Notre Dame football is a 'machine,' says analyst about title contenders
The Irish have now won ten straight games and in a dominant fashion. While Notre Dame football's strength of schedule might not be one of the best, ranked teams have lost to unranked teams all season and prove that the Irish dominance is something not to overlook.
The Irish have four wins against the top 25 and one team in the current top 25, Army at 24. The Irish might have the worst loss in all of college football, but it flipped a switch and caused this Marcus Freeman team to win ten straight.
Greg McElroy give Notre Dame football love after a win against the Trojans
ESPN College Football analyst, Greg McElroy, has become a Notre Dame supporter and has been giving the Irish love for over a month now. Most recently on his podcast McElroy called Notre Dame a “machine” and gave Irish more love than any other analyst has.
“The Notre Dame Fighting Irish machine keeps on rolling.” McElroy stated Sunday morning. “They have now won 10 straight by a margin, when you combine all the scores, 441-134. So, they are averaging over the course of their last 10 games, about 44 points offensively and giving up about 13. Pretty dang solid.”
The Irish had questions entering the season about their inexperience offensive line and if their run game would hold up to Notre Dame football standards. Well, Irish average 225 yards per game which ranks tenth in the nation, and they are led by the dynamic duo in the backfield in Jeremiyah Love and Jadarian Price.
“The one thing that hasn’t slowed down has been the rushing attack in Jeremiyah Love, who is probably the best player on the field.” McElroy acclaimed on the Irish rushing attack. “Most of the time when he steps on to the field, he is the best player.”
McElroy gave a high praise to Love calling him the best player on the field, but Love went down with a leg injury and Irish fans are patiently waiting for an update. McElroy said he has heard anything from a shin contusion to a knee injury but to monitor the situation. However, he told Irish fans they should be confident because of Jadarian Price.
“Jadarian Price did a really nice job with 111 yards, twelve carries, 36 yard touchdown that gave Notre Dame that 21-14 lead. The run game has been really, really really difficult to defend all season long. If you look at Jadarian Price, Jeremiyah Love and Riley Leonard they combine to go for 260 on 37 carries and if you are doing some quick math that is about seven yards a pop.” He stated on the Irish impressive rushing attack against the Trojans on Nov. 30.
Love has a rushing touchdown in every game this season and a total of 15 rushing touchdowns on 949 rushing yards with an average of 7.1 yards per carry. Price is averaging 7.3 yards per carry and has seven touchdowns and 651 rushing yards.
McElroy also gave praise to the Irish special teams which is always good to hear as Notre Dame kicking game has been nothing but atrocious. He shines a light on Freeman taking risks and having fun on the field and calling these fake punts.
“Very encouraging from what I saw both offensively and defensively from the Irish, but I would be remised if we didn’t at least acknowledge the third phase by the Irish with the pretty sweet throw back on the fake punt to Mitchell Evans. The fake punt deep in their own territory, you get Tyler Buchner in there, you get it to him and he makes a throwback, Evans catches it and that was a pretty gutsy call by Marcus Freeman and a well-executed fake punt that kept the drive alive.”
McElroy praises the Irish on how they are playing right now and not only believes they will be at home but will be a team to look out for in the playoffs.
“They are in and likely to be at home but who it is going to be against and what will their seed be overall.” He stated as he concluded his video. “I love how the Irish are playing right now. I really do. I think they are going to be a handful in the playoffs, and I look forward to seeing them hosting a game in South Bend here in a couple weeks.
The ESPN College Football analyst didn't stop their though. McElroy then went and talked after the College Football rankings were released last night and claimed Irish are in a great position and should be thrilled.
McElroy opinion on if Notre Dame can be a five seed
“I am not sure the Notre Dame fans could be celebrating harder.” McElroy stated “This is a team 11 weeks ago people were up in arms and here they are now, not just sitting at home chilling on conference championship Saturday, but the best possible outcome that Notre Dame can have on an annual basis in this new format is a home playoff game, and they are going to have that and might have that against the 12 seed.”
He continued and is thinking like most Irish fans that Notre Dame wants that five seed and how it is possible to obtain that goal. Well, Penn State currently has that seed and plays in the Big 10 championship game.
“They are in a really good spot and maybe if Penn State loses to Oregon, maybe Oregon stays at one and Penn State drops behind Ohio State which would mean Notre Dame would be the five seed. They know they are at home it is just who they would play. You would think Notre Dame would probably want to play the G5 champ or the Big 12 champ which could easily happen depending on the outcomes this weekend.”
McElroy on why College Football fans should erase the Irish NIU loss from their brain
McElroy has been preaching about the Irish for a month now as previously in a video he also stated that fans need to stop attacking the Irish for their bad loss. The loss was inexcusable, but we are no longer in the BCS era and there is room for era.
“Notre Dame is a lot better than you realize.” McElroy states on Irish improving through the season “A lot of people want to define teams by singular performances, but that is not the era we are living in.” “We are not living in an era where perfection is necessary to win a championship. You have an opportunity to improve as the season goes along, and you have the opportunity to make mistakes and still be in the position to contend for a championship.”
College football media outlets and fans often cut the Irish out because of their bad loss, but McElroy is here trying to explain that Notre Dame flipped the switch since that game and are now one of the most dominant teams in college football.
“Everybody right now is having a really hard time evaluating Notre Dame. I get that. I watched the NIU and I saw them get pushed around in the NIU game, and it was a difficult game to unsee when it comes to evaluating who Notre Dame is and what Notre Dame can be. Since that game you almost just have to remove it and just evaluate the response. Evaluate how they have responded to that poor performance.”
He doesn’t just think Notre Dame deserves to be in the playoffs or just host a playoff game, McElroy is very adamant that the Notre Dame Fighting Irish are one of the most complete teams in college football and has a chance to make a playoff run in December and January.
“Notre Dame has been on an absolute tear.” “If you really watch Notre Dame collectively and the comfort they are starting to create with their quarterback, the defense that can completely sell out and take away the run, I think when you look at where Notre Dame is at I think they are a very real national championship contender.”