I Don't Mind the Rain

Last week, I shared a story about how my Saturday's typically go. This week featured the polar opposite. For the first time in months, we got rain. Not a sprinkle, actual rain, lasting multiple days, leading to a full rain out of all coaching commitments on Saturday.

Typically, I don't have opportunities to plant my ass on my couch in this fashion until November. So even when the Irish had a couple of headaches in the early going against the Tar Heels, I didn't let it bring me down.

Then the rain came down on Tobacco Road. My mood shifted. Horrid memories flooded my brain. Even though I placed my stake in not worrying about the run game, I knew C.J. Carr powered our offense through the air.

Thankfully, Marcus Freeman leads this team and not Brian Kelly.

As conditions turned sloppy, the Irish pivoted to running the damn ball. This time around, freshman (or "rookie" according to ESPN...seriously, please don't) Jonaz Walton who put up 120 yards on the day.

It wasn't just him, either. Every Irish running back had over five yards per carry and each had a double-digit run on their stat sheet. Hilariously, none of them got a rushing touchdown, but C.J. Carr did.

So don't worry, if you need room to complain, you can hang your hat on redzone woes and further claim the Irish passed on fourth and goal because they didn't believe they could run.

For those fans, like myself, that like to take a step back at the bigger picture on the above issue, have no fear! North Carolina is a top 10 redzone defense in the nation even after Notre Dame put up 3 TDs and 1 FG inside the 20.

For whatever reason, our brains tend to focus more on failures, especially in the moment. And the lone redzone conversion failure was a huge swing in this one. Not only did C.J. Carr miss an open TD, but his pass could (and arguably should) have been caught. The defense also could've (and absolutely should've) rewarded Marcus' faith in them by not immediately giving up a 95 yard TD drive after too.

Let's put the blue and gold glasses on a bit for this paragraph. The defense had two massive brain farts of drives: the opening drive, and the aforementioned 95 yard drive. The Tar Heels' opening effort went for 74 yards. That's a combined 169 yards of "what the hell are y'all doing out there" and 116 yards of "now that's what I expect!" Add on the 98 yard kickoff return brain fart (which isn't in the total yard calculations), and now you're looking at a game in which you feel Notre Dame handed away 21 points.

I'm not naive enough to believe that's a 100% percent valid way to look at this effort. You have to tip your cap to North Carolina for making plays where they could and even for Bobby Petrino having a good gameplan (I feel gross typing that). Notre Dame took advantage of mistakes too and scored two touchdowns in fifteen seconds of game time because of it.

When the clock hit 0:00, Notre Dame put out a frustrating effort with loads to fix. They won by double digits. Again. They rushed the ball for more yards than they passed. Jordan Faison took his turn at having a career day for the WR corps. C.J. looks like a damn magician with the ball more often than not.

Notre Dame returns home for their usual mid-afternoon kickoff time to take on a hapless Stanford team before what looks like a top-ten matchup in Provo against BYU.

The real tests are just around the corner and I can't wait to see what this team does when it's really go time.

The Recalibration of the SEC

I struggle to remember a season in which the SEC didn't have a clear pecking order.

Ole Miss looked as if they were going to stake their claim early this season as a playoff contender. Then Florida blew them out of the water. The let down might have been inevitable coming into Mizzou, but to get blown out 45-17 (which, by the way, included a Florida garbage time TD)?! Big yikes, man.

That's a Mizzou team who lost to Mississippi State by the way. Starkville looked primed to put a scare into Alabama with Kamario Taylor playing absolutely insane, out of his damn mind, football. Bama promptly stuffed them in a locker 56-23.

One of Kamario's signature bonkers wins came against South Carolina. The Cocks faced off against a Kentucky team that was also stuffed into a locker by Bama. They came out and obliterated Texas A&M, but the Cocks had them in absolute hell for the entire game...until they didn't. Shane Beamer probably isn't long for holding on to his job and blowing a 20-10 halftime lead and losing in overtime via two point conversion isn't helping things.

Back to the Aggies for a second, they might only be partial and not total ass. That being said, I'm not sure how much stock I'm going to put into beating this Arkansas team because those Hogs have been in a slower cooker this whole season and every opponent is feasting.

To round out the conference, Auburn nearly did the Auburn bullshit win thing and Tennessee happily escaped at home 24-14. It turns out Auburn still doesn't have an offense and let the Vols hang around. Oops!

Folks projecting some kind of crazy five SEC playoff team scenario are going to have to do some serious remapping for that to work out. Next week has Bama/Georgia and Red River. LSU snuck back into the top ten and Kentucky could well knock them back out again at home. Vandy catching Ole Miss at home could end up being weird.

I'm digging it though. There's no clean paths and the parity is starting to peak out in interesting ways. Buckle up, I feel like this dance could continue all season.

Northwestern Is...Good?!!?!?!?

Look, I'm not saying this team is a playoff contender or anything crazy. However, I need to note that the only loss the Wildcats have is to last year's national champion, a 29-23 effort on the road. Every other game hasn't been close.

