The #1 team in the nation fell, the QB Flavor of the Week Award Heisman Trophy race got another contender, Kansas State has a QB on the cover of SI, the usual sampling of news that can be found in the Roundup below, we got a new sponsor, our server had some major issues (I’ll sleep one of these days), and the Notre Dame campaign is starting to get into full swing.

I’m still firmly of the belief that the bottom line is winning. Style points be damned — just ask Alabama how handy all those style points are right now. However, with the Tide’s loss, the first domino has fallen. With blood now in the water, Kelly has been far more public and open with campaigning for his team. ND’s Director of Football Media Relations, Brian Hardin, has transformed his Twitter feed into the official continuous stream of reasons why ND should play in Miami on January 7th.

Sure, a lot can still happen within these next three weeks; however, to loosely quote Training Day it’s “chess it ain’t checkers”. The board is now wide open for the taking and the Irish are no longer playing quiet defense and simply biding their time. Now is the time to attack on all fronts, fire the verbal salvos, and back it up on the field.

Should Notre Dame beat Wake as expected and college football has yet another hell of a week, the Irish will be primed to not just slide into the #2 spot, but could make voters think about lining their votes up with the computers and place the Irish as the #1 team in the nation. Even should this week stick to the status quo, momentum can build, a few voters can be swayed. That .101 difference between ND and a title berth could continue to shrink.

Needless to say, there is a lot that could happen and only one thing is for certain.

These weeks sure are a hell of a lot better those of a past few years.

The Roundup

Also having a hell of a week, Alabama. I hope you caught the Paul Finebaum show in order to have a healthy dose of schadenfreude. If you missed it, relive the glory.

Need more Bama pain? Fine, enjoy some fans having a rough time dealing with the loss.

And the Aggies celebrate. Thankfully they have done it in gif form. Even LSU Freek got in on the action.

Let’s start the Southern Cal hate a week early, shall we? We will let UCLA lead the way.

It’s ok though, Robot Lane Kiffin will keep the peace. He just loved doing this message.

Here’s something that we can all agree on: MACtion. If you don’t know what this is, you should.

College football is about to set a record. It’s looking to be the best year of offense ever — well, unless you are facing the Irish defense, of course.

Take a moment to remember Declan Sullivan. As much as some hacks love to shove that tragedy in our face, it’s great to see someone do the direct opposite for a change.

In honor of senior day, a bunch of Te’o links. ESPN had a feature, so did the Observer, he did a fantastic interview, and, yeah, don’t forget about that Heisman thing.

Put These Games on Your Radar

#18 USC @ #17 UCLA, 3:05pm, FOX – Be sure to keep an eye on this game. Not just for SOS, but this game will determine Oregon’s opponent in the Pac 12 title game.

#13 Stanford @ #2 Oregon, 8:00pm EST, FOX – This will be the first solid defensive unit that Oregon has faced. Plus, with Oregon suffering loads of injuries on defense, this could be one of the better chances that Oregon has to fall.

#1 Kansas State @ Baylor, 8:00pm, ESPN/WatchESPN – Probably not a lot of danger here for K-State; however, Baylor does have a decent offense (but sadly not much defense). One thing going for us in this game: the SI jinx as Collin Klein is on the cover.

Predictions

Tex

Ok, so I’ve been off, especially when I think there’s going to be a blowout that never happens. Screw it, going to keep calling for one. Wake’s offense is really just that bad. ND will have plenty of time to make something happen.

ND 42 – Wake 3

Biscuit

Leprechauns of course!

Wake Forest played us well last year.  They had a good game plan and executed it well, and it was down to the wire.  But that was at home for them, and ND clearly came out flat-footed.  I don’t expect a similar test this Fall, but it won’t be a blowout either.  (can you tell I’m starting to get tired?  yeah?  well, good on you!) But Our Lady trumps your Deacon any day of the week.  That said, injuries and fatigue could play a role here for ND.

ND Wins 27 – 21

  1 Leprechaun for the Deamon Deacons.  They played us well last year, and will come in fired up for the Irish, and we’ll be a bit tired and hurt.  They could upset.

Bayou

ND 38 – Wake 0

Twibby

Irish 31, Wake Forest 13 (garbage time TD with ND walk on seniors in the game)

Grantland-X

Uhhhh 27-20 Irish. For whatever reason, the home games continue to thrill

Closest to the Pin – Week 10

Twibby and Biscuit were the closest by far. Both had the smallest margin of victory out of all of us. However, Twibby nailed BC’s score perfectly, so I’m giving him the nod this week.

The Beer

It’s winter time (or at least it should be, still Fall here in Texas). It’s time for a good stout. In particular, I’m a huge fan of oatmeal stouts and will definitely be picking up a six-pack when I get off work and start my Thanksgiving vacation. Thus far, I haven’t run into one that I didn’t like; however, much like the pumpkin ale request, I am looking for some suggestions in the comments. Y’all didn’t steer me wrong last time.

Related, oatmeal stouts are an acceptable form of breakfast while on vacation, right?

The post Friday Roundup: The “One Hell of a Week” Edition 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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