College Football Playoff: Which Top 25 teams are contenders, pretenders?
After losing their top two quarterbacks following an incredibly unimpressive 2016 campaign in which Brian Kelly’s squad went 4-8, Notre Dame have placed their season in the hands of redshirt sophomore quarterback Brandon Wimbush’s hands, and so far, the results have been promising.
Under the tutelage of new offensive coordinator Chip Long, Wimbush has recorded 1,030 total yards of offense as the Fighting Irish’s offensive focal point.
While Wimbush has kept his team in every game they’ve played so far this season behind the exceptional Notre Dame offensive line, his playing style hasn’t quite meshed with the team’s star receiver Equanimeous St. Brown, who after recording 961 yards through the air on 158 targets in 2016, has only haled in 11 passes for 160 yards, and only one touchdown this season.
Considered the best deep threat in all of college football, St. Brown’s vertical proficiency has yet to be utilized by the Irish this season, with the team instead choosing to focus on a more horizontal, short passing game to play on Wimbush’s strengths.
On defense, the Irish have also taken a considerable step backwards, going from the 42nd ranked team in 2016 to the 71st ranked team in 2017.
In four games, the team’s defense has only recorded eight sacks, tied for the 65th most of any team in the nation. Without a consistent pass rush, opposing offenses have been able to move the ball seemingly at will against the Irish, who are giving up an averaging of 388 yards per game to opposing offenses.
In the four years since the college football playoff system was installed in 2013, no independent team has made an appearance in the final four, and in even with a fairly pedestrian schedule to close out the 2017 season, it doesn’t appear that the Notre Dame Fighting Irish will buck that trend this season.