Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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UNDER THE DOME Spring Quarterback Competition Approaching Notre Dame's primary concern heading into the Fiesta Bowl was putting itself in position to beat Ohio State. But the looming quarterback competition is already on the mind of offensive coordinator/quarter- backs coach Mike Sanford and the rest of the coaching staff. The Irish are expected to enter the spring with sophomore DeShone Kizer (11 career starts), junior Malik Zaire (three career starts) and freshman Brandon Wimbush all vying for the starting duties. Zaire returned to practice in December after missing the final 10 games of the regular season with a frac- tured ankle suffered in the 34-27 win over Virginia Sept. 12. In that victory, Kizer replaced Zaire and led a late rally to top the Cavaliers and avoid a disastrous week-two loss that could have resulted in a downward CHARTING THE IRISH RANKING THE BEST HOOPS CONFERENCES Life is about to get a lot tougher for the Notre Dame hoops team. The Irish actually played a tougher than anticipated non-conference schedule, with five Kenpom.com top- 100 opponents scattered throughout the 12-game slate. This included a massive surprise in Monmouth, whose wins over UCLA, USC, Notre Dame, Georgetown and Rutgers catapulted the Hawks to No. 61 nation- ally as of Dec. 30. The Stony Brook Seawolves also checked in at No. 63, with Iowa (No. 13), Indiana (No. 21) and Alabama (No. 98) ranking in the top 100. ACC play kicked off for the Irish Jan. 2 — a road contest at Kenpom.com's No. 3 team, Virginia — mean- ing numerous difficult games fill up the rest of the Irish's slate. As of Dec. 30, five ACC teams appeared in the top 11 of the advanced statistical website's rankings. In addition, Pittsburgh checked in at No. 27. Almost every other conference was at least one team away from approaching the benchmark set by the ACC. The Big Ten and the ACC both checked in with five teams in the top 25, followed by the SEC and Big 12 with four teams each in the top tier. The Big East saw three teams reach the top 25, and one only represented the Pac-12. The only reason the Big 12 ranked ahead of the ACC in Kenpom.com's formula is the bottom of each conference. The Big 12 only has 10 teams, and the bottom two — Oklahoma State and TCU — were ranked No. 85 and No. 131 nationally, respectively. The ACC features 15 teams, and the lowest-ranked of the 15 included Virginia Tech (No. 117) and Boston College (No. 187). Those outliers, especially the Eagles, drag down the conference's average numbers just enough to put the Big 12 on top. KENPOM.COM CONFERENCE RANKINGS As Of Dec. 30 Top-25 Top-50 Top-100 Conference Teams Teams Teams 1. Big 12 Four Seven Nine 2. ACC Five Eight 12 3. Pac-12 One Eight 10 4. Big Ten Five Seven Nine 5. Big East Three Five Eight Top-25 Top-50 Top-100 Conference Teams Teams Teams 6. SEC Four Five 11 7. AAC Two Three Six 8. Atlantic 10 Zero One Seven 9. CAA Zero Zero Three 10. Mountain West Zero Zero Three