How good?

 OK, OK, O-kay. So I wasn't completely right.

Said yesterday I had a nagging suspicion Notre Dame-Navy was not going to be the slugfest some people might have expected, and that it would more likely be another Notre Dame-Navy extravaganza. Meaning the Irish would stroll into East Rutherford, N.J. and walk away with a win in, oh, let's say the 35-14 range.

I was wrong.

Notre Dame beat the previously unbeaten Middies 51-14.

Riley Leonard -- who can't throw, remember -- threw for 178 yards and two touchdowns. . He also took off running 10 times for 83 yards and another score. Jeremiyah Love had another 100-yard day (102 and two scores in just 12 carries), the Irish rushed for 265 yards and averaged 6.6 yards per carry, and the defense forced six turnovers, including five fumbles. 

Meanwhile, downstate ...

Yes, Indiana won again, in front of former coach Lee Corso and the rest of  the ESPN Gameday crew, and another full house. Beat Washington by two touchdowns, ho-hum. Starting quarterback Kurtis Rourke was out with a hand injury, so backup Tayven Jackson stepped in, completed 11-of-19 passes for 124 yards and a touchdown and ran for another score.

The Hoosiers are 8-0 now. Notre Dame is 7-1.

"But how good are they really, Mr. Blob?" you're saying now.

The Blob's answer: I don't know.

Pretty darn good, obviously. Better than any lingering doubters might think, almost certainly.

The doubters are gonna say what they always say, which is that Notre Dame is beating up on the usual imposters and Little Sisters of the Poor, and Indiana also has benefited from a soft-serve schedule. This is partly true.

But it's not true enough to dismiss them as imposters themselves.

No, Notre Dame isn't going hand-to-hand with Texas and Georgia every week, but the Irish haven't gotten fat on Directional Hyphen Tech State, either. They went down to College Station the first week and outslugged Texas A&M 23-13, and the Aggies hasn't lost since. Last night they got No. 9 LSU in Kyle Field and whipped 'em 38-23.

The Irish, meanwhile, beat a decent Louisville team at home by a touchdown, and crushed a decent Georgia Tech team 31-13 on the road. 

And Indiana?

Yeah, the Hoosiers filled up early on some cream-filled pastry. But last week they dropped 56 on a Nebraska team that was giving up just 11 points per game, and yesterday they took care of Washington, and they still haven't trailed in a game so far this season. 

Next week they're at 4-4 Michigan State. Then they get Michigan, 5-3, at home. Then they go to Columbus to face Ohio State, which is where the doubters figure they'll finally get exposed as the usual Indiana wannabes.

Except.

Except one week after Indiana upholstered Nebraska 56-7, the Cornhuskers traveled to Columbus themselves. And the No. 4 Buckeyes beat them, too.

The final score?

21-17.

 And Ohio State needed a touchdown with six minutes to play and then a game-sealing interception to pull it out.

Sooo ...

So, again, I don't know. But I do know this: There are a whole pile of decent Power 4 teams who aren't 8-0 or 7-1 right now. And most of them aren't playing Texas or Georgia every week, either. 

Nor will they make the new 12-team playoff. Says here Notre Dame and Indiana will.