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Notre Dame Football

Game Thread | No. 9 Notre Dame at Florida State

September 5, 2021
169,707

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

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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 

Game Thread | No. 9 Notre Dame at Florida State

169,693 Views | 1621 Replies | Last: 2 yr ago by DischFalk
Fredman90
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I expected more from the defense. Not impressed
parisite
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FSU will have to drive like this 3 times while holding the irish to 0 points for this to win the game. burn clock
nc2022
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parisite said:

making them burn a lot of time to score. playing the odds the game runs out of time
sure if we were mid way through the 4th
irishtank6900
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Freeman is conceding 7 points for game clock, why?
nc2022
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Fredman90 said:

I expected more from the defense. Not impressed
LB play has not impressed me
ND_Chelu
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slow burn
irishgeneral
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Run D has been awful. Missed assignments and poor tackling.
irishphilly
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Lbs are really struggling tonight
Spes Unica
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The number one issue I see on defense is failure to finish tackles. That's not a schematic problem.
Sweetlou88
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parisite said:

FSU will have to drive like this 3 times while holding the irish to 0 points for this to win the game. burn clock

I hate that philosophy. It makes the O have to keep scoring.
ndsean44
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This drive is primarily on Freeman.

Just a bad decision to go 3 down. We don't have that kind of size up front.
jtthedomer
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Again,this 3 man front is giving up way too much yardage on the ground.You have to stop the run 1st.
irishkmg
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ND_Chelu said:

slow burn


What is gonorrhea? STDs for five hundred, Alex.
pjcaulfield
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And a brace on his knee...
pbrad28
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Should have made them pass cuz he gave up 3 INTs and had a lot of pressure. Insteada 3 man front
tvanp63
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Why the 3 man front when all they are doing is running? Had a chance to completely end this game and instead we give them life by playing passive D.
theboy
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Where's Mills?
2022 ISD Bankroll Challenge Champ
Frankbuz
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Is JD Bertrand playing? I haven't notice him or heard his name.
toliver0917
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I predict the defense will improve as the year goes on. They lost a key piece in liufau near the end of camp and have to adjust. Also they hadn't been able to hit as much. It'll improve
IRISHLOYAL
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Not at all impressed with Freeman's defense. The middle of the line is wide open to run through and the middle blitz just seems to run right passed the play.
hubriscube
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irishkmg said:

mattfreeman said:

Kyren Williams punter returner.


12 years of John Goodman, Chris Finke, and Matt Salerno... And when 2 back up rbs are unavailable, they trot the starter back there. Lol
This is a close to a perfect post as we're likely to see today.
Portland, OR Bureau Chief, currently on assignment in Washington, DC
parisite
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i understand the frustration but they show no signs of stopping the irish for the 4th quarter. trading points will not win it. not saying i agree with the strat. but i understand it
jtthedomer
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Has Lo Styles played?Why he doesn't get a chance on returning kickoffs is pure asinine.
liquidcrystal23
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First game poor tackling is the norm. Playing 3 down is stupid. Freeman better wake up.
TornisODaly
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ND's best bet on D is disciplined bend-not-break, like Lea's. This aggressive business never works (Tenuta, BVG)
-------

Tornis
Rwolf101
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My goodness FSU cannot stop screwing things up.
ndsean44
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Spes Unica said:

The number one issue I see on defense is failure to finish tackles. That's not a schematic problem.
On this drive, it is absolutely a schematic problem.

Freeman went passive when he really shouldn't have, because there is still time for FSU to get back into this. He conceded the run and because of it, they're about to score and get back into this if the offense can't keep the pace.
hubriscube
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You think FSU noticed they switched directions at the start of the 4th quarter?
Portland, OR Bureau Chief, currently on assignment in Washington, DC
Rwolf101
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Yikes...Gibbons looks to have a ton of bad weight. He's all belly and beard and I can't decide which is hanging lower.
irishkmg
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hubriscube said:

irishkmg said:

mattfreeman said:

Kyren Williams punter returner.


12 years of John Goodman, Chris Finke, and Matt Salerno... And when 2 back up rbs are unavailable, they trot the starter back there. Lol
This is a close to a perfect post as we're likely to see today.


Well, thank you kind sir.

I am just happy we are going to likely win.
ND_Chelu
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Pick six right here.
ndsean44
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hubriscube said:

irishkmg said:

mattfreeman said:

Kyren Williams punter returner.


12 years of John Goodman, Chris Finke, and Matt Salerno... And when 2 back up rbs are unavailable, they trot the starter back there. Lol
This is a close to a perfect post as we're likely to see today.
Yeah, not gonna lie, I really do not understand the logic behind that decision.
BridgestoneAC
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Opportunity to drive that final nail in the proverbial coffin and you play passive D. Not impressed
with the D sans a few plays from KH
mavscoach
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Why did the defense call time out
Sweetlou88
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Wow.
 
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