CFB: Notre Dame Fighting Irish Week 4 Preview
By Stiofán Mac Fhilib
If ever there was a week where a big performance was needed it was last week. The Fighting Irish bounced back against Purdue to keep playoff hopes alive. Here’s our weekly review and look ahead to this week’s tilt.
Looking Back at Last Week
If there is one word Notre Dame fans have learned since Marcus Freeman took over as Head Coach, then it’s ‘intentional’. And from his first press conference he was very clear on his intent for the Irish football team: “we’re going to be an Offensive and Defensive Line-driven program”.
Last Saturday evening in West Lafayette saw perhaps the finest demonstration yet of Freeman’s philosophy. You don’t score 66 points on the road without talent at the skill positions, but it was up front where the strong foundations of the biggest defeat in the 137-year history of Purdue football were laid.
Despite losing starting DE, Jordan Botelho, to what was a seson-ending non-contact injury, the front seven terrorised Purdue all afternoon. The Boilermakers managed just 38 yards on the ground, Hudson Card was sacked 4 times and picked off twice, one a pick-six. Apart from one big play – when two backup Irish defenders ran into one another and Card completed a 52-yard pass – the hosts were completely stifled as they laboured to 162 total yards.
The Irish OL also had to overcome a pair on injuries that saw them lose C Ashton Craig, and RG Billy Schrauth, the former for the year. Their backups performed admirably en route to 364 total rushing yards on a day when both Leonard and Love ran for at least 100 yards and four ND players ran for TDs, including Leonard’s hat-trick.
Freeman was able to give backup QBs, Angeli and Minchey, second half reps, and the former threw Notre Dame’s first TD pass of the season. Questions, however, remain about Leonard’s ability to find open receivers and make the Irish offense properly two-dimensional. Greater challenges, and FSU, lie ahead, and while the performance was a significant step in the right direction, fans, AP voters and the college football committee will surely want to see continued progress – and victories.
The Week Ahead
Miami (OH) RedHawks (Notre Dame Stadium); 3.30pm EST; 8.30pm IST/BST
Having successfully defeated two Power 4 opponents on the road, either side of a home defeat to a MAC team, Notre Dame return home…to face another MAC side, Miami (OH). The Irish are 2-0 all-time against the RedHawks, who are led by former ND assistant coach, Chuck Martin, now in his 11th season at the cradle of coaches. They went 11-3 in 2023 and won the MAC, a title they are favoured to lift again this season.
They have started 0-2 with close losses to Northwestern and Cincinnati and will seek to emulate the Northern Illinois Huskies as they try to secure a first win of the year in South Bend. They have an experienced QB in Brett Gabbert, with over 60 career touchdowns, and he will look to throw early and often to slot receiver, Cade McDonald, their primary threat in the passing game.
Having lost their best RB and WR from 2023 to SEC teams, they have struggled to replace Rashod Amos on the ground in particular. An anaemic running game that forces them into repeated third and long situations, where the Notre Dame defense can focus on taking away one player, is not a recipe for sustained success. The Redhawks have not faced much blitzing through their opening two games; Al Golden will almost certainly rectify that on Saturday.
Defense was the strength of their team in 2023 and they will need all their experience, especially in the front seven, to make a game of it against the Irish. They are very effective in the red zone and tend to give up few big plays. However, their tackling in their last game was not great, and as Purdue discovered to their cost, Notre Dame have more than one player who can exploit that.
For the Irish the three key outcomes from Saturday are a win (which no longer goes without saying, thanks to NIU), avoiding serious injuries, and Riley Leonard improving in the passing game. With a home game against Louisville the following week, this is an important area that ND’s longer term success this season very much depends upon.
Game Prediction
Notre Dame 34-7 Miami (OH)
The Irish won’t match the dizzy heights of the Purdue drubbing, but Leonard will throw his first TD pass of the season and ND fans will have a less stressful afternoon than against the last MAC opponent.
Where to Watch
Sky Sports NFL (Channel 408 on Sky); coverage starts at 8.30pm IST/BST
NBC (in the USA)
Playoff Picture
Given Notre Dame’s strength of schedule or lack thereof, a 10-2 record would likely not be enough to make the playoff. So effectively the Irish are already in a playoff of sorts. EVERY week is now a must win game, with no further margin for error. Not so much ‘win or go home’ as ‘win or be consigned to the Play-All-The-Freshmen-Because-Everyone-Else-Has-Opted-Out Bowl’.
Last week saw little of note for the main contenders, save for Georgia needing a late comeback to squeak past Kentucky by a point. Week 4 has a couple of games that will help with the sorting out come late November: USC travel to Michigan for a ‘Rose Bowl matchup’ that is now a Big Ten conference game, a sentence that may never not feel strange to type.
Similarly in the SEC, Oklahoma kick off life in their new home by hosting a high-flying Tennessee team that is scoring points for fun.
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.