College Football 2017: Ranking the 3 worst losses of Week 11
By Zach Bigalke
Saturday marked the reprisal of the “Catholics vs. Convicts” rivalry that was a staple of the 1980s and early 1990s. The prime-time encounter was supposed to be a showdown of two of the top teams in the country. But No. 3 Notre Dame will drop hard down the College Football Playoff Top 25 after losing 41-8 at No. 7 Miami on Saturday evening.
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The Fighting Irish struggled to find any semblance of a passing game. Brandon Wimbush and Ian Book combined to go 13-of-27 for 152 yards. The pair threw just one touchdown and three interceptions, including a 65-yard pick-six by Trajan Bandy. They weren’t helped by a running game that was contained by the Hurricanes front seven and gained only 109 yards all night.
Meanwhile, the Irish defense actually did a decent job containing Canes quarterback Malik Rosier in the air. Rosier finished 15-of-24 for 137 yards and a touchdown, playing efficiently if unspectacularly to take what Notre Dame offered. But Miami also churned out 237 rushing yards and three scores on the ground, led by Travis Homer’s 146 yards as the feature back.
Notre Dame is the one independent that will probably ever have a legitimate shot of making the College Football Playoff with a loss on its record. But the second loss to the Hurricanes could doom the Fighting Irish to a postseason appearance somewhere like Charlotte or Orlando instead of Atlanta or Pasadena. The impact on the postseason shuffle and the margin of defeat both help explain why the Irish loss is one of the worst losses of the week.