CFB: Notre Dame Fighting Irish Week 5 Preview
By Stiofán Mac Fhilib
With a win under their belt for the first time this season, Notre Dame heads south to SEC country to take on a first-time opponent with its own defensive and coaching issues. A fascinating must-win game for both teams and staff.
Looking Back at Last Week
The Irish racked up their tenth straight win over in-state rivals, Purdue, last Saturday in a weather-interrupted game at Notre Dame Stadium with a 56-30 scoreline that looked relatively comfortable on paper. On the actual field, where games are played, however, the story was more nuanced. For ND fans, much of the game reinforced what they already hoped and feared.
Mike Denbrock’s offense is really starting to hum. Love and Price combined for 231 yards on the ground and 142 yards on KO returns, and a total of six TDs, including the kickoff return Price took 100 yards to the house just before the interval. CJ Carr’s first pass – ND’s first play from scrimmage – was a perfect 66-yard scoring toss to Malachi Fields. His 48-yard TD to Faison on an audible in the third quarter was equally a thing of beauty.
The OL play continues to improve, as well as the WR blocking, and Carr is going through his progressions like a player with more than just the three CFB starts. It all bodes well for the remaining three-quarters of the regular season. And it may very well have to, depending on the pace with which the defense can get its backside in gear.
After the sieve-like display at home to Texas A&M, the defense saw Purdue’s first seven drives go punt, TD, FG, INT, FG, FG, TD. The decent start and Christian Gray picking off a deflected Ryan Browne pass were the only highlights as the Boilermakers racked up over 250 yards of first-half offense.
Marcus Freeman admitted afterwards that by the end of the half, they were scrambling around trying different coverage after different coverage, with little rhyme or reason, merely a growing sense of ineptitude and chaos. From the stands, it just looked like bland four-man bull rush after bland four-man bull rush, while the back seven tried to play zone, and generally just watched Purdue receivers catch the ball in open spaces.
The second-half display provided the only glimmer of hope. Fingers crossed, Freeman had some semblance of a coming-to-Jesus moment once the first half ended. Because after the break, we saw the Irish bring more five and six-man pressures, and – gasp – the DL trying stunts as well. Purdue went punt, punt, punt, punt, INT, amassing 35 yards in the process, before a very late consolation TD against Notre Dame’s backups.
One further concern for Irish fans was backup K Erik Schmidt’s 31-yard FG attempt. The record books will simply say it was ‘missed’. That, however, does not do justice to how little chance it ever stood of splitting the uprights. It was never going to matter much against the Boilermakers; Noah Burnette’s health will, however, be much more critical in the coming weeks, possibly starting in Fayetteville.
The Week Ahead
Arkansas Razorbacks
(Razorback Stadium, Fayetteville, AR); 12.00pm EDT; 5.00pm IST/BST
This is the first-ever meeting of these two storied programs, after the Razorbacks’ originally scheduled trip to Notre Dame Stadium in 2020 was postponed during the pandemic. That game will now be played in three years’ time. Lou Holtz, former head coach of both schools, is planning to be in attendance, though the product he sees on the field is unlikely to resemble any low-scoring defensive struggles from his time on the sidelines.
Like the Irish this season, the home side are not a million miles away from being unbeaten, however, defensive frailties have cost them in each of their last two road games. As a result, head coach, Sam Pittman, is very firmly on the hot seat. Going 32-33 overall, and 14-29 in the toughest conference in college football, is not good enough for the fans in Fayetteville, regardless of what you might consider realistic expectations to be. And there are already rumblings that OC, Bobby Petrino, is angling for the top job should it become available.
That should not be overly surprising given Petrino’s history. But for all the colourful stories off the field, one thing hasn’t changed – he’s a heck of an offensive play caller. And boy, does he have some weapons to work with. QB, Taylen Green, may be the most dangerous the Irish defense faces this season. 6’6”, and 235 lbs, Petrino will use him in a manner not dissimilar to how Riley Leonard was at ND in 2024.
They’ve already had 30 big plays (20+ yards) this season, combining a physical running attack, led by transfer Mike Washington Jr, with an explosive passing game. And they’ve shown a marked improvement on last year in OL play and pass blocking in particular. It’s a dreadful matchup for Notre Dame on current form, especially if Leonard Moore and Devonta Smith are still unavailable.
The Razorbacks have scored 16 TDs on 17 redzone visits so far and holding them to FG attempts will be critical to ND success.
As with Notre Dame, their defense is the weakness of the team. Memphis gashed them for over 300 yards on the ground, and they gave up almost 7 yards per play across the two defeats to Ole Miss and the Tigers. Their pass defense has improved a little statistically, but mostly only because it was so poor a season ago.
Transfer DE, Quincy Rhodes, is their most dangerous pass rusher, but they’ve struggled on third down and in the red zone. Between an inability to get a good push against the run, and below average tackling, they’ve given up 24 runs of 10+ yards. The Irish game plan may well be to control the clock and run the ball at will.
Notre Dame Kicker, Noah Burnette, is still listed as questionable for the game, which could impact Freeman’s fourth down decisions in plus territory. The Razorbacks may have similar reliability issues. True Freshman, Scott Starzyk, is 2 of 4 for the season after missing a pair of long FG attempts in the defeat at Ole Miss. And the Irish will have to be conscious of the punt return ability of Kam Shanks, who led the country in 2024 and had two TDs.
Game Prediction
NOTRE DAME 38-34 ARKANSAS
The days of the Irish defense holding opponents under 30 are gone. Well, until they return. Which I rather suspect won’t be this weekend. They will, however, ultimately do just enough to allow the potent offense to do its thing, which is run the two best RBs in college football.
Where to Watch
DAZN (coverage starts at 5.00pm IST/BST)
ABC (in the USA)
Playoff Picture
Week 4 was a good week for Indiana and Oklahoma, as both won ranked conference matchups to move to 4-0 and set themselves up for a run at the playoffs. Sadly, the injury news about Sooner’s QB, John Mateer, may slow down their challenge, but hopefully, he’s back behind centre before we get to Hallowe’en.
Texas Tech put down a marker with a demolition of the Utes on their own field, and Ole Miss had an eye-opening 45-10 takedown of one of the G5’s best teams, Tulane. One hesitates to admit it publicly, because, well, God knows that conference does enough of its own hype, but this season might be the best and deepest SEC in a long time. There may be no Saban-era Alabama, but I suspect they’ll end up deserving at least five playoff spots.
Week 5 now sees teams well and truly in conference play. And both the SEC and Big Ten have matchups that will go a long way to deciding who makes their respective conference title games. Penn State hosts Oregon, giving James Franklin yet another chance to ‘win a big one’ and get the inside track for a spot in Indianapolis.
Down south, LSU travel to Ole Miss and Alabama face Georgia in the regular season for only the second time since 2017. The Dawgs will be keen to avenge their dramatic loss in Tuscaloosa last year, but Kalen DeBoer has an excellent record in top 10 games.
And for the more optimistic Notre Dame fans still harbouring playoff hopes, USC travels to Illinois, and a win for the Trojans would be very helpful, if not essential, from an Irish perspective.
STIOFÁN MAC FHILIB
COLLEGE FOOTBALL ANALYST
A VERY LONG-DISTANCE SUBWAY ALUMNUS OF NOTRE DAME, COUNTY ANTRIM-BASED STIOFÁN HAS BEEN A FAN OF THE FIGHTING IRISH SINCE 2000. FOLLOW HIM ON TWITTER @SMACFHILIB.