An interesting Iowa State vs. Notre Dame analysis

[EnkAMania]

Here are the schedules side by side with the Sagarin Rankings (Texas #20?). We only played three teams above 55 and they played six.

Louisville - 58 UNI - 104
New Mexico - 152 Iowa - 16
Georgia - 6 ULM - 112
Virginia - 30 Baylor - 15
Bowling Green - 179 TCU - 33
USC - 21 WVU - 55
Michigan - 9 Tx Tech - 51
Virginia Tech - 43 OK State - 22
Duke - 74 Oklahoma - 5
Navy -29 Texas - 20
Boston College - 59 Kansas - 86
Stanford - 70 Kansas St - 24

 

[CTTB78]

I don't really think the strength of schedule is all that important as far as indicators go. ND is the better team. ND, overall, has a more talented squad.
But, Iowa State does have studs like Purdy, Kolar, Hall, Eisworth, Lima, and Spears-- all who can be game changers. And we have CMC and his staff. I like our chances. Iowa State 31 ND 28.

 

[KenND]

I don't really think the strength of schedule is all that important as far as indicators go. ND is the better team. ND, overall, has a more talented squad.
But, Iowa State does have studs like Purdy, Kolar, Hall, Eisworth, Lima, and Spears-- all who can be game changers. And we have CMC and his staff. I like our chances. Iowa State 31 ND 28.

I agree that ND has more talent. If both teams play their best game, ND should win. I also think that the ND defense is the best unit that will take the field.

With all of that said, I think that ND’s offense is a real wild card in all of this. The OC is gone, and the offense is a one-dimensional group that has really underachieved for most of the year. Iowa State is clearly better at QB and RB from where I sit, and if your OL plays well, I think that ND is probably in trouble.

 

[ArgentCy]

Here are the schedules side by side with the Sagarin Rankings (Texas #20?). We only played two teams above 55 and they played six.

Louisville - 58 UNI - 104
New Mexico - 152 Iowa - 16
Georgia - 6 ULM - 44
Virginia - 30 Baylor - 15
Bowling Green - 179 TCU - 33
USC - 21 WVU - 55
Michigan - 9 Tx Tech - 51
Virginia Tech - 43 OK State - 22
Duke - 74 Oklahoma - 5
Navy -29 Texas - 20
Boston College - 59 Kansas - 86
Stanford - 70 Kansas St - 24

Must be missing a 1 in front of the ULM number. They were the worst team we played.

 

[ArgentCy]

Iowa State needs to hold onto the ball and not have stupid turnovers. Avoid the blocked kicks as well. If they can do that then I like our chances. If somehow the coaches could figure out that they need to run on 3rd and 2 or the like then we are really looking good. Take some long shots on 1st or 2nd down and just get the chains moving on 3rd and short.

 

[EnkAMania]

Must be missing a 1 in front of the ULM number. They were the worst team we played.

I fixed it. I had the number for Louisiana and not ULM.

 

[ArgentCy]

Here are the schedules side by side with the Sagarin Rankings (Texas #20?). We only played three teams above 55 and they played six.

Louisville - 58 UNI - 104
New Mexico - 152 Iowa - 16
Georgia - 6 ULM - 112
Virginia - 30 Baylor - 15
Bowling Green - 179 TCU - 33
USC - 21 WVU - 55
Michigan - 9 Tx Tech - 51
Virginia Tech - 43 OK State - 22
Duke - 74 Oklahoma - 5
Navy -29 Texas - 20
Boston College - 59 Kansas - 86
Stanford - 70 Kansas St - 24

And this just struck me since BC and Kansas played us the same week. All of these measures have problems. How is a team like BC ranked almost 30 places BETTER than Kansas, who rolled them at home?

 

[curtiss2beardshear]

This is important, and a point I don't think people fully appreciate. While the games against the likes of Georgia, Michigan, OU and Baylor obviously are tough games that ND and ISU played, there is a huge difference between playing a really good team a couple times, a couple decent teams in the 20-40 range, then playing a bunch of games vs. teams ranked 60 or worse. If ISU replaced OSU, KSU and TCU with some West Virginia and Kansas equivalents, they would've had a schedule similar to ND or a Minnesota, and the results would've been 9 wins probably. Every team has bad weeks where they don't play well. The difference is, those teams in the 25-40 range will beat you, while the 60+ teams probably won't.

Wait wait wait. If we replaced OSU, KSU, and TCU (only 1 ranked team) with even worse teams, our schedule would have been MORE like ND’s?? How does that work when they already played more ranked teams and more bowl teams than we did???