@openwheel I hear a lot about the loss of Mendoza, Fischer and Ponds, but if you think about it, we lost the leader of almost every position group last year: DL - Kamara, OL - Coogan, QB, TE, DB - Ponds, S - Moore, LB - Fischer. That's a ton of leadership to try and replace. I think they did a good job of replacing the talent, but not surprising it takes awhile to replace that sort of leadership and chemistry.
They shouldn't... OK, probably if close losses.If they lose close ones to BYU & Miami, I think they stay in the top 12.
But they'll beat BYU .
Notre Dame never has to fear a strong conference schedule, so fewer upset chances to knock them out of the CFP. But regardless, they have it rolling up there. A strong program.
The list of Mighty ACC opponents they've faced since 'joining' the ACC, as well as those opponents' winning percentages in that time.
ACC Opponent Total Games Overall Win % (2014–Present) Syracuse 7 .424 Boston College 6 .463 North Carolina 6 .510 Florida State 6 .593 Louisville 6 .585 Clemson 5 .835 Pittsburgh 5 .560 Virginia 5 .480 Wake Forest 5 .490 Georgia Tech 4 .470 NC State 4 .580 Duke 4 .520 Virginia Tech 4 .545 Miami (FL) 3 .615 They've also never ONCE faced 2 of Clemson, Miami or FSU in the same season, let alone all 3 of them in the same season.
That last line is a doozy. Wonder how that's possible? Not really.
IU is not as good as last year and probably won’t win the national title, but that is not what Cignetti was hired to do. He was hired to make the program respectable and qualify for bowl games. He has done that. The bluebloods still have more NIL and institutional advantages. Hopefully the gap keeps narrowing.
@iugradman I agree that IU is not as good as last year, yet. The good news, the B10 isn't as good, overall as last year. OSU, particularly, likely isn't as good as last year. Like us, they lost a TON of talent and leadership, especially on the defensive side of the ball. Oregon is down. And none of the traditional powers are "up". So IU still has a great chance to win the B10, despite not quite being what we were last year.
Nationally... Notre Dame might be better than last year. Miami is probably better. SEC is overrated, and while Georgia appears to be the best overall team, none of them are dominant. So, if we avoid having to play both Miami and Notre Dame, if we make the CFP, I wouldn't bet against Cig and this team making another run at a title. I guess there's no avoiding really good teams in the CFP. But if we could get a B12 team, then an SEC team, and be on the other side of ND/Miami... I could see it happening again.