Tag: National Championship

ESPN analyst picks Clemson to win the National Championship in a wild bracket

This ESPN analyst sees Clemson shocking everyone.

ESPN analyst Sam Acho made bold predictions for the inaugural 12-team College Football Playoff, shocking many by picking Clemson as the national champion.

Acho pointed to the Tigers’ improvement throughout the season as a reason for his pick, highlighting the development of younger players like receivers T.J. Moore and Bryant Wesco Jr., as well as quarterback Cade Klubnik. “They’ve gotten better,” Acho said during ESPN’s Championship Drive. Clemson learned from its rough opener against Georgia, where it trailed just 6-0 at halftime before being blown out.

Clemson (10-3) earned its playoff spot after edging SMU in the ACC Championship Game, securing the No. 12 seed. They’re set to face No. 5 seed Texas (11-2) in the first round on Dec. 21 in Austin. Despite being an 11-point underdog, Acho predicts Clemson will upset Texas and move on to face No. 4 Arizona State.

Acho believes Clemson’s playoff run won’t stop there. He sees the Tigers defeating Arizona State in the quarterfinals and then shocking top-seeded Oregon in the semifinals, citing standout linebacker Barrett Carter and cornerback Avieon Terrell as keys to Clemson’s success.

Acho’s bracket has Clemson meeting Georgia in the championship game, a rematch of their season opener where the Bulldogs dominated 34-3. This time, however, Acho expects Clemson to get its revenge and claim its third national title under Dabo Swinney.

“They snuck into the playoff, but Clemson is talented,” Acho explained. “This team can pull off upsets and surprise everyone.

One projection has Notre Dame in College Football Playoff semifinals

Would you consider this to be a successful season?

All Notre Dame can do right now is wait for the conference championships to be awarded. After that, it’ll know who it’s playing in the first round of the College Football Playoff. What happens after that is anyone’s guess at the moment.

Still, Brett McMurphy of the Action Network has taken a crack at where he expects the Irish to be seeded and how far he expects them to go. His outlook for them at the moment is a very positive run.

In his latest playoff and bowl projections, McMurphy has the Irish grabbing the No. 5 seed, which is common for a lot of experts right now. He predicts them to win their first-round game over UNLV and then defeat Arizona State in the Fiesta Bowl quarterfinal. He has them falling to Oregon in the Cotton Bowl semifinal.

While this wouldn’t end the Irish’s national championship drought, it would mark a very successful season all things considered. Hopefully, it would be a stepping stone to finally winning that elusive title in 2025.

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Notre Dame women’s basketball swept during Cayman Islands Classic

Well, this certainly isn’t a pleasant way to get your first two losses.

The Notre Dame women’s basketball team got a rude awakening during the Cayman Islands Classic over Thanksgiving weekend. It’s hard to know if the tropical setting affected the Irish, but what is known is that the Irish won’t just cruise to a national championship.

One day after the Irish suffered their first loss of the season, a 76-68 decision to a ranked and undefeated TCU team, they lost, 78-67, to a Utah team that wasn’t even receiving votes in the latest poll. That drops the Irish to 5-2 on the season, and they most definitely will drop from their No. 3 ranking in the latest poll.

It was a real disappointment for the Irish after defeating USC in its own building, and the schedule won’t get any easier. They next face Texas in the ACC/SEC Challenge, which will come ahead of their ACC opener against Syracuse and then a game against fellow blue blood UConn.

This is a true test for the Irish, and how they tackle it will say a lot about them.

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Notre Dame women’s basketball gets biggest win of young season vs. USC

This was a monster win for the Irish.

(This story has been updated to add new information.)

Everyone wanted to see the Notre Dame and USC women’s basketball teams play each other. The biggest reason was to see [autotag]Hannah Hidalgo[/autotag] and JuJu Watkins go up against each other.

We got the first of what will be at least two meetings between the teams Saturday in Los Angeles, and the Irish emerged victorious over the Trojans, 74-61. With both teams expected to be national championship contenders, this was the biggest win of the season so far.

The Irish (5-0) never trailed against the Trojans (4-1), who only tied the game twice and not at all after the 4:07 mark of the first quarter. That was the result of the Irish beating the Trojans with superior defense and a high-paced offense that took far more advantage of its opportunities. Their 17-9 steals advantage contributed mightily to their 20-8 advantage in fast break points.

The Irish’s biggest lead was at 21, and the Trojans scored eight straight points at the end to make the final score closer.

Hidalgo scored 16 of her 24 points in the first half. She also had a game-high five steals, but [autotag]Liatu King[/autotag] made up for missing the Irish’s last game by collecting four of her own steals as well as a game-high 11 rebounds.

[autotag]Olivia Miles[/autotag] collected 14 of her 20 points in the second half. That included hitting a career-high four 3-pointers for the third time in her collegiate career and the second straight game in which she reached that mark.

Watkins also scored 24 points, 19 of which came in the second half. Kiki Iriafen had 15 points and finished one rebound shy of a double-double. Talia von Oelhoffen, who helped Oregon State eliminate the Irish in last season’s NCAA Tournament, added 10 points.

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Notre Dame forward reaches stat line achieved only by Anthony Davis

Quite a comparison.

As excited as Notre Dame fans are about [autotag]Hannah Hidalgo[/autotag] and [autotag]Olivia Miles[/autotag], they want to look at a third potential star if they aren’t already. Freshman forward [autotag]Kate Koval[/autotag] was inserted into the starting lineup during the Irish’s season opener and has been nothing short of phenomenal.

Through three games, Koval has a total of 40 points, 33 rebounds, eight assists and 15 blocks. According to OptaSTATS, only one other Division I freshman, men or women, has achieved at least that stat line over that span. That freshman is Anthony Davis, who did it in his final three games with Kentucky en route to the 2012 national championship.

