CFB: Notre Dame Fighting Irish Week 2 Preview
By Stiofán Mac Fhilib
After a fantastic opening day victory in their season opener against Texas A&M, the Fighting Irish now take on Northern Illinois. Our Notre Dame specialist Stiofán Mac Fhilib has you covered for all things Irish this week…
Looking Back at Last Week
“What though the odds be great or small, old Notre Dame will win over all…” proclaims the Notre Dame Victory March, and while the odds of an Irish win at Texas A&M were not tiny, they still entered Kyle Field as a three-point underdog, in search of their first road SEC win in 20 years.
On a hot evening in front of 107,315, the fourth highest attendance in A&M history, ND overcame the noise, heat and first-time home HC, Mike Elko, to register a double-digit success, arguably the biggest win in Marcus Freeman’s tenure as Irish Head Coach.
Al Golden’s defense provided the basis for the eventual 23-13 triumph. They held the Aggies to just 246 total yards of offense and only 100 passing yards, the lowest in both categories for A&M in two years. The young LBs all contributed big plays, and the elite secondary locked down the A&M receivers as well as picking Conner Weigman off twice.
However, while the defensive display was in line with expectations, it was the young and inexperienced Notre Dame Offensive Line whose performance was the most pleasing. Coming in with three redshirt sophomores, a redshirt freshman and a true freshman, at LT, the unit boasted just six career starts between them, a figure that has now almost doubled after just one game!
They were far from perfect, but gave up zero sacks and held their own enough to help the Irish generate almost 200 yards on the ground. As expected, Mike Denbrock’s gameplan was conservative and relied on Riley Leonard’s legs as much as his arm. And second half TD runs of 47 and 21 yards by Jadarian Price and Jeremiyah Love, the latter with just under two minutes remaining, were enough to seal an Irish win that sets up an inside track for ND to the expanded CFB playoff.
The Week Ahead
Northern Illinois Huskies (Notre Dame Stadium); 3.30pm EST; 8.30pm IST/BST
The Huskies travel to Notre Dame Stadium for their first ever matchup with the Irish. ND is 10-0 all-time against MAC opposition and while they do have some history of coming out slow in such games, especially after emotionally draining big wins the previous week, it would be a huge upset were they to fail to move to 2-0 on Saturday.
The Huskies, led by their former star RB, Thomas Hammock, were 7-6 in 2023 and regularly take on a couple of Power 4 schools in their out of conference schedule. They toppled Georgia Tech by a point in 2021 and opened last season with an overtime FG win at Boston College. They will also travel to take on NC State in three weeks.
They started 2024 as one of the favourites in the MAC and opened with a facile 54-15 home win over a very poor FCS Western Illinois team. QB, Ethan Hampton, led the Huskies to his first career win, after going 0-4 in his first four starts, and threw for 328 yards with 5 TDs and no picks. He is not a threat with his legs and given the strength of NIU’s running game, he’ll look to throw play action passes a lot.
The Huskies’ primary offensive threat is RB, Antario Brown. The First Team All-MAC RB ran for almost 1,300 yards and 10 TDs in 2023, though his stats were notably lower – by more than 3 YPC – against P5 opposition. With a large OL, NIU will try to use their biggest strength, the running game, to control time of possession and keep the Irish offense off the field.
As most teams in the Huskies’ position should do, they may well look to mix in some trick plays. Their best WR, Trayvon Rudolph, is a threat in the running game as well as a pass-catcher, and as a former high school QB, is a threat to throw on the occasional bit of trickery.
NIU’s bigger strength is their defense, especially against the pass. Only three teams threw for more than 200 yards against them last season. They like to rely on good coverage rather than bringing pressure, a tactic that has very successfully reduced opposition explosive passing plays. Their bend but don’t break style is not as effective against the run and it will be interesting to see how the Irish try to attack them.
Notre Dame have a running game to take advantage of the Huskies weakness there, but after a conservative game plan last week, it would make sense to try to see how Riley Leonard does with a more expansive passing attack. Certainly, I would expect to see Leonard himself have a lot fewer designed runs, after rushing 12 times in College Station.
Game Prediction
Notre Dame 31-6 Northen Illinois
The Irish are often notoriously flat in these matchups after a big game and I’d expect the Huskies to play them close in the first half, before ND pull away more comfortably after the break. I suspect NIU may well cover the spread, though a much more emphatic Irish victory would certainly bode well for later in the season.
Where to Watch
Sky Sports NFL (Channel 408 on Sky); coverage starts at 8.30pm IST/BST
NBC (in the USA)
Playoff Picture
In this new era, a single week 1 result should no longer potentially torpedo a team’s playoff hopes. Though Florida State are probably now aware that losing in conference in both weeks 0 and 1 likely IS enough to wave goodbye to this year’s post-season tournament.
Notre Dame were perhaps the biggest week 1 winners as their remaining schedule sets up nicely for a playoff home game, though they can probably not afford more than one loss to achieve that.
In week 2 it is the Texas visit to Michigan that will have the most significance, especially in helping the committee in November to weigh up the relative merits of teams at the top of the Big Ten and SEC.
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.