Notre Dame-Oklahoma

Michigan State Recap

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish (3-1) certainly are not playing for style points so far this season. The Irish earned a hard-fought win over the Michigan State Spartans last Saturday in South Bend with a score of 17-13. Even though it was a close game throughout I thought this was a much improved performance by Notre Dame from the beginning of the season. The defense allowed only 254 yards and intercepted a pass (although Michigan State’s offense is very mediocre but 13 points is their lowest total this season).

The offense was very inconsistent. There were drives spectacular and then others that fizzled out and resulted in long punts. The Irish had 12 offensive possessions in the game and only three of those resulted in points being scored. Six of the possessions ended in punts and four of those were three-and-outs. I am not blaming all of this on the players because everybody is performing well. The one player I do put some blame on is quarterback Tommy Rees. There were at least five (I’m being very conservative with the estimate) instances when he threw a pass 20+ yards downfield to a receiver but he overthrew it. This is occurred on second-and-short and third-and-short.

Head coach, Brian Kelly, said the Spartans were bringing extra players close to the line of scrimmage to stop the run so the only option is to pass. Wrong. Run it! Or at least try. It is so aggravating to see our offense face a third-and-short situation and Rees launches a deep ball. While I’m calling out the coaches, I am also sick of seeing the Irish offense in formations with no running backs. The coaches want to see Tommy Rees have a chance to find an open receiver yet they don’t attempt to force the defense to think about stopping the run.

Oklahoma Preview

This has been circled on many calendars since the beginning of the season. This is when we find out what the Irish are made of. Is this Irish team capable of making a BCS Bowl or will they flutter to a 7-9 win season? Oklahoma is the most complete team Notre Dame has faced this year as they boast an offense and defense that rank in the top 25. The problem I have with Oklahoma is the same I had with Michigan State. They racked up their stats against very weak competition. The Sooners’ three opponents have a combined record of 5-7 and have one win against a BCS “power” conference. The three games were also home games for Oklahoma.

Keys to the game

Stop Blake Bell: I have to admit, I have not watched a single Oklahoma game since they took on the Irish last year. In that game I was not impressed by quarterback Blake Bell at all. He didn’t seem that fast and he didn’t have that great of an arm. Watch out though! The hype train is this guy is roaring across America. I want to see the Fighting Irish stop that train in South Bend. The defensive line needs to contain Bell like they did with Michigan State’s quarterback. Force Bell to find the open receiver and make a quality throw.

No 3-and-outs: These are killing the Irish. It stops all momentum and doesn’t give the defense any time to recover. Rees and the offense have to improve on moving the chains. The playcalling by offensive coordinator Chuck Martin can also improve. Run the damn ball. Line up every big man on the team and pound it for a first down.

Get in Their Heads: As I just mentioned this is the Sooners’ first road game of the season. The Fighting Irish football team and student body is calling for a green out and is giving away 40,000 pom-poms. This is when Notre Dame Stadium needs to get rowdy and loud. Make it hard for Oklahoma’s offense to communicate. Rally the Irish offense and make the Sooners’ defense intimidated.

Predicted score: Notre Dame-21. Oklahoma- 20.

My Predictions

This is the best week of college football so far. If you have family in town then pretend you’re sick. If you’re already sick then count your blessings. There are four matchups of Top 25 teams and one of those involves two Top 10 teams. I picked 8 of the 10 games correctly last week by the way!

#12 South Carolina Gamecocks at UCF Knights

Northern Illinois Huskies at Purdue Boilermakers

Toledo Rockets at Ball State Cardinals

#14 Oklahoma Sooners at #22 Notre Dame Fighting Irish

#6 LSU Tigers at #9 Georgia Bulldogs

Iowa Hawkeyes at Minnesota Golden Gophers

#21 Ole Miss Rebels at #1 Alabama

#10 Texas A&M at Arkansas Razorbacks

#23 Wisconsin Badgers at #4 Ohio State Buckeyes

USC Trojans at Arizona State Sundevils