Not only should the Bye Week help this team recover from a brutal 8 weeks, but the offense should, should, look much better now that they’re facing the 4 worst defenses ND has faced all year (with the exception of Purdue).

First 8 Opponents’ Total Defensive Ranks as of Today:

• Georgia Tech: 9
• Penn State: 7
• Michigan: 34
• Michigan State: 29
• Purdue: 59
• UCLA: 26
• Boston College: 29
• Southern Cal: 3

Final 4 Opponents’ Total Defensive Ranks as of Today:

• Navy: 99
• Air Force: 57
• Duke: 98
• Stanford: 102

So the first 8 opponents have averaged a 24.5 ranking. Granted, the first 8 opponents are bolstered by their games against ND, but let’s estimate a 10 place bonus having played ND, and that means their “normalized” average rank would be 34.5, so let’s call that 35. Our last 4 opponents are averaging out to a rank of 89th. That’s a massive, massive difference in quality of defense. Hell, make the “ND Bonus” 20 spots. It would still be a difference of almost 45 spots in the rankings. And ND actually made the Purdue defense look as bad as they really are, so there’s hope for these final 4 games. Nay, I’d dare say there’s an expectation, a very reasonable one, that the offense should finally start to “click” in these last 4 games and create some momentum for Spring practices.

By the way, ND reverted to its old ways on Saturday, giving up 5 sacks in the game (their average even after only giving up a couple in each of the last few games). The good news, is that Navy is ranked 119th in sacks, Air Force is ranked 72nd, Duke is 52nd, and Stanford is ranked a surprising 15th.