The ‘other’ big game in college football … Several readers have asked why we didn’t also preview Saturday’s game (7 PM ET; NBC) in New York between #6 Notre Dame and #19 Army, one of the only 3 remaining unbeaten FBS teams. OK! I guess. Clearly, it will be a huge game if Army can actually pull off the upset, but we are just a tad skeptical. True, Army is unbeaten and they do have one terrific college player in QB Bryson Daniels (#13, 6-0, 225) who has already rushed for over 1,000 yards and really should get at least some Heisman votes. However, Army has played arguably the weakest schedule in all of college football; their combined opponents have a W-L record barely over .300 and they haven’t played a ranked team as of yet; heck, they’ve only played a couple of teams with winning records this fall and their toughest opponent to date has been 6-4 East Carolina. At the same time, as we noted earlier in the week, there are some real questions about Notre Dame at #6; they did win at Texas A&M in their season opener, but they have a home loss to a 6-5 MAC team and the 6 other Power 5 conference teams they defeated have a combined record of 23-38. Clearly, given the current parameters, the Irish should be in the playoffs (at least if they can run the table) but ranked ahead of all the 2-loss SEC teams; I don’t think so.
That said, Notre Dame does have its share of 2025 prospects, although CB Ben Morrison, the Irish’s only legit first-round candidate is out for the year after undergoing hip surgery. However, the Irish do have a number of players that could get at least some second-day interest including QB Riley Leonard (#13, 6-3, 220), WR Beaux Collins (#5, 6-2, 210), TE Mitch Evans (#88, 6-5, 260), DT Rylie Mills (#99, 6-4, 295), DE RJ Oben (#9, 6-3, 265), LB Jack Kiser (#24, 6-2, 230) and S Xavier Watts (#0, 6-0, 205). For the record, Leonard has completed 65% of his passes this fall, although only 12 for TDs against 4 picks, while Mills has 6 sacks, and the ball-hawking Watts, who led the country with 7 picks last fall, has 4 more this season.
