and now the team is getting a BYU team that might be slightly down after the loss to Oregon.

However …

– CFN Expert Picks, Week 4

Why BYU Will Win

Wyoming isn’t doing anything that special.

It was able to hold up against the Air Force running game, and the offense did what it needed to do over the last few weeks, but it’s going to have a hard time against the Cougar offensive front.

BYU will go Illinois on the Cowboys. The Illini pounded away for 258 yards and three scores and hit the midrange throws to keep things moving. BYU might not have been able to stop Oregon, but Jaren Hall and the passing game were solid.

And …

– 10 Best Predictions Against the Spread

What’s Going To Happen

After dealing with Baylor and Oregon, running on Wyoming is going to seem easier.

The Cowboys really are better, and they’re not just going to get steamrolled over, but BYU will come up with a good early scoring drive and control the game from there.

As good as Wyoming QB Andrew Peasley has been, he’s not going to get the downfield throws to catch up.

– NFL Expert Picks, Week 3

BYU vs Wyoming Prediction, Line

BYU 38, Wyoming 13
Line: BYU -22, o/u: 50
ATS Confidence out of 5: 2
BYU vs Wyoming Must See Rating (out of 5): 2.5

College coaches all over America this week are raising awareness and research dollars for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, a progressive genetic disorder that takes the lives of young men. Fans can donate to Coach To Cure MD online or by texting the word CURE to 501501 to give $25.

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The day after: Lasting thoughts on Notre Dame’s win over Cal

What are you still thinking about after the Irish’s first win this season?

First, off, I want to apologize for the lateness of this post. Kinda had an important event, my sister got married. We know all good college football fans wouldn’t ever think of doing having a fall wedding, and my sister isn’t the biggest sports fan at all.

Anyways, even though the Irish got their first win of 2022, there are plenty of thoughts that have gone through my mind over the last day and here they are.

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

Follow Mike on Twitter: @MikeFChen

HIGHLIGHTS: Touchdowns and big plays for the Ducks against BYU

A look at the highlights from the Oregon Ducks battle with the BYU Cougars at Autzen Stadium on Saturday.

The Oregon Ducks are off to a hot start against the No. 14 ranked BYU Cougars at Autzen Stadium on Saturday, scoring early thanks to a strong rushing game and forcing multiple three-and-outs for Kelani Sitake’s offense.

Dan Lanning no doubt wants a commanding victory, one that will quiet the doubters who showed up in droves after Oregon’s catastrophic first game against Georgia in Week 1.

A win over BYU, who defeated Baylor without their top two wide receivers last week, would be a huge boost for this program, and puts them back into the conversation for a Pac-12 title and/or a spot in the college football playoff if things go their way for the rest of the season.

Are you away from a TV and looking to see all of the highlights from the game? We have got you covered. Here is everything you need to see, updated throughout the game.

ESPN’s College GameDay picks their Week 3 winners including Notre Dame vs. Cal

Who do you have winning?

For the first time in College GameDay’s twenty year history, they visited Boone, North Carolina, home of giant slayer Appalachian State. After the Mountaineers took North Carolina to the brink in week one, they successfully garnered a massive upset in week two, going to College Station and defeating Texas A&M. The GameDay crew (Kirk Herbstreit, Lee Corso, Desmond Howard, and Pat McAfee) along with guest picker country singer Luke Combs, made their selections for week three’s slate. Find out below who they chose to win.

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