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…

Notre Dame takes on the Washington State Cougars in San Antonio this weekend, one week before returning to South Bend to host the Midshipmen.

The Irish offense looks to get on track against the Cougars, as the last two games have been the lowest production totals of the season. The defense, on the other hand, has been steadily improving against the run and on first…

The Irish opened 2009 with a resounding 35-0 defeat of Nevada. While the Wolfpack offense turned the ball over three times—twice in potential scoring position—the game was a fairly one-sided affair. Notre Dame ran the ball well, controlled the clock, and displayed a dynamic downfield passing attack.

Since then, games have been anything but one-sided. Nevada may not be as talented as Michigan, Michigan State,…

Many of the top teams survived scares over the weekend, but that did little to impact their ranking. The week eight ESP and AV Ranking are shown below (week seven can be found here). It is still too early to draw many meaningful conclusions from the rankings.

Visit here to compare the ESP to the BCS standings.  Go here to compare the AV Ranking to…

After suffering a tough loss—the eighth straight—to rival USC, the Irish host Boston College Saturday. Notre Dame head coach Charlie Weis will earn his pay this week, as navigating the psyche of his team and ensuring they are prepared to play will be a daunting task.

The Boston College losing streak isn’t as lengthy and one-sided as the one to USC, but it certainly isn’t…

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…