Tag: NCAA football

Notre Dame vs Clemson: Confidences & Concerns

What to like and not like about Notre Dame’s trip to Clemson…

In an ideal world, Notre Dame versus Clemson in November would be a game with playoff implications, not only for both teams involved but for the country as well. As it turns out, that won’t be the case as these two squads will meet with a total of six losses on their combined ledger. But that doesn’t mean the game isn’t important or doesn’t matter.

This will be Notre Dame’s toughest remaining game. If they can manage to notch a victory in Death Valley, the path to 10-2 looks very promising with games against Wake and Stanford remaining. Let’s examine some confidences and concerns Irish fans may have entering this matchup between two teams that had playoff aspirations that won’t be fulfilled regardless of the outcome.

Clemson Is Down, Can The Irish Put Them Out?

Not your typical Clemson game…

Due to the bizarre nature of Notre Dame’s schedule this year, the final 1/3 block of games set up for the Irish very well. After the bye the Irish hosted Pitt. They then travel to Death Valley to face Clemson before having another break before rounding out the year against Wake Forest at home and then a trip to Palo Alto. Notre Dame must have a clean sweep of four wins in this stretch to possibly reach an New Years Six bowl game, the biggest remaining attainable big-picture goal for the year.

Up next for the Irish is their trip to Death Valley. One that has been circled on the calendar forever. It’s the final of the “big 3” matchups this year and is a huge measuring stick game. But this Clemson team isn’t what we are used to seeing from Dabo Swinney. His Tigers are 4-4 and are truly struggling.

Let’s examine the opportunity that lies ahead for the Irish this week.

Notre Dame Crushes Narduzzi & Pitt

Just a reminder – Notre Dame beat the daylights out of Pitt on Saturday.

The big question exiting the bye for Notre Dame was could the Irish manhandle an inferior opponent at home or would this turn into an all-afternoon ugly Pitt slugfest, the kind Notre Dame fans are quite familiar with when it comes to playing Pitt? The answer was quite emphatic as Notre Dame destroyed the Panthers to the tune of a 58-7 blowout.

For the Irish to hope for a spot in a New Year’s Six bowl game of note, they must end the year at 10-2 and go 4-0 in this final 1/3 portion of the season. Certainly, Pitt is a bad football team this year. The Irish have faced many of these over the years and struggled to dismantle them. Not this afternoon. Notre Dame dominated.

Let’s examine some particular notes of interest from this lopsided Narduzzi meltdown-inducing game.

Notre Dame vs. Pitt: Confidences & Concerns

The stretch run to 2023 starts with Pesky Pitt

Notre Dame has emerged from their very much past due bye week to greet perpetual whiner Pat Narduzzi and his 2-5 Pitt Panthers at Notre Dame Stadium Saturday afternoon. What will the Irish look like coming out of the bye?

Can fans realistically expect to see a more effective offense?

For as brutal as the last four game stretch was, the back end of this schedule is lightening up. Pitt is 2-5 coming off a brutal loss to Wake’s 3rd string QB and Clemson choked a game away against Miami for their third loss of the season. The remaining slate is very gettable for the Irish, but only if they show up focused and ready to perform.

Let’s take a look at some confidences & concerns Irish fans may have entering this contest.

How Notre Dame broke USC

You really just hate to see it.

Last Saturday’s college football slate was loaded with intriguing matchups. With Notre Dame on bye, fans were able to soak in a wonderfully entertaining slate of games stress-free. This was a well-deserved break for everyone.

Of all the action that occurred, Southern Cal losing to Utah’s backup quarterback and a last-second field goal had to be the highlight for Notre Dame fans eating cheeseburgers all weekend.

Just a couple of short weeks ago [autotag]Caleb Williams[/autotag] was in the hunt to repeat as the Heisman winner and USC, while flawed, were still undefeated and feeling themselves, in true LA fashion.

Then Notre Dame happened.

My how the tone inside and outside the Trojan program has changed quickly. Let’s examine the latest downfall of Troy more closely.

Notre Dame-USC Fallout: The Fight Of The Irish

A bounce back of EPIC proportions for the Irish

Many different outcomes to this game seemed perfectly reasonable heading into it. However, I’m not sure anyone saw a Notre Dame blowout and beat down of the reigning Heisman winner coming, especially when considering what a hard journey the last month has been for the team.

Marcus Freeman needed this win. The players needed this win, and the fans needed this win. Quite frankly, Notre Dame needed this win. It felt as though whatever amount of energy jolt the team couldn’t dip into last week for whatever reason was carried over into this week tenfold. Never a dull moment with Notre Dame, that’s for sure.

There’s nothing that could be done in this game that could rewrite the final scores of the Louisville and Ohio State games. A Cardinals team that lost to Pitt by the way. The only thing the Irish could do to get back on track in every practical and perceptual way one could imagine was to win this game. And, boy, did they, in a very Clemson 2022-ish type fashion.

Let’s examine a few key areas from this mega bounce-back performance.

Notre Dame vs USC: Winning Is The Best Medicine

Winning is the only thing that will cure these Notre Dame blues…

Notre Dame nation is in an odd place this week. Questioning this team. The coach. Themselves. Trust was broken with this Louisville performance and it’s hard for fans to tell where exactly this team is at. And why it’s there? And how will it be moving forward? Simply put, there is doubt. Justifiable doubt. There’s only one way out of this mess in the short term. Beat USC.

Winning cures all. At least in the short term. If Notre Dame can somehow knock off the Trojans they’d be able to at least enter the bye with one elite-level win feather in their cap trending up into a week to regroup. If things go poorly against USC however, the bottom will have completely fallen out and the bye will be filled with nothing but negativity.

Let’s examine just how critical a win over the Trojans would be.

Notre Dame Football: Picking Up The Pieces

Notre Dame looks to pick up the pieces and make something of what’s left in 2023.

Notre Dame is in a tough spot right now, both big picture and small. Look at their current stretch of games. An emotion-draining last-second loss to Ohio State, followed up by a physical last-second escape against a rock-solid undefeated Duke team, then a trip to the hornet nest that was unblemished Louisville’s home turf. The Irish have dropped 2 of these games eliminating them from the playoff this year and have the reigning Heisman winner heading to town this week yet to come.

Given the Louisville result, it’s obvious that there are now big-picture concerns regarding this program overall and not just week-to-week ones of improved execution. Before any of these big-picture concerns can be addressed, Notre Dame has a handful of games left to play. They must find ways to improve now. There isn’t a minute to be wasted with your nemesis heading to town.

Let’s examine some quick fixes the Irish can implore to try and knock off Caleb Williams and the rest of his Hollywood Hotshot teammates.

5 takeaways from the latest AP Poll

Roll Tide Wire analyzes the latest AP Poll and provides five takeaways as well.

During Week 6, there were several upsets and other nail-biters. Some fans were on the edge of their seats while others watched in awe as their teams dropped very meaningful games. Whatever the case may be, the AP voters were forced to make some critical decisions.

It was certainly interesting to see where some of the winning teams were elevated in the rankings as opposed to where some of the losing teams fell in the rankings. Needless to say, it was eye-opening to see how the AP Poll shaped out on Sunday morning.

Roll Tide Wire provides five takeaways from the latest AP Poll following Week 6 of the 2023 season.