[NU Sports] The view from 3-2

[Jonathan Hodges]

Regarding ND and the BCS:

They only automatically qualify if they are in the top 8 of the BCS
standings or are eligible for an at-large bid if they're in the top 14 and
have at least 9 wins.

Remember that the BCS rankings are composed of the Coaches' Poll (1/3),
Harris Poll (1/3), and computer ranking compilation (1/3).

Currently, they are "28th" (in other receiving votes, with 57 points) in the
Coaches' Poll, and "29th" (in other receiving votes, with 126 points) in the
Harris Poll.

While others above them are bound to lose, the only real chance they have to
dig out of that hole is to beat a team worth something, and that is USC.

We'll see what happens, though, there is a long way to go, and I would
imagine that some of the teams left on their schedule will give them trouble
(BC, who just took out FSU, and Pitt at the very least).

---
Regarding OUR NU team, the question now is can they get to bowl
eligibility?  With seven games to go, it looks like three to four more wins
are possible (five more the likely ceiling), but in Big Ten play you just
never know what will happen.  It's really hard to predict right now - if the
NU D can do what they did the last 40 min against Purdue, anything is
possible.

And regarding NU opponents:
Miami OH - is bad, at or near the bottom in virtually every major
statistical category on both sides of the ball.
MSU - a team that has shown flashes of good (win over Michigan) and bad
(blowing a chance at ND and vs CMU while getting blown out at Wisconsin)
Indiana - they managed to win their first 3 games by relatively slim margins
against lesser competition, were close against Michigan, and were blown away
by OSU.  watch out for them, though.
Penn State - the most hyped game of NU's season, but they're good, one of
the two almost definite losses.
Iowa - a very tough trip and they're playing really well. The other almost
definite loss.
Illinois - looks like the worst team in the Big Ten right now, but never a
given in a rivalry matchup on the road.
Wisconsin - they're suddenly atop the conference standings but we'll find
out more as they face OSU & Iowa the next 2 weeks.

At the very least, many of NU's remaining games should be entertaining and
close ones, so we'll see how it shakes out.

Jonathan

On Sun, Oct 4, 2009 at 4:37 PM, SjT (Stephen J. Truog) <sjtruog at yahoo.com>wrote:

> > But at
> > least Notre Dame is still outside the Top 25.  In past
> > years, a 4-1 record would  easily get them a ranking,
> > I daresay that Weis may not have the respect of the
> > pollsters to get his marginal team ranked.
>
> Good point -- it will be real interesting to watch that, because after
> their annual smackdown at the hands of SC, they should win out with their
> Big Least/service academy tour schedule. Yet they're barely receiving votes
> now and would have none after an SC loss ... would they magically appear to
> justify their B(C)S bid, or would an unranked Irish team slip into the B(C)S
> and expose the joke of a system further?
>
> GO CATS!!!
> -SjT
>
>
>
>
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