And I guess it also goes without saying, there hasn’t been this much excitement since long before any current students ever hit Notre Dame’s campus. Hell, most of the freshmen weren’t even yet born for the 1993 season.

By now, it’s obvious that the temperature of campus is red-hot — and I mean red, blazing-fire-the-size-of-Jupiter hot. The students can smell blood and know that a BCS National Championship berth is there for the taking. Oh, and the fact that we should get to curb-stomp our biggest rivals beforehand doesn’t hurt the anticipation either.

But it’s so interesting because the cause for jubilation among the students wasn’t even the Notre Dame win on Saturday, after finally answering the bell that was calling for style points and turning in our most dominant performance of the season. It was the loss of a mid-level Big 12 team (although obviously not this year) and a win by one of our foes that is building an ever-increasing rivalry with us.

Photo by @125NDFB

Hey, sometimes rules get bent when championships are on the line (at least ours were just fan loyalty rules, not the real rules that Ohio State broke that are withholding them from a championship matchup with us).

All of this led to an incredible scene on campus that night by Stonehenge:

Yeah, I think the student body is behind this team.

Even the bars were a crazy scene Saturday night. Lines were hundreds of people out the door at both CJ’s and Finny’s and there were more than a few drinks back thrown back in celebration (even a few bottles of champagne were popped and sprayed everywhere — hey, it’s been a long time coming). In fact, one of the coolest scenes of the next occurred when the Notre Dame highlights came on the big screen at Finny’s and the music was turned off completely. Every single student in the bar turned and watched, and the great “We Are ND” chant that echoed off the walls could probably be heard by the Trojans in Los Angeles.

The next day, the jubilation never ceased. In fact, the discussion turned to a new question among the students: how will the student ticket allotment work and how can I ensure my spot in Miami?

See, word got out that last year Alabama only allowed their seniors to buy tickets to the BCS Championship game. And Notre Dame students are panicking that they might not a chance to see this team in action.

Relax.

For the 2007 Sugar Bowl Notre Dame was given an allotment of 17,500 tickets. Of those, 2500 were put in a lottery for Notre Dame students, and another 100 were made available to Saint Mary’s girls. Roughly 80% of the students who entered the lottery received tickets at a $125 price (although this year’s title game face value is estimated at $350),  and furthermore there was no priority given to any particular students.

Now, if Notre Dame does indeed beat USC and head to the Championship, there will undoubtedly be a record demand for tickets among the students, but most of them who wish to go will have the opportunity to do so. Notre Dame is expecting to receive 2500+ tickets for the students alone this time around.

All I can say is, pack your bags, we’re going on a trip. Good luck to anyone trying to get tickets to Miami, and I’ll be fighting with all of you guys as well. We are #1 and plan to keep it that way.

The post Taking The Temperature: Notre Dame’s Student Jubilation appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

Notre Dame’s case is premised upon the strength and quality of its schedule, its defensive prowess and a head-to-head comparison to the teams currently ranked first (Oregon), second (Kansas State) and, where appropriate, fourth (Alabama). The comparison to Alabama is admittedly flawed, as Notre Dame is undefeated and Alabama is not, having suffered its first, soul- crushing loss on Saturday. Still, Alabama is offered to provide context and contrast. Compared to its peers, the Fighting Irish are clearly the Number One Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) team in the country.

The undersigned has already explained his personal thoughts on ND’s 2012 schedule. So, it bears noting in week eleven that the Irish have thus far turned the table to their advantage and run off an impressive ten (10) wins in a row. To date, ND has played, and defeated four teams in the Top 25: #10 (MSU), #18 (UM), #17 (Stanford), #8 (OK) and will play #18 (USC). The average ranking of ND’s Top 25 competition is, thus, 14.2.

In comparison, Number One ranked Oregon has played or will play #22 (AZ), #23 (Washington), #17 (USC), #13 (Stanford) and #16 (Oregon State), for an average ranking of 18.2. Kansas State, the nation’s Number Two (pun intended), has played or will play #6 (OK), #13 (West Virginia), #14 (Texas Tech), #24 (Oklahoma State) and #15 (Texas), for an average opponent ranking of 14.4, to date. Alabama, the fourth ranked team in this week’s BCS rankings, only plays four ranked opponents and lost to the lowest ranked of the bunch, Texas A&M. PAWWWWWWWWWWWWL!

As a final point, Notre Dame offers its absence of Football Championship Series (FCS) opponents. Of the other undefeated FBS schools, Oregon pads its schedule with Tennessee Tech and K-State tussles with Missouri State. Alabama, for what it’s worth, takes on the always dangerous West Carolina Catamounts. Objectively, Notre Dame, then, plays a schedule with higher-ranked opposition, all of which comes from the top tier of college football. Notre Dame is the ONLY undefeated FBS team that does not play an FCS opponent.

On the defensive side of the ball, Notre Dame easily outstrips its undefeated peers. ND is #1 in “scoring defense,” a metric that tracks “points against,” rating an 11.1. ND is also ranked #8 in total defense, another metric, this one tracking yards allowed per play and per game. Oregon is #30 in scoring defense and #47 in total defense. K-State is #14  scoring defense  and #34  in total defense.  Remember, too, that ND is doing this against a pure FBS schedule

Where Notre Dame can be challenged is on the offensive side of the football, as ND ranks a mere 91. Oregon has the #1 offense while K-State trots out the eighth best offense in the land. But when you drill down on those rankings by examining the defensive rankings of the competition, ND’s 91 doesn’t seem that bad and Oregon’s Number One seems pretty empty, to wit:

Notre Dame has played the #55 (Navy), #68 (Purdue), #11 (UM), #7 (MSU), #17 (Stanford), #38 (Pitt), #118 (Miami), #22  (Oklahoma), #109 (BC) and #4 (BYU) defenses. That’s an average total defense score for ND’s 10 FBS opponents of 44.9.

Kansas State and Oregon defensive opponents are (pun intended) offensive. Oregon’s average opponent ranking is 70.11, having played #60 (Arkansas State), #25 (Fresno State), #119 (Arizona), #84 ( Washington State), #41 (Washington), #30 (Arizona State), #122 (Colorado), #59 (USC) and #89 (California).  K-State’s 69.11 is only marginally better: #118 (Miami), #72 (North Texas), #22 (Oklahoma), #105 (Kansas), #96 (Iowa State), #112 (West Virginia), #19 (Texas Tech), #57 (Oklahoma State) and #21 (TCU).

So, in the only metric where ND falls behind its peers, scoring offense, it has a valid excuse: MUCH higher quality (all FBS), much better (+25 ranking points) opposition.

In conclusion, Notre Dame has gone undefeated through a demonstrably harder schedule. This FACT has not gone unnoticed by the BCS computer polls: ND is ranked #1 in four of six (Colley Matrix, Kenneth Massey, Jeff Sagarin, Dr. Peter Wolfe) and #2 in the other two (Anderson & Hester, Richard Billingsley). It is in the human, subjective polls that Notre Dame loses ground. Accordingly, Notre Dame should be entitled to Declaratory Judgment that it is Number One.

(Author’s note: I could not have written this article without the stats published by cfbstats.com and by Brian Hardin (@NDHardin) over the last day).

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