College Football: Luck of the Irish?

The hefty dose of criticism currently directed at Notre Dame doesn’t track here.

At all.

For some reason, the Fighting Irish’s standing in this season’s Associated Press and Coaches rankings and now the College Football Playoff poll has created quite an uproar in some circles.

Many are frustrated, upset, PO'd and ready to promote those well-crafted, "the fix is in" conspiracy theories.

Why?

Apparently, the rationale goes something along the tired, old lines of “they haven’t played anyone” and “they’re being rewarded for beating up lousy teams” and so on.

Their 7-2 record following Week 11’s 49-10 pummeling of Navy last Saturday night has “largely” been built on wins against stiffs such as Purdue, Arkansas and Boston College.

Talk about redacted spin-doctoring.

ND’s other four wins have come against Boise State, N.C. State, Southern Cal and the Midshipmen – all teams with winning records, two of whom have been ranked this season, and combined are a 25-11 right now.

Oh, and those two losses, they came in the first two weeks. By a total of four points. To Miami and Texas A&M, two teams still very much in play for the 12-team playoff. While the Irish were breaking in a freshman QB.

The reality is, the Irish have clearly shown in the months since those losses that they are among the top 10 teams in the country … and worthy of being in play for a playoff spot, too.

After a slow start, RB Jeremiyah Love has pulled on his Superman cape, that freshman QB (CJ Carr) has turned into a star, and the defense has evolved into a big-play unit with DL Boubacar Traore posting 6.5 sacks and DBs Tae Johnson, Leonard Moore and Luke Talich each snaring 3 INTs.

Frankly, the Irish pass the eye test as well as any team these days.

They’re pounding all opponents, not just the tackling dummies.

Wanna compare? Fine. Unbeaten A&M now checks in at No. 3 in the country. Perfectly justified. But the Aggies barely slipped by Arkansas, winning just 45-42 – the same Arkansas that ND smoked 56-13. A&M’s ledger isn’t exactly a ledger of conquests against Murderer’s Row competition beyond Arkansas, either. The Aggies have beaten other downtrodden teams in UTSA, Auburn and Florida, too.

Same thing with No. 1 Ohio State (Wisconsin, Purdue, Penn State and FCS-level Grambling) and No. 2 Indiana (Penn State, Michigan State, UCLA and FCS-level Indiana State).

Here’s the thing: ND’s rep is taking a hit as if it is ranked above a slew of teams that are better than it has shown. The reality is something different. Alabama, Georgia, Texas Tech, Ole Miss and Oregon, along with the nation’s top 3 teams, are ranked ahead of the Irish.

The Irish just happen to be the first two-loss team ranked in the CFP poll. Followed immediately by preseason No. 1 Texas (7-2) at 10, Oklahoma (7-2) at 11, Brigham Young (8-1) 12, Utah (7-2) 13 and Vandy (8-2) 14.

Are any of those teams better, or shown themselves to be better, than ND?

Don’t think so.

Honestly, the only team that could have a beef with ND’s position is No. 15 Miami, simply because it beat the Irish by 3 points and even then …

Since pulling off that upset on opening night in Miami Gardens the Hurricanes have lost twice themselves and racked up wins against such non-juggernauts as Florida, Florida State, Stanford, Syracuse and FCS-level Bethune-Cookman.

In short, the naysayers on ND have nothing legitimate to stand on.

Unless, of course, No. 22 Pittsburgh, supercharged by its own freshman QB in Mason Heintschel (5-0 record, 1,511 yards and 12 TDs passing as the starter), can wake up its own echoes this coming Saturday afternoon when hosting ND at Acrisure Stadium.

Then those naysayers can knock away until their hearts are content.

NO ORDINARY JOE

Stashed away in Storrs, Conn., resides the best-kept secret in the country – UConn QB Joe Fagnano.

Even with his name starting to trickle into the conscience of a couple national talking or writing heads, the seventh-year senior remains an unknown to most as he compiles mind-blowing numbers this fall. Through 10 games, including his 311-yard, 3-TD effort in last Saturday’s 37-34 win against Duke, Fagnano has thrown for 2,840 yards, 25 TDs and – let this last number sink in – 0 INTs.

For good measure, he has 2 rushing TDs, too.

But you won’t see his name among Heisman contenders or even NFL prospects.

Which is kinda odd, considering he has the measurables (6-4, 230), the arm, and, frankly, the team success most pro personnel peeps seem to covet. Behind him, the 7-3 Huskies will be going to their second straight bowl game and, if we’re going full disclosure here, they’re three overtimes away from being unbeaten.

DRIVE OF THE YEAR

Up 14-13 with 9:53 remaining in its game last Saturday against AAC rival Temple, Army had one thing in mind:

Run as much clock as possible.

The Black Knights were exemplary with that, burning all 9:53 on an 18-play drive that saw them march from their own 42 to the Temple 1 before taking a couple kneel downs by QB Cale Hellums to burn off the final seconds.

It was a fitting conclusion to Army’s 3-hour master class on ball-control offense. The Knights got outgained but dominated the clock (37:38 to 22:22) in limiting the Owls’ offense to just six possessions the entire game – three of which they scored on (TD and 2 FGs) and another they missed a 45-yard FG.

The Knights only averaged 3.6 yards per rush on their whopping 63 attempts with Hellums (36 carries, 118 yards, TD) leading the way.

UNI WATCH

It was a solid week for style:

Cal (blue-white-blue with gold trim and an old-school paw print logo on the helmet), Florida (it’s best combo of orange-white-orange with blue trim), Texas A&M (white-white-maroon with the old-school non-beveled logo on the helmet), Arizona (harkening back to its Desert Swarm era non-gradient white-blue-white with red trim), James Madison (gold-white-gold with purple trim) and the “Orange Bowl” of Syracuse (orange-white-orange with blue trim) and Miami (white-orange-white with green trim) all looked sharp.

Army’s odd all-gray jerseys and pants (well, odd to me at least since the school’s nickname is officially the Black Knights) with gold trim matched well with the gold helmet with black trim.

But Texas Christian stole the show. In a bad way. Good lord the Horned Frogs’ unforms were hideous from head to toe, going with all-gray jerseys and pants with red trim and purple helmets with red trim. Basically, TCU looked like a traditional school attempting – and failing miserably – to sport some HBCU flair.

HEISMAN HYPE

Indiana QB Fernando Mendoza, with a brilliant toe-tapping assist from WR Omar Cooper Jr., may have completed THE moment of the season with a 7-yard TD pass on fourth down, capping off a 10-play, 80-yard drive with 36 remaining to help secure the Hoosiers’ 10-0 record, but, really, the main Heisman-worthy performances of Week 11 occurred in the same game on Saturday.

In that one, a thrilling, 45-38 win for then-No. 16 Vanderbilt over visiting Auburn, QBs Diego Pavia and Ashton Daniels had a duel for the ages. Pavia, the heart and soul of the Commodores and the driving force behind their CFP chances, went OFF, completing 25 of 33 passes for 377 yards and 3 TDs, He also rushed for 112 yards and a TD on 18 carries. Daniels’ effort was mind-blowing, too: 31-for-44, 353 yards and 2 TDs passing, and 18 carries for 89 yards and 2 TDs. Neither had a turnover, either.

Give some props to Texas Tech’s Jacob Rodriguez as well. In the Red Raiders’ top 10 matchup with unbeaten BYU, the senior LB racked up 14 tackles, had a fumble recovery and “stuck the landing” with the trophy pose to highlight Tech’s 29-7 whitewashing of the Cougars.