GO IRISH!
USC is ranked higher… #11 vs ND at #13… and has more talent overall, but the ESPN Football Power Index favors Notre Dame, giving them a 78.3% chance of winning. Hopefully being an underdog will fire up the Trojans.
Go Irish!! 
Well, the blue chip ratio favors USC, but both teams are in the top 10. I suppose that’s the case because USC pays their recruits. They’ve certainly recovered well from their last scandal. :))
Now if there was an SAT score analysis for players, then the Irish would likely win that measurement. \m/
GO IRISH!
The betting makes USC an underdog by 3.5 to 4 points, which essentially means it’s a toss up, but for home field advantage for the Irish.
Can’t wait until 4:30 PM PST on Saturday, Also, Penn St. and Michigan will be playing at the same time in Happy Valley, so I’ll be flipping channels back and forth at commercials. Go BLUE! :-bd
…
No, USC will NOT make the college football playoff this year. The better question is will ND make the college football playoff this year after winning 49-14 over USC tonight. :-bd <:-P :-c
I knew this thread would jinx the season.
Maybe this means Darnold will stay another year and that would be fantastic.
Football aside, not everyone that wants to go to USC can get in. Bitterness is a bummer. Easier to move on.
Nope… clearly not the season I was hoping for. I think what really harmed the season was injuries (especially to both the offensive and defensive lines) and not having a bye week at all this season to recover any or catch their breath. Oh well. And yes… hopefully Darnold sticks around for one more year…
Regardless of USC’s standings (which went kapooey after week 8), it was fantastic to see ND come crashing down this weekend. Ba-bye big bowl. Everyone knew they wouldn’t stand up to the pressure.
Will be interesting to see what Darnold does, hope he is back. It sounds like he won’t be going anywhere if Browns get the top pick. Let’s hope they do.
@blueskies2day Indeed. ND was certainly eliminated… and UMiami looks like they may be back in the national championship conversation for the first time in 15 yrs. USC clearly controls its own destiny in terms of a possible Pac12 Championship. A CFP spot seems very unlikely without a lot of chaos elsewhere. I also hope that Sam stays put at USC and gives it another run. Hopefully both Jones and Darnold choose to return. When they are both performing well, that is a difficult offense to defend against.
I admit to getting a little bit of pleasure seeing the tables turn on ND. USC won’t be in the final four, but neither will they. Good news that USC is PAC-12 South champ. Bad news is that they won’t go further if they don’t start showing some consistency when they play tougher teams. It’s been a roller coaster of a season!! Seemed like even the games where they were favored by a pretty big margin turned out to be struggles (anyone else at the Utah game?). I’ve heard rumors of the Fiesta Bowl…
It’s not a rumor, CBS has their bowl projections. USC is projected to play TCU in the Fiesta Bowl. And ND is projected to play Penn St. in the Cotton Bowl.
https://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball/bowls/predictions
Unfortunately for ND, Brian Kelly will likely be retained with a 2-loss season. He couldn’t motivate a rat to eat a piece of cheese. He can never win the big one. I’ll be going to the Stanford-ND game, those games are always fun.
Speaking of Stanford, Stanford sure looked very good against former #9 UDub. If Stanford can beat Cal, then Stanford will get a rematch against USC in the Pac12 Final.
USC will probably make a New Years Day bowl, but not the playoffs.
@sushiritto Actually, Washington State has the easier path to the Pac12 Championship Game. They only need to beat Washington, and then they are in. Stanford is in if they beat Cal and if Washington beats Washington State. Ironically, I would hope for an USC showdown with Washington State (even though they beat USC) instead of with Stanford… as Stanford looks more formidable now.
Oops. You’re right. I originally thought S beat WSU, but WSU beat S 24-21 on 11/4.
As for easier route, Cal plays at Stanford and WSU plays at UDub, so I’m thinking UDub will be favored at home and Stanford will beat Cal. Cal is not good this year. If UDub wins and Stanford wins, then Stanford plays USC for the Pac12 title.
Stanford versus USC for Pac-12 supremacy.
Should be a good Pac-12 championship game. It is a shame that because the Pac-12 is a better overall conference - with greater parity - that the CFP Committee seems to be already discounting it as a contender for the playoffs. Maybe though if multiple conference champions also end up having two losses (Auburn? Ohio State? TCU? USC?), they will have to rethink things. Right now, only the ACC is assured of having a one loss champion.
The Pac-12 honestly wasn’t that good this year. I’m not sure it deserves a team in the playoffs.
The funny thing about the Pac-12 Championship Game at God-awful Levi’s Stadium is that I can buy an endzone seat for $40 on stubhub, which is less than half of what it costs for a similar seat at a USC-Stanford game at Stanford. The Pac-12 Championship seats are even cheaper than the ones I bought for USC-Cal this season. I’m going, BTW.