No. 22 Notre Dame (1-2) at Arkansas (2-2)
Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium | 12:00 PM ET | ABC | Line: Notre Dame -3.5 | Total: 63.5
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Five Players To Watch
Notre Dame RB Jadarian Price
Price is only averaging nine attempts per game rushing, but he has five touchdowns and he added a kick return touchdown on top of that last week against Purdue. Mike Denbrock will continue to lean on him and Jeremiyah Love. Expect both of them to have big days against an Arkansas defense that is 107th in EPA per rush, 127th in rushing success rate, and 123rd in rushing of 10+ yards allowed.
Arkansas QB Taylen Green
There hasn't been a better dual-threat quarterback in all of college football in the first 1/3 of the season than Green. He's taken a big leap as a passer (16th in EPA per dropback) and has continued to be dangerous when running the football (9.0 yards per carry). The only knock against him this season is something that has been an issue for him during his entire college career. He is eighth out of Power 4 quarterbacks in turnover-worthy plays and three two interceptions in their loss against Memphis. Notre Dame will have a tough time slowing him down, so they'll need to do their best to get him to turn the ball over to them.
Notre Dame CB Mark Zackery IV
With Leonard Moore's status uncertain, Zackery could be in line for his second career start. He was picked on against Purdue in his first start and everyone should expect him to receive the same treatment in this game. There's been a lot of growth with freshmen corners under Mike Mickens and Notre Dame will be hoping for the same with Zackery.
Arkansas Edge Quincy Rhodes
Rhodes has been a revelation as a pass rusher on a defense that has had few bright spots. He's tied for third in the country in sacks with five and his 16 pressures in his last three games. He'll present a difficult challenge for Notre Dame's offensive tackles and it will help a lot if Notre Dame doesn't have to drop back in too many obvious passing situations.
Notre Dame DT Gabriel Rubio
Rubio was a bright spot for Notre Dame against Purdue and he's been the best interior defensive lineman for the Irish this season. They'll need him to continue his level of play to help shut down Arkansas' inside run game.
Quotes of the Week
Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman:
“I get excited when I talk during tough times. There's two options, fight or flight. The guys that flight blame other people. It's the call. It's his fault. It's this coach's fault, or it's that player's fault. We gave up a big play that corner should have covered. That's the flight mode. You deflect and blame other people.
“But the fight mode is like, gosh, man, call man again. Call man again. I promise you, my man's not going to catch the ball. I'm going to play with the right technique, and I'm going to refuse to let my man catch the ball. I got to coach this better. He should have known that this is the technique to play with. Ok, I got to change his technique. That's the fight mode.
“But in order to do that, everybody's got to be bought in. Everybody's got to believe that we have the answers. It's not a person. It's not Marcus Freeman should be calling the defense. We have the answers. We got to all buy in and execute this the right way.
“That starts with leadership. That starts from the top down. That's my job, but also Chris Ash's job and it's our coach's job, on down to our players. You have to create the buy-in to what we're doing and the ownership of it. If we get that, we'll get it corrected with urgency. If we don't - it's your fault, you shouldn't have called that. You're a bad coach. Then it's going to be bad. I know our culture ain't going to let that happen.”
Notre Dame offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock:
“I know we are a run-first team, and it's going to start there and always will start there. And then, whatever the defense kind of gives us between kind of what I would call the 15- to 20-yard intermediate shots or throwing the ball more vertical will depend on how aggressive their decision-making is on how they want to try to cover us.”
Notre Dame running back Jeremiyah Love:
“A lot of people try to shine a spotlight on me here and there,” Love stated. “A lot of people just don't realize, JD, he's one of the best running backs in the country. He creates explosive runs like that. At any point in the game, you need JD to show up, he's going to show up. Pass, throw, he's going to show up. Out in the space, he's going to show up.
“JD's that guy to me, and I've looked up to him ever since I've been at Notre Dame. Just seeing J.D. and the way he works every day, I respect it a lot. He’s one of the best backs in the country.”
Notre Dame DL Gabe Rubio:
“You’ve got to listen to what the guys are saying in the locker room,” the fifth-year senior stated. “On the field, you’ve got to see how they act because actions speak louder than words, so when someone’s not getting to where they need to go, you’ve got to nip that in the bud, otherwise it becomes a bigger problem.”
For Your Nerves
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