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Opponent Watch: Weeknight Delivery Edition

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Florida State at Louisville (Thu 7:30pm ET ESPN)

Louisville QB Will Gardner. Not related to Michigan QB Devin Gardner. Source: Kansas City Star

On Thursday, Louisville QB Will Gardner will attempt to do something Everett Golson could not: lead his team to a victory over Florida State.
Source: Kansas City Star

Hope you enjoyed the bye week, Loyal Readers, because we’re all saddled up for the stretch run. Brian Kelly is 13-3 in November as head coach of Notre Dame, but the focus of this post lies outside of South Bend.

On Thursday night, Jameis Winston takes his Humble Pie to play another Notre Dame opponent, Louisville. The Cardinals play in Papa Johns Stadium, so we’ll infer this Humble Pie comes with pepperoni, but hold the anchovies. This game is a wash from an opponent strength-of-schedule perspective, but a Louisville victory would have significant playoff implications for FSU, the Irish, and a host of other teams.

I can’t bring myself to cheer for Jameis — I’m pretty sure that Jimbo Fisher and the Tallahassee Police are about the only ones left in his corner — but I’ll be interested in seeing how FSU bounces back after their physical (and emotional?) week leading up to the ND game.

Whatever the result here on Thursday, let’s hope the Irish take care of business themselves on Saturday night against Navy.

Strength-of-Schedule Rankings

Rank

Team

Record

Weekly Change
15 Southern Cal 5-3 -2
19 North Carolina 4-4 +4
20 Syracuse 3-5 -4
30 Arizona State 6-1 -12
32 Michigan 3-5 -18
33 Stanford 5-3 +8
35 Northwestern 3-4 +4
36 Notre Dame 6-1 +2
41 Florida State 7-0 +5
43 Purdue 3-5 —
66 Louisville 6-2 -3
101 Navy 4-4 -4
132 Rice 4-3 +67

Upcoming Opponents

  • Northwestern at Iowa (Sat 12:00pm ET Big Ten Network)
  • USC at Washington State (Sat 4:30pm ET Pac 12 Network)
  • Utah at Arizona State (Sat 11:00pm ET Fox Sports 1)

Past Opponents

  • Rice at Florida International (Sat 12:00pm ET)
  • North Carolina at Miami (Sat 12:30pm ET ESPN Gameplan)
  • North Carolina State at Syracuse (Sat 3:00pm ET ESPN Gameplan)
  • Purdue at Nebraska (Sat 3:30pm ET ABC)
  • Indiana at Michigan (Sat 3:30pm ET Big Ten Network)
  • Stanford at Oregon (Sat 7:30pm ET FOX)
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