The Fighting Irish travel to Pittsburgh Saturday. Notre Dame visits the Panthers in the wake of a stunning loss to the Midshipmen, a game where the defense was repeatedly gashed up the middle and the offense struggled mightily in the red zone. The latter has been a theme all season while the former has also been an Achilles’ heel.

In what seems to be a …

Iowa’s loss to Northwestern dropped them out of the top five in the ESP while the other top teams largely remained the same. Florida or Alabama have to lose at least one game, but—with few exceptions—the remaining top five teams have favorable schedules for the remainder of the year. For comparison purposes the BCS results can be seen here.

Movement in the top 10 of …

Notre Dame lost at home to the Midshipmen for the second consecutive time Saturday. The Irish looked unprepared on both sides of the ball and the players appeared to play without emotion for the first time this season—a costly mistake when facing a Navy team that always gives maximum effort.

As expected, the determining factors of the game were red zone offense and first down …

Notre Dame returns home to face the Midshipmen Saturday, one week after crushing the hapless Cougars in San Antonio and one week before an away showdown with the 14th ranked and 7-1 Pittsburgh Panthers.

The Navy offense is potent and always offers a unique challenge for the Irish defense, but it is the Midshipmen defense that comes into South Bend as the best in recent …

Head coach Charlie Weis used a bruising performance by Notre Dame’s offensive line to grind out a convincing win in San Antonio. I’m sure Irish fans would like to see more wins like this occupy the “1″ of “7-4-1,” albeit against stronger opponents and in more travel-friendly destinations.

The Irish had an unheard of 21:48 edge in time of possession, ran 32 more plays than …

There was a bit of shuffling at the top of the rankings this week. Florida remains atop the ESP but Texas jumped an idle Alabama squad with their win over Oklahoma State. There were some other teams in top 10 that shuffled around as well. Check out the latest BCS rankings for comparison purposes.

As most teams have played eight games, the AV Ranking nearly …