As far as last week went…goodness, blood everywhere. Pretty much everyone had an upset and only one person hit the spread correctly! Now that the dust has settled, we have a new leader at the top of the standings. Before we get there though, here are my favorite quotes from the week:

Two weeks to prepare for triple option pays off and the defense shuts down navy’s offense. Our offense gets rolling by pounding the rock with Folston and opens up the pass. Golson with 3-4 TD passes today – Irishyoder1

Bonus point earned for calling both the impressive Folston and Golson performances.

We come out and we’re angry. – Smalls

Even though the score was closer than we all would have liked, this team did certainly play pissed. Point for you!

Maddening, frustrating first quarter, followed by a brilliant second and third. With 8 minutes left in the 4th, buckle your safety belts and return your seat backs and tray tables to their upright and locked positions…we’re heading to Zaire. – stogiesnbeer

I wish this is how the game went. The maddening quarter was the third, which canceled the flight to Zaire.

ND out-rushes Navy. Enough said. – NDSeattle

For most of the game, you were right. For that kind of crazy prediction…hell, I’m giving you the point.

Navy, classically will be out flanked through the air and on the ground. More fittingly, the Navy will be controlled by an Admiral (Junior) and an interception in the third quarter. When in the third and by whom you ask? Mid, Schmidt-man. – @IrishMoonJ

NONE OF THIS HAPPENED! I’m blaming the Schmidt injury on you for this jinx. I AWARD YOU NO POINTS AND MAY GOD HAVE MERCY ON YOUR SOUL!

Style points achievement unlocked. – @ManCaveQB

I don’t think this is what we unlocked…

Standings

Bonus Points:

• Quotes (1 point each): Irishyoder1, Smalls, NDSeattle
• Only person to hit the spread (1 point): Irish Elvis
• Called ND Score exactly (1 point): Philly Kelly

HLS Predictions

Here’s how we’re calling the ND/Arizona State battle in the desert.

Animal Picks

Yes, my cat, Gulliver, may be 1-7 in his straight up winner picks, but he is now 5-3 against the spread, which I’m almost sure is better than my ND spread picks, but I’m too lazy to go through all the previous week’s results to check. Let’s see what he did this week:

Like clockwork by this point. Go Irish!

The post Predictions: Let’s Have a Devil of a Time appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

Enter Brian Freamau, member of the advanced statistics site, Football Outsiders, who came up with the  efficiency rating, FEI, that is an essential competent of the F/+ rating, which is another favorite of ours to use (and has been in every opponent preview this season). As a part of the FEI rating, Brian has calculated his own strength of schedule rating on his personal site, BCF Toys.

But that’s a hell of a lot of sports math on a single page right? And truthfully, data visualization is so crucial to make such huge tables of data easily digestible. Well, thanks to his friends at Chartball.com, Brian has managed to do just that. Behold the SOS of all of college football:

via BCF Toys

And the SOS for ND:

via BCF Toys

Here’s a better look at the ND SOS when the chart is organized by FEI rank:

via BCF Toys

How about the SOS for each conference?

via BCF Toys

And that view just might be my favorite.

We always hear how the SEC has the toughest schedules in all of college football. In fact, we heard this ad nauseum when Notre Dame was about to take on Alabama in the championship game two seasons ago. However, that big gray dot in the “others” section shows Notre Dame with schedule that is right in the thick of it when compared to the SEC. Hilariously enough, Alabama has the weakest SEC schedule.

Even more interesting to me is how the Pac-12 stacks right up there with the SEC. In fact, their schedules are collectively tougher on average than the SEC. With Oregon and Stanford holding down the fort with consistently great seasons, teams like UCLA and Arizona State on the rise, and the persistent threat that is Southern Cal, this really shouldn’t be a surprise to us.

Also not surprising: the B1G having the worst SOS out of the “power 5” conferences. That dot all the way to the left side of shame? That’s Iowa.

Other fun notes:

• Utah just edges out Auburn for top SOS pre-season
• The worst SOS by quite a bit: Marshall
• That huge outlying dot on the left side of shame in the Big XII? Oklahoma.
• The two teams taking it easy this season in the ACC: Duke and Pitt.

I’ve asked Brian if this will be updated throughout the season and he stated it will update along with his weekly FEI ratings (which in turn give him new SOS ratings). I can’t wait to play with this all season and see how this chart moves throughout 2014, especially when the playoff debate heats up.

Be sure to head over to BCF Toys and give it a spin. It’s a great waste of time.

The post Notre Dame’s Strength of Schedule Visualized appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

I’ve had a planned vacation for a while that starts next week and work has decided to get incredibly crazy so I will be out of the country as soon as I get back. Basically, I won’t be back until July. Seriously.

So I’ll be taking a bit of a hiatus and Bayou will handle the Roundup duties while I’m out. Once the 4th of July weekend hits, I’ll be celebrating independence from craziness (until the next round).

Anyways, to the Roundup.

The Roundup

Pete Carroll is a truther, color me shocked. But can anyone prove he isn’t actually Bea Arthur?!

If only the rest the media saw things as clearly as Brain Kelly. He sees the Vanderdoes situation as pretty cut and dry. And, of course, he’s right.

Speaking of Brain Kelly, the man has some style on the links. Seriously, marvel at this.

Apparently, we’ve learned nothing from Harvey Updyke. Some acts of rivalry shenanigans should just be off limits. Taking a chunk of Howard’s Rock would qualify in that area.

Can’t wait for the Gregg Doyel outrage post on Florida State. I mean, they played “hardball” with Matthew Thomas didn’t they?! SHAME ON THEM!

ND can’t shake the devil from their schedule. It appears the cancelled 2014 game with ASU is back on. And Arizona State has been oh so kind about it.

The Beer

A couple weeks ago, I wanted to try something a little bit different while I smoked some ribs. I initially wanted something with some kind of citrus and ended up stumbling upon this:

Brooklyn Local 2 ended up being quite the pleasant surprise. A dark Belgian style brew with a twist of citrus.

A darker beer that is quite refreshing? Yeah, I’m sold.

The post Friday Roundup: The “See Y’all Later” Edition appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.