Game Thread | No. 9 Notre Dame at Florida State

Game One | No. 9 Notre Dame at Florida State 

Doak Campbell Stadium | 7:30 p.m. ET | ABC | Notre Dame - 7.0 | Over/Under: 55.5

Game Week Articles | Roster| Depth Chart | Schedule 

Notre Dame in Tally

Fighting Irish football is back. 

Notre Dame should win this game on paper, but there are many interesting aspects of this game to watch as Florida State will have a chance to make this one interesting. The Irish offensive is breaking in new quarterback Jack Coan and four new starters on the offensive line. Always tricky, but outside of true freshman Blake Fisher, it’s still a group that’s played in big games. 

Irish receiver Kevin Austin Jr. will also be making his return to the field after basically two years away from the field as he played in just one game a year ago.

It will also be the first time Notre Dame fans get to see Marcus Freeman’s defense. The Blue-Gold Game in the spring was extremely vanilla and some have even stated Notre Dame under 10 plays on defense. 

On the Florida State side, it’s still an unknown how Mike Norvell will play his quarterbacks as Jordan Travis seems like the likely starter while grad transfer McKenzie Milton could play if he’s healthy enough. 

Finally, you have Seminoles left guard Dillan Gibbons facing his former teammates as he transferred from Notre Dame in spring. 

Five Players To Watch

Notre Dame WR Kevin Austin Jr.
Expectations are high for Austin heading into this season and Notre Dame needs him to at least come close to meeting them. Can he be a true WR1 for the Irish? He'll get his first shot to prove it against the Seminoles.

Florida State DE Jermaine Johnson
The transfer from Georgia is going to be counted on to provide a consistent pass rush off the edge for Florida State. The buzz in camp is that he's the best player on the defense. Maybe even the best player on the team. His matchup with true freshman LT Blake Fisher will be one to keep a close eye on.

Notre Dame LB JD Bertrand
Now that we know that Marist Liufau is out of the season, Bertrand steps into the spotlight as the starting Will linebacker. He was someone who rose up the depth chart during the spring and summer and flashed quite a bit as a blitzer.

Florida State QB Jordan Travis
Even though he's listed as a co-starter with McKenzie Milton, it's expected that Travis will be the main guy for most of the game. He's a dynamic runner and has reportedly improved as a passer. He'll need to be much better in that area to give FSU a chance at an upset.

Notre Dame QB Jack Coan
Notre Dame players and coaches have been saying all of the right things about Coan before the season. Now we see if he can live up to the praise he's received. Poise in the pocket is one of his strengths, but Irish fans anxiously await the chance to see him connect on the deep ball with the wide receiver group.

Quotes of the Week

RB Kyren Williams:
"Nobody really knows what Kev (Kevin Austin Jr.) can do. The only people that know what Kev can do is what we see at practice and that's really just our team. 

"We all know what Kevin has in store. We've been bragging out - I know I've been bragging about since I got here. I'm excited and I can't wait for Kevin to show his natural ability to the whole world." 

WR Kevin Austin Jr: 
"I'm very hungry and excited. I've been waiting a long time and it's a great opportunity to finally be here and be in the moment. I have to take by the rails and keep going.

LB Jack Kiser:
"Everybody is certainly excited to get to Sunday and play some real football in an electric environment down in Tallahassee. 

"I don't know what more you could ask for - Florida State vs. Notre Dame on a Sunday night in primetime. It's going to be huge and everyone is very excited to get there." 

Head coach Brian Kelly on what he wants to see from QB Jack Coan:
"Poise would be probably the first one. Decisive. Look, we're not starting a freshman. We're starting a guy that's played this game. We want him to be poised, but we want him to be decisive. He's been in this. He's seen it and knows what it looks like. 

"To be decisive, you have to be confident in your ability and we know Jack is. So go out there and be decisive. 

"The third thing is one of the things we were looking for in this quarterback position is being aggressive. Push the ball. If you got opportunities to push the ball down the field, let's go. Those are the things we've talked to Jack about and now we got to go do it on Sunday." 

For the Instagram users, 2022 tight end Holden Staes‍ will be in Tallahassee with his family for the game and will be taking over the ISD Instagram story for the day. 

Follow us on Instagram here: IrishSportsDaily

For Your Nerves