Jerry Palm – Page 3 – Syndication Server

Notre Dame’s updated national bowl projections

Would you prefer Atlanta or Phoenix for New Years?

A 31-16 win over USC moved No. 11 Notre Dame to 6-1 on the 2021 season as a favorable schedule awaits them to close the year. Notre Dame won’t play another team who is currently ranked, although 5-2 Virginia is knocking on the door as they’re again in the “receiving votes” category of both the USA TODAY Sports AFCA Coaches Poll and AP Top 25 poll this week.

So where do the experts think Notre Dame will be headed this bowl season?

The loss to Cincinnati will be nearly impossible to overcome in terms of another College Football Playoff appearance, assuming absolute craziness doesn’t happen at least, but the Irish are being seen by more as a New Years Six team in this week’s look around the national bowl projections.

Twice in one year? CBS Sports updates Notre Dame bowl projections

Anyone starting to feel like this bowl game would be a disappointment?

2020 saw Notre Dame take on Clemson twice as the two met in the regular season as well as the ACC championship game. Back in 1997 the Irish won in Death Valley over LSU before falling to the Tigers in a rematch in the Independence Bowl that December.

If Jerry Palm of CBS Sports is correct, 2021 Notre Dame would be playing another team twice in the same year. Palm’s latest bowl projections have Notre Dame heading to Atlanta at the end of the year to take part in the Peach Bowl against Virginia Tech.

Virginia Tech currently sits at 3-1 as they’re on their bye week before hosting Notre Dame at Lane Stadium next week. They’ll be the third of five teams this fall to take on Notre Dame following a bye. Wisconsin already did while Cincinnati fits that mold entering this weekend.

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Notre Dame part of tough nonconference schedules for Power Five teams

The Irish will be part of tough schedules for some teams this year.

Any team that has Notre Dame on its nonconference schedule automatically receives a bump in the strength of that schedule. Even during seasons in which the Irish struggle, there at least is a bump interest for that game. Either way, any matchup with the Irish is serious business.

Jerry Palm of CBS Sports has released a piece comparing nonconference schedules for the entire Football Bowl Subdivision. For the Power Five conferences and the AAC, he lists the nonconference schedules for the teams he believes have the toughest and weakest in those conferences. Notre Dame pops up in the toughest nonconference schedule for Georgia Tech in the ACC, USC in the Pac-12, and Cincinnati in the AAC. In fact, Palm ranks the Yellow Jackets as having the fifth toughest nonconference schedule in all of the FBS.

Here are the other nonconference opponents for all the teams that have the Irish on their schedules:

Georgia Tech: Georgia, Northern Illinois, Kennesaw State
USC: BYU, San Jose State
Cincinnati: Indiana, Miami (Ohio), Murray State

Jerry Palm: Notre Dame won’t join a conference ‘anytime soon’

Maybe put the brakes on Notre Dame joining a conference?

The recent revelation of the proposed expanded College Football Playoff set off discussion on a variety of topics. Perhaps the most notable was the longtime debate over Notre Dame’s continued independence after the four byes in the bracket were reserved for conference champions.

ESPN personality Paul Finebaum was among those who called for the Irish to bite the bullet and join a conference permanently. Former college coach Rick Neuheisel took it a step further and speculated that Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick, who had a hand in constructing the expanded playoff, privately hopes this will lead to full-time ACC membership for the Irish.

However, Jerry Palm of CBS Sports has a different take. In an appearance during the first hour of Finebaum’s show Tuesday, Notre Dame inevitably came up at the 24:50 mark. Asked by Finebaum if the Irish joining a conference was a possibility, Palm said he doesn’t see it happening anytime soon. Also asked why the Irish won’t join a conference, he said that independence is part of the Irish’s culture and that it will take more than the proposed expanded playoff structure for them to give in.

Palm also mentioned the TV deal that makes the ACC the only conference Notre Dame can join through 2036 should it choose to do so. Based on the Irish’s future opponent schedule, the thought of them becoming a full-time ACC member should be perished at the moment. There are a lot of programs lining up for the opportunity to play the Irish merely because of the money and exposure it creates for them. Imagine how many more would be able to do that if the Irish weren’t locked into playing five ACC teams a year through 2037.

CBS Sports (again) ranks Auburn as overrated in preseason polls

Auburn starts the season at No. 11 in the Associated Press Poll.

There are at least two writers at CBS Sports that thinks the Auburn Tigers are overrated heading into the 2020 college football season.

After stating that Gus Malzahn’s team was overrated in the AP Top 25 at No. 11 when the first poll comes out, the outlet doubled down in its predictions and season preview piece on Tuesday.

Tom Fornelli writes:

Auburn: There’s a negative connotation that comes with the word overrated, but to be clear, I don’t think Auburn’s going to be bad. I’m just not part of the group who believes it to be a top-10 team. I have serious concerns about the team’s offensive line and how it will hold up in a 10-game SEC schedule that won’t allow it many chances to breathe. That line will also be tasked with protecting Bo Nix, a quarterback who already comes with plenty of accuracy issues. I’m not sure he’ll be able to improve upon them if he’s under a lot of pressure. These offensive concerns limit Auburn’s overall ceiling.

Understandable. A remake of the offensive line is a major worry for the Tigers heading into the season but, for Jerry Palm, another writer for CBS Sports, he sees the season going a much different way for Malzahn, predicting that Auburn will be one of the last two teams out of the College Football Playoff.

Who will be right and who will be wrong? We shall start to see on Saturday, Sept. 26 as the Tigers host Kentucky in Jordan-Hare Stadium.

Jerry Palm discusses where Tennessee is most likely to go bowling

Tennessee will return to action in Week 13.

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KNOXVILLE – Tennessee (5-5, 3-3 SEC) will return to action in Week 13 following an open date.

The Vols will play at Missouri (5-5, 2-4 SEC) with kickoff slated for 7:30 p.m. ET.

A win would make Tennessee bowl eligible with a regular season finale home contest against Vanderbilt awaiting on Nov. 30.

Ahead of the Tennessee-Missouri game, Jerry Palm of CBS Sports provided his thoughts on where the Vols could go bowling in the postseason.

If UT finished the regular season with a 7-5 or 6-6 record, Palm views Tennessee’s bowl destination the same with six or seven wins.

“Their record does not really matter,” Palm told Vols Wire.

Palm mentioned Tennessee’s destination most likely “depends more on whether the Music City Bowl prefers Louisville (6-4, 4-3 ACC) or Kentucky (5-5, 3-5 SEC).”

“I think the Music City Bowl or Liberty Bowl are most likely,” Palm said of Tennessee. “The Texas Bowl and Belk Bowl are also in play with an outside chance at the Gator Bowl.”

Palm currently has Tennessee projected to play Louisville in the Music City Bowl on Dec. 30.