Tag: Stanford

Texas women’s basketball upsets No. 3 Stanford 61-56

Vic Schaefer’s squad made a statement on Sunday.

Vic Schaefer’s squad made a statement on Sunday. No. 25 Texas defeated No. 3 Stanford 61-56 behind a dominant fourth-quarter effort. The Horns outscored the Cardinal 26-16 to cap off the comeback.

Stanford is the defending national champion and owned the nation’s second-longest winning streak at 21 games.

The teams entered halftime dead even at 35 apiece. Stanford looked like they were starting to pull away late in the third quarter, Lexie Hull made a clutch three to put the Cardinal up five points going into the fourth.

Texas needed a spark on offense and junior Aliyah Matharu gave it to them. Matharu took over the game scoring 17 points in the fourth, shooting 4-4 from beyond the arc. When Texas needed someone to step up, Matharu was phenomenal.

Freshman guard Rori Harmon also had a great day scoring 21 points on 50 percent shooting. Harmon also hit two pivotal free throws down the stretch to help Texas leave Palo Alto with the upset.

Vic Schaefer is capitalizing off the momentum from their elite-eight run last season. Expect the Horns to take a massive leap in the next AP Top 25 poll.

 

ESPN FPI Projects Notre Dame’s conclusion to 2021

A slightly better than 1-in-3 chance Notre Dame wins out?

Notre Dame sits at 8-1, has a path, albeit a difficult one, to the College Football Playoff, and has three games they’ll be favored in remaining to close 2021.

How do the formulas see Notre Dame finishing this year?

We’ve looked at ESPN’s FPI throughout the year and looked at what kind of chances they give Notre Dame to win their remaining games.  Now with only three games left their outlook is bright for the Irish to finish 11-1.  Here is how they’re projecting the final three games of 2021 for Notre Dame:

Notre Dame rival blown out on Friday night

You hate to see it…

Since 1999 Notre Dame has closed every odd numbered regular season (aside from 2001 due to September 11 attacks) at Stanford.  The Irish will do that again in a few weeks but it doesn’t appear the host Cardinal will be putting their finest team in recent memory on the field.

Stanford handed Oregon their only loss to date back in early October, but they’ve been awful since.  On Friday night the Cardinal fell at home to Utah 52-7, a game they trailed 38-0 at halftime and were outgained 581-167 in.

Stanford was playing without quarterback Tanner McKee who was on crutches.  His availability is unknown going forward as Stanford head coach David Shaw said next may be a bit early for his return, but didn’t rule out a return in 2021 overall.

Notre Dame travels to Stanford on Thanksgiving weekend again this year and leads the all-time series with Stanford 20-13 after winning the last two meetings in the rivalry.  These Cardinal are a long way from the Stanford teams that won 7-of-9 games against Notre Dame from 2009-2017.

They did however somehow knock off Oregon this year.

Related:

Notre Dame football all-time vs. the Pac-12

Notre Dame now favored in all remaining games per ESPN FPI

ESPN’s FPI has changed their course on how Notre Dame will finish 2021 compared to what they had a week ago.

I have a love-hate relationship with ESPN’s Football Power Index.  I love it because it truly does help tell you some of the teams that have had better results than their play merits while also telling you some of the teams that perhaps have been bitten by bad luck.

With that said, teams that regularly find ways to lose games they shouldn’t, shouldn’t get the benefit of the doubt.  For example, the FPI formula still ranks Michigan 10 spots ahead of Michigan State despite the Spartans coming back and beating the Wolverines last week, and has both Florida (4-4) and Texas (4-4) ranked in their top-11.

With the good and bad in mind, here is what the FPI says about Notre Dame the rest of the way.  Remember, a week ago they had the Irish as an underdog in one remaining contest.

FPI currently has the Irish rated as the 14th best team in the nation.

Updated FPI projects a second Notre Dame loss

At this moment do you think Notre Dame finishes the season 11-1?

ESPN’s Football Power Index is something I have a love-hate relationship with.  I love more information and finding out which teams may be being over or undervalued in terms of their rankings, but also find some of their rankings to be laughable in just how much it appears they don’t value actual game outcomes.

With that all said, I still track it each week because I truly do find it to be interesting and at least partly informative.

FPI has been updated after college football’s seventh week of 2021 and the system that called for Notre Dame to be favored in all remaining games the last time we checked in now has the Irish losing one more time.

Find out the chances FPI gives Notre Dame in their remaining six games below:

Notre Dame roster for 2021-22 season

Who will be hooping it up for the Irish this season?

It feels like college basketball remains far away, but Midnight Madness just happened, so it’s closer than you think. To that end, we should look at who makes up Notre Dame’s roster for the upcoming season. Many believe this is the team that can get the program out of the doldrums and back on track towards respectability. A major step in getting people to believe that would be the Irish’s first NCAA Tournament selection since 2017, which also was the last year they finished above .500 against ACC opponents.

This will be the 22nd iteration of the Irish with Mike Brey as coach. Despite having more wins than anyone in program history, he has two losing seasons in the past three and three losing conference records over the past four years. If he isn’t able to get this group to reach its full potential, questions about his future in South Bend certainly will arise. Here are the players who could determine where both Brey and the program headed going forward:

How Notre Dame’s 2021 opponents fared in week six

Besides Cincinnati, which 2021 Notre Dame opponent is the most impressive?

