A strange thing has happened with Notre Dame. Somehow, someway, the Fighting Irish are flying under the radar. While we all spent the last week arguing about one Indiana program, a different one has been tearing the competition limb from limb, week after week, in a fashion similar to the Hoosiers’ first nine games.
Notre Dame’s dominance was on display against Army in Yankee Stadium Saturday night in the 100 year anniversary of the famed “Four Horseman” game, with famed sportswriter Grantland Rice’s opening emblazoned in center field: “outlined against a blue-gray October sky, the Four Horsemen rode again.”
They didn’t need a quartet, all they needed was one guy wearing the number four on his jersey: Jeremiyah Love. His seven rushes for 130 yards and two touchdowns were more than enough in a 49-14 win. Once the Irish cashed in their second touchdown off a blocked punt in the first quarter, the rest seemed like a waste of time for all involved.
Notre Dame has the oddest résumé of the College Football Playoff race’s upper crust. Similarly to Penn State, the 12-team format is tailor-made for a team like the Irish: take a loss early in the year, but still have a suitable path to the title. They have a good win at Texas A&M in Week 1 that could get even better over the next couple of weeks depending on the outcome of the SEC race. But the Irish also have that head-scratcher to Northern Illinois, which is 6-5 and not even close to the MAC title game.
Still, Notre Dame has been a force, particularly on defense. Only NIU (16) and Louisville (24) have scored more than 14 points on the Irish this season.
Without a conference, the best Notre Dame can do is host a first-round game, which it’s in the driver’s seat to do with a win over USC on Saturday. The script is simple: the Irish get up, and then they suffocate you. They’re outscoring opponents by 32.6 ppg over their current nine-game win streak.
Underlying numbers show an offense that may struggle to play from behind but is thankfully attached to a defense that renders the point moot. Their offense is not explosive through the air; they’re right at the median nationally at number of plays over 20 and 30 yards, as well as passes with 0 or fewer air yards. They are 123rd nationally in passes that go 11-19 air yards and 100th in passes going 20+ air yards.
This dominance is built on positive game scripts and executing complementary football, because the defense is approximately the best in the country right now even without cornerback Benjamin Morrison (out of the season) and defensive lineman Howard Cross (who they’ll likely get back at least for the postseason). Special teams will need to be cleaned up. Two missed field goals (one blocked) meant the Army score could have been even more lopsided. (Ask Indiana what happens when its special teams aren’t special against an elite team.)
The Northern Illinois loss is more than enough to justify skepticism. Inexplicable bogies are not unprecedented under coach Marcus Freeman (see: Marshall, 2022), and this team’s post-NIU schedule has also not tested them much outside of the Louisville game. Mix that with Notre Dame’s past postseason letdowns and … you get it. What’s going to happen when they play a team with an approximate level of talent in the postseason? The Irish have been flat embarrassed in their two appearances in the four-team iteration.
Freeman has been building the program for this. Is Notre Dame’s dominance a product of its schedule, or has it turned the corner from a very good program to a true elite? The Irish are a win away from getting to prove that by exorcizing postseason demons.
Notable quotable
Ohio State quarterback WIll Howard seems to be keenly interested in search engine optimization after the win over Indiana. He was spotted by cameras yelling “Google that s—” a nod to Indiana coach Curt Cignetti’s viral quote “I win, Google me.”
“I just try to say we don’t listen to that stuff on social media, but we hear it, man,” Howard told Fox’s Jenny Taft. “I was just having some fun with it. I got a lot of respect for those guys, man. I think what coach Cignetti’s done over there, he’s done a heck of a job.
“But the Buckeyes are here and the Buckeyes won, so you can Google that.”
