The Notre Dame Fighting Irish are 5-1 and heading into the bye week feeling pretty good about themselves after a 33-10 win over the North Carolina Tar Heels. It was the first time since 2015 that they won 3 true road games in a season, and the first time since 2012 that they won three road games in a row.
They aren't exactly "road warriors" yet, but getting over the hump that was the entire breadth of the 2016 season is a great start.
Oh yeah... Welcome to Bagpipe Monday on One Foot Down!
So, how good are they? How good can they be? Is Notre Dame's worst enemy still Notre Dame?
I'm not certain that we are anywhere near being able to answer those questions, but at least those answers will start revealing itself over the coming weeks. Notre Dame has risen to #16 in the country, but their remaining schedule looks daunting with #13 USC Trojans, #20 N.C. State Wolfpack, #11 Miami-Florida Hurricanes, #25 Navy Midshipmen, and #23 Stanford Cardinal. You can throw in a pretty good Wake Forest Demon Deacons team as well.
Notre Dame fans are a little too used to the second half swoon after a decade and a half of soul-crushing second halves. Does this team remind you of any of those other hot start teams? Is there a blueprint here, or is this just something Irish fans say to help work the jinx (or is it work against the jinx - shit)?
Poll
This 2017 Irish team reminds me of...
This poll is closed
-
4%
2002
-
6%
2005
-
4%
2006
-
9%
2014
-
14%
2015
-
59%
None of these you horrific bastard.
We get another week of chest-beating and prognostication with the upcoming bye. Are we our own nemesis right now?
In place of the pipes this week... find out what a nemesis really is. Enjoy!