NFL
By: Greg Rector
Yes, I was one angry fan of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team after they lost to the Ohio State Buckeyes. Gerard Parker in his first season as an offensive coordinator made a few mistakes and that’s what cost the Fighting Irish the last-second loss to the Buckeyes. Next time when you have a lead stick to running the football and don’t call a screen pass…smh
Now let’s look at a very intriguing matchup between the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and the Duke Blue Devils. For the second straight week, the ESPN College Gameday crew will be on hand for a Notre Dame game as they come to Durham for the first time ever.
Notre Dame Offense
The Notre Dame offense has to push the football downfield in order to beat Duke. Sam Hartman must put pressure on a starting unit for the Blue Devils that has played very good football to this point of the season. I mean there can’t be any side-to-side running by Audric Estime or the other four running backs. This Duke squad won’t fall for anything fancy just ask Clemson.
The Fighting Irish must be led by their offensive line who played an outstanding game against the Buckeyes and will most certainly need another stellar effort. Aaron Hall Chandler Rivers and Myles Jones might not be household names on most football fans’ radar however they are all steady players and can all cause problems for any opponent including Notre Dame.
I forsee this Fighting Irish offense though to get back to what has worked in the first four games of the season. I see Sam Hartman throwing the ball downfield to Chris Tyree and Tobias Merriweather and the five-headed monster running backs getting back to their winning ways.
Notre Dame Defense
The Fighting Irish defense was left on the field for one second too long and as I wrote about earlier it wasn’t their fault they were out on the field. I can’t say enough good things about how well the Notre Dame Fighting Irish defense played against the Ohio State Buckeyes.
Against the Duke Blue Devils, the Irish defense must contain Riley Leonard and that’s no easy task. Leonard isn’t as highly rated as many other quarterbacks who can be drafted in the 2024 NFL draft unless of course you actually scout. Since I do scout the draft-eligible players I have Leonard in my top ten quarterbacks.
This game should be much easier on the Notre Dame defensive secondary especially since there’s no Marvin Harrsion Jr or Emeka Egbuka to try and stop. The secondary should be able to limit the Duke receivers as long as they remember their coverages.
My Prediction
I have the Notre Dame Fighting Irish moving to a 5-1 record as they will hand the Duke Blue Devils their first loss of the season by a score of 41 to 20. Don’t doubt the Duke Blue Devils as they are a good football team. They aren’t however as good as the Fighting Irish and this Notre Dame team is going to play angry football on Saturday night. I really hope the weather doesn’t affect this broadcast as the first game was affected against NC State. I can’t handle another weather delay-filled game of Booger MacFarland rambling on and on so please weather be kind to all of us Notre Dame Fighting Irish football fans.
Also please subscribe to our YouTube channel and like the videos we have there for you including The Last Word our weekly wrap-up off Saturday games and a look ahead at the next week of games as well.
Comments 1