Monday, November 2, 2015

Notre Dame Now #2 in the FEI Ranking!


The creator of the Fremeau Efficiency Index is a colleague of mine here at the University of Notre Dame by the name of Brian Fremeau.  Brian has been doing this statistical analysis work on football for a number of years --- really smart stuff.

And, his latest FEI rankings has the Fighting Irish ranked #2 in the country behind Clemson!

The Fremeau Efficiency Index (FEI) is a college football rating system based on opponent-adjusted drive efficiency. Approximately 20,000 possessions are contested annually in FBS vs. FBS games. First-half clock-kills and end-of-game garbage drives and scores are filtered out. Unadjusted game efficiency (GE) is a measure of net success on non-garbage possessions, and opponent adjustments are calculated with special emphasis placed on quality performances against good teams, win or lose. Other definitions:
  • SOS: Strength of Schedule, measured as the likelihood of an elite team going undefeated against the given team's regular season schedule. Schedule strength data based on FEI ratings and calculated across other dimensions can be explored in this interactive visualization.
  • FBS MW: Mean Wins, the average number of games a team with the given FEI rating would be expected to win against its regular season schedule of FBS opponents.
  • FBS RMW: Remaining Mean Wins, the average number of games a team with the given FEI rating would be expected to win against the remainder of its regular season schedule of FBS opponents.
  • OFEI: Opponent-adjusted Offensive Efficiency value generated per possession.
  • DFEI: Opponent-adjusted Defensive Efficiency value generated per opponent possession.
  • STE: Special Teams Efficiency value generated per game possession.
  • FVE: Field Value Efficiency value generated per game possession.

LINK:  FEI RANKING -- ALL 128 FBS TEAMS

Sunday, November 1, 2015

AP Poll: Notre Dame Jumps Stanford for #8


The latest Associated Press Poll has the Fighting Irish sitting at #8 -- between #7 Alabama and #9 Stanford...

LINK:  AP POLL

Niklas & Floyd -- 3 TD Catches for Cardinals!


Former Notre Dame All-American Michael Floyd caught a 60 yard TD pass today and former ND student-athlete Troy Niklas caught his first and second TD passes of his career in the Arizona Cardinals game vs. Cleveland.

At the time of this post --- the game was still in the 3rd QTR with Arizona leading 24 - 20.

LINK:  NIKLAS' FIRST CAREER TD!

LINK:  MICHAEL FLOYD'S 60 YARD TD!

LINK:  NIKLAS' SECOND CAREER TD!

Fox Sports' Mandel Picks Notre Dame #8


Here is Fox Sports' college football writer Stewart Mandel's Top Ten...

LINK:  NOTRE DAME #8

ND's Turner: Home to Say Good-Bye to Mom


Notre Dame student-athlete John Turner wasn't in Philadelphia yesterday with his Fighting Irish teammates -- instead, he was at home with his family in Indianapolis.

He made the right decision.

John's Mom Stephanie is dying from Breast Cancer.  You're going to want to read this story...

LINK:  ONE LAST GAME


Note:  Stephanie Turner left for Heaven today (November 2nd) -- John Turner posted this message on his Twitter account this morning: 

 

OT: Miami's Controversial Win Over Duke



Some in the media this morning -- are calling for the ACC to reverse the final call by its officials.  See the stories linked below -- along with Duke's head coach David Cutcliffe's post game press conference:

LINK:  ESPN STORY

LINK:  SB NATION

LINK:  DUKE CHRONICLE 

LINK:  CBS SPORTS

LINK:  AUSTIN STATESMAN 

Quenton Nelson's Helmet /// Temple Helmet


Temple Win: Game Ball Goes to DeShone Kizer


Coach Kelly's Post Game: ND 24 - Temple 20


ABC57: DeShone Kizer's High School Coach

Best Notre Dame Costumes at Game Last Night


Here's a look at some of the top "Notre Dame themed" Halloween costumes at the game last night in Philadelphia...
  • Old time ND football player
  • "Touchdown" Jesus
  • Mary statue on top of Golden Dome
  • "First Down" Moses statue
  • Leprechaun

These are awesome!

Courtesy of @fightingirish -- follow them on Twitter!

Temple Coach Talks 24 - 20 Loss to Notre Dame


Temple Head Coach Matt Rhule talks loss to Notre Dame.  

LINK:  SEE ENTIRE PRESS CONFERENCE HERE

Temple Owl Fans Talk Loss to Notre Dame


   

Kirk Herbstreit's -- On Air Halloween Surprise!


ESPN Highlights: Notre Dame 24 - Temple 20


Media Reaction: Notre Dame 24 - Temple 20


Took a quick lap around the web to see what the media has to say about Notre Dame's 24 - 20 win over Temple...

LINK:  ESPN

LINK:  PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER

LINK:  CHICAGO SUN TIMES PHOTO GALLERY

LINK:  SOUTH BEND TRIBUNE

LINK:  ASSOCIATED PRESS

ABC's Post Game Interview of DeShone Kizer


Notre Dame Fans Cheering the Fighting Irish!



Saturday, October 31, 2015

DeShone Kizer's 79 Yard Touchdown Run!



Sophomore, first-year starter DeShone Kizer led the Irish with 342 yards of total offense -- 299 yard passing / 143 yards rushing!

The 79 yard run is the 2nd longest run by a ND QB from scrimmage in history!

Kizer to Fuller -- Game Winning Touchdown!