No. 14 Notre Dame took an unconventional route to 5-1 over the weekend as quarterbacks were shuffled like deck chairs in what wound up being an improbable 32-29 victory at Virginia Tech.

Notre Dame now takes a break for their bye week before starting the second half of their season on October 23 when they play host to a struggling USC squad.

Here is how those USC Trojans and every other 2021 Notre Dame opponent fared in week six:

ESPN FPI’s latest Notre Dame season projections

You buying these projections at all?

No. 14 Notre Dame has been a difficult team to figure out through the first five games of 2021.  At times the offense has looked strong, defense has looked elite, and special teams have made some spectacular plays.

At other times the offense has looked dreadful, the defense has stumbled, and the special teams have given away possessions or missed chip shot kicks.

So what does the rest of the 2021 season have in store for this Fighting Irish team that has so many questions?

If things play out how ESPN’s latest FPI projections say, it could still mean big thing for the Irish.  Here are the chances the latest FPI gives Notre Dame in all seven of their remaining games:

Arizona State vs Stanford Prediction, Game Preview

Arizona State vs Stanford prediction, game preview, how to watch: Saturday, October 9

Arizona State vs Stanford prediction, game preview, how to watch: Saturday, October 9

Arizona State vs Stanford How To Watch

Date: Friday, October 8
Game Time: 10:30 ET
Venue: Sun Devil Stadium, Tempe, AZ
How To Watch: ESPN
Record: Arizona State (4-1), Stanford (3-2)
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Arizona State vs Stanford Game Preview

Why Stanford Will Win

The Cardinal have the team that can go into Tempe, hang a bunch of points on the board in a fun shootout, and hang on at the end for the win.

Okay, so Oregon gagged away last week’s 31-24 overtime loss, but Cardinal QB Tanner McKee made a whole lot of key plays to help get the team back in the game, and he bounced up off the mat to come through in the extra time.

McKee isn’t making mistakes with 11 touchdown passes and no picks, the offensive front is giving him enough time to work, and the passing game is steadily good enough to keep pressing.

But …

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Why Arizona State Will Win

The Sun Devil defense has turned into a force.

QB Jayden Daniels might be the start, and the downfield passing game might be wonderful, but it’s the other side that’s holding firm with the Pac-12’s No. 1 D.

UCLA was able to come up with 200 rushing yards and 235 passing, but the offense couldn’t keep up the pace in the second half after a wild and fun first half.

It’s a good formula. Covert on third downs without a problem on offense with a passing game that completes just about everything, and the defense does its part with a secondary that’s allowing just 146 yards per game.

Stop Stanford from throwing well, you stop Stanford.

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What’s Going To Happen

Stanford will keep up the pace early on.

There won’t be anything happening on the ground, but McKee will be good enough to keep pressuring an Arizona State team that was fine defensively UCLA and BYU, but has slightly skewed numbers thanks to playing Southern Utah, UNLV, and Colorado.

Daniels and the Sun Devils will break through in the second half with two quick scoring drives out of the locker room, and unlike last week, the late Cardinal chances will stall.

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Arizona State vs Stanford Prediction, Line

Arizona State 34, Stanford 27
Line: Arizona State -13, o/u: 52
ATS Confidence out of 5: 3

Must See Rating: 3.5

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Notre Dame tumbles out of Top-10 in USA TODAY Sports AFCA Coaches Poll

Another tumble for the Irish

The loss to Cincinnati is going to be looked back upon as a potential turning point for the Irish as it dropped them down to No. 13 in the latest USA TODAY Sports AFCA Coaches Poll. Many of us, myself included, wondered why Brian Kelly and offensive coordinator Tommy Rees didn’t turn to Drew Pyne earlier, as they opted not to play him at all in the first half.

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It was a true tale of two halves, as the Irish were blanked in first two quarters and took a 17-0 deficit against the Bearcats into halftime. They would win the second half, 13-7, but it wasn’t enough as the first half hole was too deep to dig out of.

As Nick Shepkowski said last night, it’s time to turn the reigns over to Pyne, after both Jack Coan and Tyler Buchner were ineffective in the first half.

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The first loss of the season will sting for a while, as the Irish seemed like the better team, but mistakes, mainly turnovers in their own territory, ultimately doomed them.

It does help that multiple other Top-25 teams lost, including No. 2 Georgia blanking No. 11 Arkansas, No. 3 Oregon getting upset against Stanford in overtime, No. 9 Florida falling to Kentucky, No. 13 Texas A&M losing at home to Mississippi State and No. 21 Fresno State lost to host Hawaii.

That means there was plenty of movement in this weeks newest Coaches Poll. Below are the updated rankings along with last weeks in parenthesis.

1 – Alabama (1)

2 – Georgia (2)

3 – Iowa (5)

4 – Penn State (6)

5 – Oklahoma (4)

6 – Cincinnati (8)

7 – Ohio State (10)

8 – Michigan (14)

9 – Oregon (3)

10 – BYU (15)

11 – Michigan State (16)

12 – Oklahoma State (18)

13 – Notre Dame (7)

14 – Kentucky (23)

15 – Coastal Carolina (16)

16 – Arkansas (11)

17 – Ole Miss (17)

18 – Florida (9)

19 – Auburn (22)

20 – Wake Forest (25)

21 – Clemson (19)

22 – North Carolina State (NR)

23 – Texas (NR)

24 – Southern Miss (NR)

25 – Arizona State (NR)