Tuesday, October 9, 2018

Mid week ramblings: week seven

First things first: Texas is back and Notre Dame is a playoff team. Both of those statements are true in the moment, but the validity of both is temporary until proven otherwise. Let's start with Texas being back; they obviously aren't back to the glory of Vince Young and Mack Brown, but they're as good as they've been since Brown was the head coach. It's only Tom Herman's second year leading the Longhorns' charge, and he's certainly pulled this program out of the miserable pit that it had resided in recent years. Now, all of this hype and excitement does not mean Herman's job is finished in Austin. Those boosters and fans are expecting rings during his tenure. But the current hoopla is definitely warranted, as Texas is ranked No. 9 in the country after beating three ranked opponents (at the time of their meeting) this season: No. 22 USC, No. 17 TCU, and No. 7 Oklahoma. This isn't an overhyped fluke in the slightest. The Longhorns are back for now, and it feels great to say. Looking ahead to the remainder of their schedule, the legitimacy of Texas will still be challenged. The biggest threats in the upcoming weeks are Oklahoma State in Stillwater, No. 6 West Virginia, and Texas Tech in Lubbock. Those three matchups come consecutively after this weekend's game against Baylor. The road that lies ahead is not an easy one, but in this moment, right here, right now, Texas is back.


In 2017, Notre Dame was very much in the playoff conversation up until mid November, when they got absolutely thrashed in Miami by the 'Canes 41-8. For now, the No. 5 Fighting Irish are a serious playoff contender with a 6-0 record and three wins in top 25 matchups (No. 14 Michigan, No. 7 Stanford, No. 22 Virginia Tech). The difference between Notre Dame's seat at the playoff discussion table this year compared to last season, is that due to the opponents that lie ahead, 2018's seat seems to be far more stable. The Irish have gotten through the toughest part of their schedule with a "zero" in the loss column, and they'll be favored in each of their remaining games. This Saturday they host a .500 Pitt team, and the Irish are favored by 20.5 points. The following week they host Navy, which won't result in a loss but could be a game that bangs them up a bit. Then we get to November, which seems a tad sketchy to me. Don't get me wrong, the Irish will be favorites in these games, but if a slip up does occur, I think November is the most threatening month of that possibility. November 3rd Notre Dame makes the quick trip to Evanston to take on Northwestern. The Wildcats just took down Michigan State and completely blew a lead over Michigan in the prior week. Northwestern can give good teams a hard time. The last two times these teams have faced off (2014, 1995), the Wildcats have come out on top in close ones. After Northwestern, the Irish face off against two traditional powerhouse programs that are currently in shambles: Florida State and USC. But sandwiched in between those two is the Shamrock Series game against Syracuse at Yankee Stadium. Between Syracuse's ability to compete and the uniqueness of the game's setting, it just gives off a vibe that even in the case of a Notre Dame win, the flow of gameplay might be thrown off a bit. Having said all of that, the Irish should win out, causing a whole flurry of playoff debates, which is what we live for. Everything has been clicking with them since Brian Kelly named Ian Book as the starter. After serving a four game suspension to start the season, running back Dexter Williams has certainly made his presence and value known since returning. The defense looks great and Julian Love just keeps making big plays. All is well in South Bend, and all is projected to remain that way. Also, I can't mention ND's Shamrock Series game at Yankee Stadium without mentioning their atrocious uniforms for that night:

That's not me being some anti-New York guy just hating the getups for having Yankee pinstripes. I couldn't care less about that. It's the fact that they're hideous that really grinds my gears. I mean, honestly, who gave this the green light? Some guy whose job it was to make them look cool? Something doesn't add up. As a matter of fact, of all the Shamrock Series uniforms, only a coupletwotree have been anywhere from decent to good. Don't mess with the classics unless you can make it look sick, which they've failed to do on multiple occasions.

Some other much more concise thoughts before this week's "games to watch" post:
  • It's just beating a dead horse at this point, but Alabama and Tua Tagovailoa are still seemingly unstoppable in 2018. Tua's current odds to win the Heisman are at -150 (next best odds: Dwayne Haskins +450) and the Tide's odds to win the National Championship are at -200 (next best odds: Clemson +750).
  • After the loss to Texas last weekend, Oklahoma fired defensive coordinator Mike Stoops. It's about time. 




  • There are eleven remaining undefeated teams this year: two from the SEC ('Bama, Georgia), two from the ACC (Clemson, NC State), one from the Pac 12 (Colorado), one from the BIG 10 (Ohio State), one from the Big 12 (West Virginia), and three from the AAC (Cincinnati, UCF, USF).
  • Boston College will be wearing throwback uniforms on Saturday against Louisville to honor the Doug Flutie days. If their quarterback isn't wearing that jersey in the manner of a sports bra like Flutie used to, it'll be a disappointment.

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