ISD Game Predictions: South Florida
It’s that time again, and that means another round of game predictions from the IrishSportsDaily.com staff. Notre Dame will face off against South Florida on Saturday with a mission of getting off to a fast start. Will Notre Dame come out firing on all cylinders on Saturday?
Mike Frank
Last Saturday’s game wasn’t a great performance for Notre Dame, and I expect the Irish to play better on offense this weekend. South Florida just doesn’t have the athletes to play with Notre Dame for four quarters. I’m not sure they will have the athletes to play with ND for a half.
I expect we will see a better Ian Book on Saturday, as well as some big plays in the passing game. Once the Irish establish their ability to stretch the field, we will see a lot of Kyren Williams and the ground game.
I don’t expect the score to get too far out of hand because I think Notre Dame will continue to play a lot of their depth to get ready for what could be interesting season with players coming in and out of the lineup.
Ian Book and Kyren Williams will lead the way. On defense, I think we will see a lot of havoc plays breaking any positive momentum South Florida can muster on the day.
Notre Dame 41, South Florida 13
Christian McCollum
This may be an impressive victory for the Irish aesthetically, but in truth it’s hard to glean much as the Bulls are simply overmatched.
Ian Book isn’t as sharp as Notre Dame fans would like, but he’s better than he was in the opener against Duke, relying heavily on the tight end tandem of Tommy Tremble and Michael Mayer.
Kyren Williams and Chris Tyree continue to provide an exciting 1-2 punch out of the backfield.
On the other side of the ball, Clark Lea’s defensive front controls the line of scrimmage making it difficult for USF to get into any type of flow. When the Bulls do take a couple shots, they fail to connect and turn the ball over twice.
Notre Dame takes care of business, but some questions remain unanswered for now.
Notre Dame 37, South Florida 10
Matt Freeman
This one is fun for Notre Dame as in the Fighting Irish will score many points, play a lot of young players and win with ease.
It will be hard to take anything meaningful away from it, as South Florida is just that bad. (Unless it's close somehow lol)
That said, I think you would love to see the starting unit get over 200 yards rushing and Ian Book look a little sharper with maybe a couple of deep plays mixed in there.
Defensively, Notre Dame should dominate and anything less would be a disappointment.
It would be beneficial to let Brendon Clark run the offense and be aggressive in mop up time. He needs the reps on film, but Clark can also benefit by not having to worry about running the score up. Run it up.
Notre Dame 52, South Florida 13
John Brice
Notre Dame always seemed this close to blowing open the game against Duke (and could easily have tacked on a final score).
This week, with more adjustments and comfort on the offensive side, plus with a defense continue to showcase more and more depth in key areas (hello, Isaiah Foskey), the Fighting Irish roll.
USF and first-year coach Jeff Scott missed 10 players last week against The Citadel and are expected to be missing players again this weekend at Notre Dame.
Fighting Irish 41, USF 10
Jamie Uyeyama
South Florida has some good athletes. They have speedy backs and several second and third level defenders who could play for Power 5 programs. What they don't have is the size and depth to hang with a program like Notre Dame for four quarters.
They were missing a dozen players for their game last week against The Citadel and that doesn't include seven players who have opted out. New coach Jeff Scott walked into a very tough situation and them adding Notre Dame to their schedule didn't help things.
I expect them to load the box to try and stop the run and it will cost them with Notre Dame's offense breaking out with big plays over the top. On offense they might have some moments on the ground, but an anemic passing attack won't allow them to put many points on the board.
Notre Dame 42, USF 10