Notre Dame Football: Why the Irish need to crush Bowling Green

Notre Dame football has a sure-fire win scheduled this weekend in Bowling Green. But the Irish need to do more to just win this game.

Through four weeks, the Notre Dame offense has been uninspiring. They’ve been predictable, out of rhythm, and not playing to their potential. People have noticed, and the ‘Notre Dame is overrated’ conversation is as loud as ever.

For those saying Notre Dame is overrated, it only adds fuel to the fire that the Irish are ranked ahead of Florida, who doesn’t have a loss on the season.

Why is Notre Dame ranked ahead of Florida, Boise State, Wake Forest, or Appalachian State? Because college football is a beauty contest. Despite a loss, Notre Dame is winning that beauty contest.

The average fan may not care about this beauty contest, but the voters do, and that’s what matters.

It doesn’t just matter that you win–what matters is that you need to win big. If you’re going to lose, it helps for that game to be on the road, against a top 3 program. Those losses tend to be excused in the modern game. Notre Dame is, largely, having that loss excused by voters. Florida playing two FCS games for the second year in a row is being punished.

Still, if Notre Dame doesn’t consistently win with style points, they’ll stumble in the rankings.

If you’re wondering why it matters where Notre Dame is ranked in the AP poll, in the era of the College Football Playoff selection committee, as yourself this, “How different is the CFP poll from the AP poll, typically?”

You’ll realize that the CFP rankings are deeply affected by AP rankings, the same way that preseason polls change perception of a team later in the season.

They’ll need to blow out Bowling Green. A slow start, a stumble, a game like last year’s Ball State game, and Notre Dame will fall in the rankings.

This Saturday is an awesome opportunity. Notre Dame can gain confidence, and work out think kinks in the offense. They’ll get to embarrass Brian VanGorder. They should be excited to flex their muscles, after a couple of very trying weeks.

The Notre Dame defense will dominate, as they have all season. They’re not the issue. In fact, despite a few imperfections, the Notre Dame defense is where the Irish have gained all their style points from. The Notre Dame defense kept the Irish in the Georgia game, and turned the tide of the Virginia game.

Now, the Notre Dame offense needs to show off. They need to prove their worth. They need to spread the ball around and show off their weapons. They need to get confident and get downhill momentum rolling throughout the rest of the season.

If Notre Dame’s offense starts to earn style points as well, then the Irish have an outside chance at still making the College Football Playoff. If the offense stays as they are now, then there’s no chance to make the Playoff, even with some help.