Central Michigan (6-6, 5-3 MAC)

Since we last spoke: Central Michigan 37, UMass 0; Central Michigan 42, Eastern 10

Pre-season Fear Level: None.

Hindsight Fear Level: 2

Best Win: Ohio (26-23)

Worst Loss: UNLV (31-21)

Season Recap: Central was not a good football team this year, but damned if they didn't get to 6 wins and bowl eligibility somehow. They won 5 of their last 7 games, but their opponents in those games were a combined 11-49.  Their most impressive win over Ohio (YTO). They finished 110th out of 125 teams in FEI.

Bowls. There are too many of them.

The Michigan game in hindsight: Ah, when things were fun and the offense worked and hope was a thing.

Notre Dame (8-4)

Hope sprung eternal.

Since we last spoke: Notre Dame 23, BYU 13; Stanford 27, Notre Dame 20

Pre-season Fear Level: 7.5

Hindsight Fear Level: 7

Best Win: Arizona St (37-34)

Worst Loss: Pitt (28-21)

Season Recap: Notre Dame made a strong bid for ChaosTeam '13, beating some impressive opponents (Arizona State, Michigan State, Kiffin-exorcised USC) while losing to Michigan and Pitt and ALMOST losing to Purdue. Much-maligned quarterback Tommy Rees finished just south of 3,000 yards and 27 TDs against only 13 interceptions, but completed only 53% of his passes. TJ Jones and Davaris Daniels formed a solid 1-2 punch in the receiving corp, and Cam McDaniel led a running-back-by-committee that put up 5.2 yards per carry. You just found yourself jealous of Notre Dame, didn't you? That's a bad feeling. Don't do that again. Here. This will help.

This. Always this.

Coming into the year, we expected the defense to carry a somewhat mediocre offense. Instead, the defense may have actually been the weaker unit. The offense put up 27 points and almost 400 yards per game, and scored 20 or more points in every game other than USC (when Tommy Rees was hurt) and Michigan State (when obviously). The back seven of the defense, however, never really gelled, and they finished as a middle-of-the-pack team in most advanced stats (30th in defensive FEI, 51st in  Def SP+). 

The Michigan game in hindsight: Once again, Notre Dame played Lucy to Michigan's Charlie Brown. DAMNIT NOTRE DAME STOP GIVING US FALSE HOPE EVERY YEAR.

[after the jump: everyone else is better than you think except Michigan and the teams who beat them]