FBS Independents

When the season started, the expectations for Notre Dame football were through the roof. Perhaps, quite unreasonably so. Head coach Marcus Freeman won virtually every day of the offseason, but now, just two weeks into the season, he’s sitting with an 0-2 record. Including last year’s Fiesta Bowl loss, he’s the first Irish coach to […]

Tommy Rees has been an oft-criticized figure during his time at Notre Dame. When he was a player, he garnered the unfortunate moniker “Tommy Turnover” with 37 career interceptions. Now, Rees has taken over the offensive playcalling duties for the Irish. And, again, he remains frequently scrutinized. After the Irish scored just 10 points against […]

Given the expectations, there were a lot of good Notre Dame takeaways on Saturday night. The No. 5 Fighting Irish led the second-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes for over half the game. They held Ryan Day‘s offense to their lowest point total since October of 2018. At times, they looked like a much better team, despite […]

Can the Notre Dame defense slow down Ohio State on Saturday? Slow down is the operative term here. Because the Irish won’t completely stop the nation’s most explosive offense. In two losses last year, Ohio State scored 27 and 28 points. Notching 30+ is basically a requirement for the Notre Dame offense. But if the […]

In its toughest game of the season, how can the Notre Dame offense attack Ohio State this weekend? While the defense is the strength of this team, the expectations against the Buckeyes’ high-powered offense can only be so high. This means the Irish’s relatively inexperienced skill position players must show up and try to find […]

There is a Douglas MacArthur quote, which must be memorized by everyone who attends West Point.  It is immortalized on granite between Michie Stadium and Holleder Athletic Center and reads, “Upon the fields of friendly strife are sown the seeds that on other days, on other fields, will bear the fruits of victory.”  As Blake […]

Army hasn’t received much respect after four 9+ win seasons in the past five years, but 2022 is Army’s chance to make a statement.

With a pair of preseason Top-Five matchups, it’s no secret the Notre Dame schedule is a gauntlet this year. Add in some seriously sneaky difficult road games, and some trap games at home, and it gets worse. So here’s a look at the Irish schedule in Year 1 of the Marcus Freeman era, from the […]

We’re six games through analyzing the Notre Dame X-factors for the 2022 schedule. If you missed the first part of the series, here it is. The rules are simple enough. A player is picked as the most critical player for the Irish in that particular game to help boost them to victory. Or in some […]

The Notre Dame schedule is definitely a tough one. Many pundits predict the Irish’s ceiling to be around 10-2 (maybe 11-1). With a handful of trap games, plus preseason top-10 teams Clemson and Ohio State, the floor could easily be four to five losses. So how do the Irish navigate this? Notre Dame Schedule Game-by-Game […]

Everyone’s generally followed the crazy conference realignment news that took over the college football world. But to recap, USC and UCLA shocked the world by joining the Big 10. That brought the Pac-12 down to 10 teams, and the Big 10 up to 16. Once all the current dominoes fall, the Big 10 and the […]

Over the past week, Notre Dame recruiting has been on fire. The Irish have been extremely active on the trail since Marcus Freeman took over as head coach. Reeling in several elite five-stars, and a host of four-stars, the 2023 and 2024 Notre Dame recruiting classes are ranked No. 1 overall by 247Sports. In just […]

Grade A beef isn’t just reserved for the midwest, the deep south, or even the Lone Star State. The ACC has plenty of offensive line talent that will catch the attention of ACC defensive coordinators. It has already started to grab the attention of NFL scouts. So who makes the cut to be part of […]

The ACC has been loaded with elite and talented playmakers on the defensive line for several seasons. There have been many defensive linemen who dominated the ACC to go on to dominate in the NFL. Four defensive linemen from the ACC were drafted in the first round of the 2019 NFL. The ACC also had […]

The Notre Dame 2022 schedule opens at Ohio State. It’s about as difficult an opener as one can draw up for the Irish. Projections, at some point, will become the same until the game is played. Notre Dame must find an answer in their secondary to counter C.J. Stroud and the lethal Buckeyes’ passing attack. […]