ND Opponent Update

Now that we're 2 weeks in, let's see how ND's scheduled foes look in their starts to the season.

Purdue.

In Week 1, Purdue put up some fight but lost to our Irish. In Week 2, the WarmWaterMakers pulled off a 31-21 Win against, gasp, Western Illinois. Look for them Medium-sized Drum Owners to be 4-1 after their matchups with Ball State and Toledo before they play NWU to kick off Conference play.

Michigan.

After their strong W over UCONN, we all know that UM (who sucks) came in and took a painful victory out of South Bend. Which sucked. Now they play a Middle School team called UMass followed by Bowling Green and Indiana. Without a meltdown, UM will be 5-0 going into MSU.

MSU.

The Spartans started off okay, notching W's against W. Michigan and FAU. FAU actually made it interesting for a few minutes though, but Sparty pulled away. They haven't looked amazing, but they're another decent squad that will force ND to play well to beat. After their loss to ND this weekend, they'll notch a W against Northern Colorado before playing Wisconsin.

Stanford.

2-0 after beating Sacrificial Sacramento State and a WHOMPING of horrible UCLA. Tough to know much from either game, other than Ricky is screwed at OOOH-KLA. They'll be tested this week against Wake, but I expect a W there to be undefeated coming into the ND game. With ND, Oregon and USC in a row they won't be undefeated for long though.

BC.

BC is 2-0 as well after beating two 'state' teams. Meaning, after beating nobody. Weber and Kent State (which, hold on. how can there be "Weber State"? "Kent State"? There's no freaking state called Weber, and no state called Kent!!! WTF?) aren't big tests, but BC won both. This week will be the test with Va Tech. Clearly VT was way over-rated to start the year, but it will be a good test to see where BC is, as VT is going to be PISSED coming off that James Madison upset. BC also has a BYE the week before they play us, so they'll be nice and rested.

Pitt.

After starting pre-season 15 despite having a crappy QB that had never played, a lot of folks are down on Pitt. But they followed up their tough loss to Utah with a win over (gasp!) New Hampshire 38-16 to go to 1-1. This week they'll take on another team that's dropped quickly in everyone's minds in Miami. Then they have FIU before ND. Pitt could go either way at this point, so we'll have to wait and see. But suffice it to say, they're not the Pitt we thought they were.

Western Michigan.

After the 38-14 Loss to MSU, WM went on to beat Nicholls State. (The Colonels!) So apparently even WMU can find whipping boys. Great. They'll have a 'rough' go of it vs Toledo, Idaho and Ball State before they come into ND.

Navy.

Navy lost a nail-biter to Maryland opening week by INSISTING on fumbling over and over inside the 10 yard line, and then going for it on 4th and 1 with seconds left. They followed that tough loss up with a barely-win over Georgia Southern 13-7. Navy isn't looking like the team of the past few years thus far.

Tulsa.

Suffered a brutal 51-49 loss in a defensive struggle with ECU in Week 1, and beat Bowling Green Week 2 33-20. Lots of football to play between now and the ND game, but Tulsa isn't showing anything we didn't expect.

Utah.

At 14, Utah is the highest ranked team on the schedule currently. After the nail-biter W over Pitt, they handled UNLV 38-10 to go to 2-0 and that 14 ranking. No real tough tests for Utah til November when they play TCU (#4) before the ND game.

Army.

Army is 1-1 after beating the Eastern side of Michigan and losing to Hawaii. They have good commercials, but they're not going to be great this year. Is what it is.

USC.

USC, another 'ranked' (in quotes bc it means nothing) team at 18, isn't looking like its former self either. Sloppy play, terrible defense, and inconsistent offense has resulted in a shaky 2-0 start against Hawaii and Virginia. But note, Hawaii wracked up crazy yards and UVA held USC to 17 points at the Coliseum. NOTE: UVA MADE IT A GAME. The time is here. The streak ends this year.

NOTE: Looking around at all these other schedules, ND lines up like a freaking widowmaker! Nicholls State? Kent State? Weber State? FC Junior High JV? Some of these matchups are absurd. I'm glad we don't play these kinds of programs, but even in a 'down' year our schedule is much more difficult because we just don't line up the patsies like these programs do.