NOTE: Mike Kane is a Notre Dame fan writing a weekly column about the lighter side college football from a fan’s perspective.
It was a win. That’s the only objective and why you strap the helmet up and go out and play. In my years of ND Fandom dating back to the early 80’s, Saturday night will go down as one of the uglier dubs in my 40+ years. A poor offensive scheme, poor line offensive line play, dumb penalties, and having to go all 60 minutes against a Duke team that talent-wise wasn’t on the same level in any capacity as ND. Hard to put lipstick on this pig. It was Ball State/Toledo ugly. But it was a win, on the road, against a ranked opponent.
Mike Elko had his boys ready to play and is just padding to his resume for a big-time gig in the very near future. Hats off the Dukies and their students (some of which might have been attending their very first football game) for bringing it and taking ND to the brink. Survive and advance is the name of the game here, and the Irish get another tough test this Saturday in Louisville. It’s their “Super Bowl” don’t you know. We’ll get to that one in a minute…
So, what did we learn this past weekend?
It was BVG Appreciation night in Oxford as both LSU and Ole Miss forgot that you’re actually allowed to do crazy things like cover guys, tackle, and make the other guys do something crazy called punt. Brian Kelly, even with all the advantages that you have playing at an SEC school, now has two loses before October and the natives aren’t happy in BR. I’ve taken heat for goofing on Kelly in these articles being told “why does it matter, he doesn’t coach here anymore.” No, he doesn’t coach here, but he deserves the heat. He has talent all over the field ,and the two competent offenses he’s played so far this year have scored over 40+. I’m sure this is what Tiger fans were expecting for $90 million guaranteed.
Matt Ruhle has a long way to go as the head coach at Nebraska. Even after the “Curse of Frank Solich” was laid down on them, I can’t remember them taking one like that at home. Michigan had that thing put to bed midway through the second quarter, and NU was never even remotely in this game from the word go. Ruhle started off horribly at Baylor his first year, but he can go 1-11 down there and nobody will really notice or care. Different story in Lincoln.
Florida doing Florida things. This time going up to the Commonwealth and getting run out of the building by UK and Ray Davis’ 280 yards rushing, and 3 house calls. Florida got a great deal of love for handling Tennessee with ease but were bad against Charlotte, and then were never even in this one against the Cats. Kentucky didn’t even look that impressive in their first few outings of the season, and this one came out of left field. Reality comes a-calling this weekend as they have a date with Georgia. This leads to the question: is the SEC truly this down this year?
Some good ones on tap this weekend to check out during the day before the Irish invade the Pizza Box or whatever they call it now. Here’s what we got…
Oklahoma and Texas get together for their annual meeting at the Texas State Fair and Cotton Bowl in what is going to be a true clash in styles. UT obviously has a high-powered offense led by mulletless Quin Ewers, while OU is finally starting to play Brent Venebles-like defense. I think OU is going to have trouble staying with Texas simply because I haven’t seen much offense against any of the good teams on their schedule….wait, the best team they played was Cincinnati and only scored 20 points? You mean the same UC defense that had Kedon Slovis (he plays for BYU this season if you didn’t know) make sweet, sweet love to them? OU will hang in this game for a while, but at the end of the day, I just can’t see them being able to score enough to get Texas this season. UT 31-17.
I just touched on Kentucky and they head to UGA to take on the Bulldogs at night. I have an awfully hard time believing that Ray Davis hits the 280 mark against UGA, heck I have a hard time believing he hits a hundy and that will leave it up to Devin Leary to try to beat them through the air. I can’t see that happening. That being said, other than Brock Bowers, UGA’s offense has been exceptionally pedestrian so far this season. UK doesn’t have the dudes in general to beat Georgia, but this isn’t the UGA team of the last two seasons who when playing was like sticking your head in a woodchipper. Dawgs win, but aren’t impressive doing so. They just keep putting along until late November when it’s money time. UGA 28-17.
Alabama heads to A&M to take on the suddenly rejuvenated Aggies in this year’s addition of Saban vs Jimbo. Obviously, these two don’t like each other, and here’s hoping there’s some shots across the bow taken during the week leading up to it. Milroe has played better since being reinstated as the Bama starter but still has a tendency to make some head-scratching mistakes. Max Johnson has been serviceable as the Aggie signal caller in wins against Auburn and Arkansas, but faces a different animal this week with the Tide’s good but not great defense. Since the game is in Aggieland, I think it’ll be closer than it probably should with Bama continuing to circle the wagons since the Texas loss. Bama 27-21.
Finally, the Irish take to the road into a hostile environment at Louisville (let’s be honest, Duke wasn’t hostile. Tough to take a bunch of future neurosurgeon in training seriously yelling “traveling!!” every off sides call) as they take on their third ranked team in as many weeks.
Should this game be close? No, it shouldn’t. I’ve watched Jeff Brohm’s boys twice this season and they’ve not shown any reason that they should beat Notre Dame. Jawhar Jordan is a talented back who has feasted on bad defenses but was held to 32 yards on 16 carries against NC State last weekend. Journeyman signal caller Jack Plummer has also lit up BC, GT (who lost to a putrid Bowling Green team this past weekend) and Murray State. He’s also susceptible to tossing picks with 6 already on the season. It’s not a stretch to say this will be the best secondary he’s played all year.
For ND it’s fairly obvious, they have to spread Louisville out and create space in the running game, and someone not named Mitchell Evans needs to buck up in passing game. They do that, and create turnovers, this one should be a 3 score game. It won’t be that easy, it’s ND, it never seems to be. But I like the boys to truly rebound, cover the spread, and get ready for the showdown against USC.
Offensive Pick to click: Sam Hartman. 275 and 3TD’s
Defensive Beast of the Week: Howard Cross III. 8 tackles, a sack, and 3 pressures.
ND 31-17.
Beat Louisville.
