Another Thursday Night Game With National Title Implications (for Notre Dame)

Tonight No. 3 Louisville is playing No. 13 Rutgers (these are BCS rankings) in a game that most Irish fans will be watching closely. Should the Cardinals win, Notre Dame will definitely rise in the BCS standings. Should the Scarlet Knights win, people will finally remember that Rutgers has a football team.

Since I am busy creating an Air Force Falcon to burn in effigy this Saturday, I will quickly break down this match-up by looking at our common opponents. Louisville has no common opponents with the Irish, which means they really didn't play a grueling schedule. Shame on them. Rutgers, on the other hand, played at Navy, and so did we. On this one point alone, I give the edge in tonight's game to Rutgers. They beat Navy 34-0, while we beat them 38-14 two weeks later.

Now you might be thinking that since Notre Dame gave up 14 more points against Navy than Rutgers did that the Scarlet Knights are a better team. This is of course false. Navy was clearly looking ahead to its game against us two weeks later, since it's a rivalry game and they always come to play. Rutgers capitalized on this lack of focus and easily beat them. Therefore even if Rutgers wins tonight, they should not jump us in the BCS, since Navy would have beaten them 72-14 if the game had been played after our game.