Chip Kelly has this offense humming, scoring over 30 points in each of their victories. This past Friday's win against Penn State had the Wildcats looking invincible on the ground with, and I cannot believe I'm typing this, 413 rushing yards.

Penn State only gained 48 rushing yards by the way. Ouch.

I understand Penn State is simply Iowa State in new laundry, but I didn't think it would be this bad by any stretch of the imagination. Nor did I ever think that Northwestern of all teams would be the first B1G team to put Penn State in hell for four quarters.

What a hell of a way to open your new stadium. Also, major kudos to the design team on that. The Texas Stadium style room is a genius sound reflecting device. The "Wildcat Wall", the new standing-room only student section is another stroke of brilliance. Rails to lean forward on for both resting and to kick the metal plates behind the students to make noise.

They also gave them their own entrance tunnel where the train they take to the game drops them off. A+ work all around.

In other news, Pat Fitzgerald got demolished by Wisconsin 31-3.

In the Space, We Laugh at Michigan and Southern Cal

Michigan may not make a bowl this year. The Wolverines now sit at 3*-2 and 0-2 in B1G play. They have a bye week to lick their wounds before taking on a lineup of: Penn State, Indiana, @ Rutgers, Michigan State, @ Oregon, UCLA, and @ Ohio State.

Penn State, @ Rutgers, and Michigan State are the three most likely wins out of the group. But considering Michigan has yet to score 20 points against a P4 opponent, each of those are extremely in doubt.

And that's really the story of this team. Collin Klein leaving Michigan has sent this offense back into the stone age. They couldn't even gain 200 yards against Minnesota. As this season progresses, I simply cannot see this defense continuing to try to hold this thing together when they find themselves back on the field repeatedly, especially when they start facing functional offenses.

Prediction time: if Bryce Underwood continues his struggle, I absolutely see a future in which they throw C.J.'s younger brother, Tommy Carr to the wolves.

The backup quarterback is always the most popular player on the team in times of offense woes, but a backup quarterback with the name of your last decent coach (that didn't need a sideline spy to win)? Oh buddy, pass the popcorn.

Now to Southern Cal, who escaped a subpar Washington team with a 25-21 win at home. They are somehow 5-1. They are also ass.

Remaining for them: @ Penn State, BYE, @ Wisconsin, Ohio State, @ Indiana, Maryland, @ UCLA.

They might not make a bowl game either.

Two of their victories in B1G play have some from a pick six (@ Rutgers) and a scoop & score (Washington). That's two 14-point swings...and they only won by a single possession each time.

Congrats, Lincoln Riley has entered his Ty Willingham era. How's the golf game going?

Hilariously, Riley's cowardice has helped Notre Dame's strength of schedule as top-10 BYU is absolutely a much stronger opponent that this mess.

Their defense might as well be non-existent. 100 rushing yards is a guarantee against this defense that can't tackle. When they faced a functional offense (Oregon), they coughed up over 500 yards of total offense.

They are bad, bad.

Their offense isn't looking so hot either, with performance declining every game since B1G play opened. And now they have to travel coast to coast to face a Penn State team that desperately needs a bounce back.

It's going to be wild to watch these two teams attempt to tackle a rusher. I cannot wait. It's going to be pure sicko shit and I would not be surprised in the least for SC to soil themselves in a White Out game.

This is what they destroyed the Pac 12 for. This is what they destroyed the best intersectional rivalry in football for.

They deserve every last bit of this.

Roundup

• Miami looked very, very mortal against Clemson. They did eventually pull away, but oh man did Clemson quit hard. It'll be interesting to see if the video game numbers can keep up with functional defenses.
• BYU had a struggle against TCU. It's clear that defense is solid, but the offense looks pedestrian at best, but the DFW rain may have influenced this. They face Iowa State at home next week, so all signs are pointing to an undefeated, top ten tilt at Provo against the Irish.
• SMU had a struggle against Boston College, but I wouldn't read too much into it. The DFW rain likely grounded their offense. In short, don't read too much into it. Still likely a top 25 team by the time they face the Irish.
• Farewell undefeated UMASS. Eastern Michigan finally toppled the undefeated Minutemen. I'm not even going to try to predict if this team can make a bowl or not, but if they can remain a competitive MAC team, there's a chance.
• Don't look now, but Nebraska's undefeated. I'm sure that won't last long against Indiana next week, but stranger things have happened in college football.
• Don't look now, but Baylor could make noise in the Monster Big XII. Their only loss is to Auburn having an all time tackle and goal line stop. Since then, Baylor has won every game by double digits.
• Can we get some goal posts with freakin' lasers on them? Virginia Tech may or may not have kicked a game winning field goal. Instead, we have Pat Narduzzi with a top 25 ranking and 5-0 record. Their next two games are UNC and BC, absolutely winnable. That would bring them to 7-0 against...Miami.
• Picks could've gone better, but even though I fell victim to most of the craziness of week 5, I'll take 8-6 any day. 40-31 on the season, putting me in 11th place and 7 points behind first..and 3 points behind my old picks podcasting partner Eddie.