The BCS standings were released this week. In conjunction with this, Clashmore Mike has decided to release the first update of the Elite Selection Playoff. For AV Ranking comparison purposes, Sagarin’s ranking can be found here.

This does, however, come with a caveat.

In week seven virtually all rankings are meaningless. Much will change between now and the end of the season and publishing rankings…

The Irish lost another heart-breaker in South Bend Saturday. The latest defeat at the hands of the Trojans makes it eight straight and 0-5 for head coach Charlie Weis against one of Notre Dame’s chief rivals.

In many respects, this game was more of the same. Numerous missed tackles and breakdowns in the secondary combined for poor defensive play while the offensive line continued to…

After Saturday’s loss to USC, Clashmore Mike staff writer Anthony Pilcher conducted an interview with Chicago’s 670 The Score (670am). The audio of the interview itself can be found at the bottom of this article.

What follows are some further responses and elaboration on topics from the interview itself.

On The “Must Win” Game For Charlie Weis…

One game does not define a coach.

For…

Clashmore Mike is proud to announce that Anthony Pilcher will be interviewed live on 670 The Score tomorrow night after the Notre Dame – USC game on the Joe O. & Rock Show between 10:30 and 11pm. Listeners in the midwest can tune in to 670am and those out of range can listen via the web at 670thescore.com—click on the “Listen Live Now!” link in…

Notre Dame faces rival USC Saturday in South Bend.

Both teams enter the contest coming off a bye week and, save wide receiver Michael Floyd, the Irish are as healthy as they’ve been since the season opener.

Lately the series has been owned by the Trojans, with seven straight victories by an average margin of 27 points. Over these same seven meetings only the 2005…

With the offensive analysis out of the way, it’s time to focus on the mid-year statistical review of Notre Dame’s defense. But before getting to the numbers some logistical details must be outlined.

As was the case with the offense, the individual game performances (Nevada, Michigan, Michigan State, Purdue and Washington) tell part of the story, but looking at the first half of the season…

Bye weeks are good for many things.

For head coach Charlie Weis this week was an opportunity to rest key personnel with injuries, self-scout the first five games, and get the reserves meaningful practice repetitions.

For fans it is a chance to reflect on (and potentially readjust) their season expectations and, this year, to get a break from the heart palpitations that accompany nail-biting wins.…

You can say the Irish are a lot of things, but boring isn’t one of them.

If last week was good for hypertension, this week was enough to incite a heart attack. In what is becoming a recurring trend, Notre Dame needed late-game heroics from quarterback Jimmy Clausen to secure victory.

The Huskies deserve credit. Washington head coach Steve Sarkisian led a determined squad that…

Notre Dame begins a three game homestand against the Washington Huskies this weekend. Coming off consecutive last-minute victories and laden with injuries to key personnel, the Irish need a convincing win to build confidence and the subsequent bye week to nurse the wounded.

Washington enters the game with victories against Idaho and mighty USC, a close loss to LSU, and a rather one-sided defeat at…

Notre Dame fans need treatment for hypertension. The last three games have been decided in the waning moments, with the the last two needing gifts from the opposing team to secure a victory.

Against Michigan State it was quarterback Kirk Cousins overthrowing a wide open Larry Caper in the back of the end zone followed by a poor pass on the next play that was…