Davis’ stat line objectively was better at 42 points, 41 rebounds, eight assists and 17 blocks. That won him the Most Outstanding Player award.

Only time will tell whether Koval can keep up this level of production. That she already is drawing comparisons to Davis this early though indicates that the Irish might have hit yet another home run with her.

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Notre Dame women’s basketball clobbers Purdue on road for second win

Make that two blowout wins to start the season.

If an opponent isn’t contending for an ACC or national championship, Notre Dame is likely to run it out of the gym. That’s exactly what happened during the Irish’s first road game of the season against Purdue. Much like with the football team less than two months earlier, this game was never close as the Irish won, 102-58.

The Irish (2-0) scored the game’s first nine points before jumping out to an 18-3 lead and never looking back. Every time the Boilermakers (1-1) got any sort of momentum going, the Irish answered and often expanded their lead. They gave themselves more scoring chances with plays on both ends of the floor and took full advantage.

[autotag]Hannah Hidalgo[/autotag] had a trademark night with 28 points and six steals. [autotag]Liatu King[/autotag] did a tall player’s impression of Hidalgo, scoring 18 points and recording four steals. She also achieved a double-double with 15 rebounds.

[autotag]Olivia Miles[/autotag] scored 17 points, which included this ridiculous shot from beyond half-court as time expired on the third quarter:

[autotag]Sonia Citron[/autotag] added 14 points in her season debut after missing the opener with an injury, and [autotag]Kate Koval[/autotag] grabbed 10 rebounds while coming within two-points of a double-double.

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Notre Dame football will host SMU in 2026, replacing Virginia

This time, the Mustangs won’t be fresh off the death penalty.

Notre Dame football plays five ACC opponents every season in exchange for retaining its independence. While we are told who the Irish will play well into the next decade, that opponents list can change anytime. We just got an example of that.

The ACC has announced that the Irish will host SMU during the 2026 season on a date yet to be determined. This game will replace the one against Virginia that was scheduled for Oct. 17 of that season. This will allow the Cavaliers to play the first of two games they have scheduled against West Virginia, a series that was concurrently announced.

This will be the first time the Irish and Mustangs have met since the Irish earned a crushing 59-6 victory in 1989. At that time, the Irish were the top team in the country and fresh off their most recent national championship. The Mustangs, meanwhile, were fresh off the death penalty sidelining them for two years.

The playing field should be a little more even this time. That should at least make this game more competitive.

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Duke commit Cameron Boozer picks Blue Devils as 2025 national championship favorites

After committing to Duke last month, Cameron Boozer said on Wednesday that the Blue Devils should be favored for the 2025 national title.

After recently committing to Duke in October, five-star forward [autotag]Cameron Boozer[/autotag] has since been speaking about the team whenever he’s given the chance. Most recently, he gave a prediction for the 2024-25 national championship favorite. He, of course, picked the Blue Devils.

In a conversation with League Ready on Wednesday, Boozer gave a strong vote of confidence for superstar freshman Cooper Flagg and his future team.

“For me, for sure,” said Boozer when asked if his future team should be the favorites. “I think they’re super talented. If you look at their roster from top to bottom, they got guys who were amazing in high school and amazing in college.”

“Everyone can hoop,” he continued. “They have great chemistry. They compete. On my visit, I got to see them compete a little bit at their practice. So, I think they’re gonna have a really good season.”

One could argue the Blue Devils should be favored next season once Boozer arrives on campus as well. He and his twin brother, Cayden, both committed to the Blue Devils on Oct. 11. According to 247Sports, Cameron is the No. 2 player in the 2025 recruiting class and Cayden is the No. 21 player. Four-star forward Nikolas Khamenia, the No. 19 player in the rankings, joined them in the 2025 Duke recruiting class on October 22.

Chicago Sports Network talks CFP implications for Notre Dame-Navy

This game will be big.

The annual matchup between Notre Dame and Navy carries heavier weight than usual this year. Both teams are ranked coming into this game, and that’s big given the expanded College Football Playoff.

The panel on “The Big College Football Show”, which airs on the Chicago Sports Network, discussed the playoff implications for this game. The stakes for the Irish are obvious in that they’re on shaky ground and certainly would have been out of the running already under the old four-team format.

The Midshipmen are putting their perfect record on the line against the Irish, and a victory here would give them a convincing argument to be the Group of Five representative in this year’s bracket. To have one of the service academies included during the first year of the playoff would be one terrific story.

Only one team can emerge victorious in this contest, and the outcome could determine the course of the rest of both teams’ seasons.

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CBS to broadcast Notre Dame-North Carolina men’s basketball game

A sign that the Irish are drawing interest.

The Notre Dame men’s basketball team is on the verge of something special. It won’t happen this year, but it likely will when the Irish’s top-ranked 2025 recruiting class comes in. Until then, there’s interest in where the Irish currently stand.

To that end, CBS Sports unveiled its regular-season schedule for its longstanding college basketball coverage, and the Irish will be part of it. Specifically, they will help tip off a tripleheader of games for CBS on Jan. 4 when they welcome North Carolina to Purcell Pavilion.

This will be the first time the Irish have played on CBS since they picked up a 64-63 road victory over Kentucky on Dec. 12, 2020. It didn’t broadcast any of the three games the Irish played during their last NCAA Tournament appearance in 2022.

The last time the network broadcast a game from South Bend was an 82-55 loss to Virginia on Jan. 26, 2019. The Cavaliers went on to win that year’s national championship:

Here’s hoping the Irish will rise to the occasion of getting national exposure on college basketball’s most prestigious broadcast coverage.

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