MOV'in on up | by Jeff

Notre Dame's stellar performance against BYU further improved the Margin of Victory of the 2005 Irish from last year's squad: replacing a 3-point loss on the road with a 26-point home win extends the margin of victory gap from +11.8 to +14.3 (or +13.8 to +15.1 when adjusted for home field advantage).

Maintaining this against Tennessee will be tough, however. To stay two touchdowns ahead of last year, the Irish will have to beat the Vols by 24 (4pts + 14pt MOV + 6pts home field adjustment).

Looking at the season to date:

Category vs Common Opponents	2004	2005	+/-
Record	0.429	0.714	+67%
PPG	25.4	37.9	+49%
PPG allowed	27.1	25.3	+7%
MOV	-1.7	+12.6	+14.3

Opponent	2004 MOV	2005 MOV	Home Adj	Change
Pittsburgh	-3	+21	+6	+30
Michigan	+8	+7	+6	+5
Michigan St.	+7	-3	-6	-16
Washington	+35	+19	+6	-10
Purdue	-25	+21	+6	+52
Southern Cal	-31	-3	-6	+22
Brigham Young	-3	+26	-6	+23
Average				+15.1

The strength of schedule gap also improved, despite Irish opponents going .500 last week and adding 3-4 BYU to the slate. Excluding games vs ND, our first seven opponents are .545 this season vs .579 last season, a 6% drop off.