Stat of the week
William & Mary‘s Hollis Mathis became the second player in the history of college football to throw for 1,000 yards, rush for 1,000 yards and have 1,000 yards receiving in a career. Mathis is a sixth-year senior who came to Williamsburg as a quarterback out of high school and was initially the first freshman to start for the Tribe in 44 years. After a shoulder injury and the COVID-shortened season, Mathis switched positions and continued to produce. He’s the team’s leading receiver this year. According to the team website, he also volunteers as a strength and conditioning coach with the women’s basketball team and as a commentator and analyst for the men’s basketball team.
Cockpit accoutrement of the week
The Monday Read would love to know how the folks at Idaho got the first ever Potato State trophy (a 20 pound wooden spud) through TSA.
Signature moment of the week
Arizona State running back Cam Skattebo pulled a Terrell Owens when he signed a football after scoring a touchdown (Google the T.O. clip, kids).
Coach Kenny Dillingham wasn’t thrilled by that, but all’s well that ends well after the Sun Devils pulled out the victory and Dillingham ate a Skatburger. It certainly took a while after a lengthy delay due to a premature field storming that had to be cleared in order for BYU to run one last play. It was the second time this season, a second has been added to the clock in a Sun Devils game, much to Dillingham’s chagrin.
Field stormings are fine, having been on the field for a handful of them; however, it is ridiculous that they’re starting to happen before the game is even over. But a few things about them are true and they don’t mean what they used to. Typically, they were only for big upset games (unless you’re Clemson, which rushes the field after every home win to meet at the paw). But it seems in the last few years, something has shifted and field stormings have become a right of passage — particularly for students whenever a big game is won surprisingly.
Field storming is not without risks to everyone on the field. Whether they’re a willing participant or not, people can and will get hurt. Once thousands of folks decide they want to rush a field, there’s only so much you can do to stop it. Tip of the cap to Dillingham for sending his security to make sure ESPN sideline reporter Taylor McGregor was safe in the chaos.
The schools can claim they’re concerned by the risks, but they know the scene is catnip for TV and fuel new student recruitment and general fanbase fervor. They’ll happily pay the fine, put some more security by the stands for the next home game and keep it going because having a football team that can produce those moments is worth a hefty cost.
Interim performance of the week
ECU interim coach Blake Harrell is now 4-0 with three wins against coaches that are now fired and a fourth on Saturday over North Texas. That interim tag is now expected to be removed, 247Sports confirms. Without a significantly attractive power-conference opening, ECU is the most attractive job open on the market right now. But if you ask the Pirates players, their choice is clear.
Ground game of the week
There’s an apocryphal quote attributed to Woody Hayes about the forward pass to the effect of three things can happen when you do it and two of them are bad, so why do it? As is annual tradition, one of the service academies gets the job done the old fashioned way, and it is glorious.
CFP update of the week
- Oregon (auto, Big Ten)
- Texas (auto, SEC)
- Miami (auto, ACC)
- Boise State (auto, Mountain West)
- Ohio State
- Notre Dame
- Penn State
- Georgia
- Tennessee
- SMU
- Indiana
- Arizona State (auto, Big 12)
First four out: Clemson, Iowa State, Alabama, Texas A&M
Heisman performance of the week
Duke‘s Eli Pancol had 188 yards receiving on five catches, doing the bulk of his damage in the first quarter with touchdown catches of 86 and 77 yards, in a 31-28 win over Virginia Tech. It was an elite day for a wideout that didn’t enter the game as his team’s leading receiver, but he certainly left it as such.
Meal of the week: The Monday Read’s Freindsgiving Turkey
An annual holiday tradition in this household is a 24-hour salt-brined spatchcocked turkey roasted with an herb mayo slathered all over it. The recipe is courtesy of the great food scientist and chef J. Kenji Lopez-Alt, and it’s a foolproof way to get a turkey that isn’t dry, has deep flavor, and cooks in about 90 minutes. Once you do it this way, there’s a good bet you’ll never go back. (And, no, you can’t taste the mayo.) Allow us to be the first to wish you and yours a Happy Thanksgiving.
Richard Johnson, CBS Sports
Thing TMR is already excited for next week
Two words: rivalry week.
