In 2016, it’s College Football Playoff or bust, every season, for the sport’s blue bloods. So now that this Notre Dame football team has two losses already, what are they playing for this season? Is there still hope for a New Year’s Six Bowl? Possibly, but they’d have to go 9-0 down the stretch and hope some things fall their way in order to be in that conversation. In other words, not bloody likely.
Being an independent, Saturday’s tussle with Duke is not an ACC conference game, and therefore does not have any meaning towards determining a conference championship.
I have no doubt that Notre Dame football will one day return to where it was in the 1980s and early 1990s, given
a.) the deals they’ve struck with social media and internet companies and
b.) the facilities upgrades underway.
These two forces will come together to get them back even with the Ohio States, Michigans and Alabamas of the world in the recruiting arms race. However, playoff talk will now have to wait until 2017, at the earliest. Luckily, Duke might be the perfect opponent to help the Fighting Irish and their fans feel better in a hurry.
Notre Dame Fighting Irish vs Duke Blue Devils
TV: NBC 5- Doug Flutie, Mike Tirico, Kathryn Tappen
SPREAD: Notre Dame Football -21 1/2
Notre Dame Football Preview:
The Irish have dropped out of the national rankings, but they are still showing up in some decent locations in all the end of season bowl projections. We linked those for you to peruse here.
Notre Dame football Coach Brian Kelly on the team’s mindset post Michigan State and heading into Saturday against Duke:
“There’s four quarters in the season, and the first quarter, we did not get off to a good start. But there is plenty of time for us to come out of this in a very, very positive way. That’s what we talked about over the last day or so.”
Kelly has won at least eight games each of his first six seasons as Head Notre Dame football coach. He’s the only Fighting Irish headman to ever accomplish that. Even Dan Devine or Knute Rockne were unable to do so.
Last weekend, Notre Dame fell to 142-60-4 all-time in the month of September, including a 76-25-1 mark at Notre Dame Stadium.
Saturday’s game was the 251st straight sellout at Notre Dame Stadium. Notre Dame has played in front of a sellout crowd in 300 of its last 301 home games with the exception of a 1973 Thanksgiving Day game against Air Force.
Quarterback DeShone Kizer is really settling at the position now and continues to develop at a rapid pace. He has scored a rushing touchdown in each of his last five games, and in eight of his last nine games overall dating back to a win over Temple in 2015. Kizer has thrown a touchdown pass in 14 of his 16 career games played after connecting on two scoring tosses in the second half, part of a career-high 344 yards through the air.
When you look at his size and speed, his measurables, and most importantly his production, it’s easy to see him being a very high NFL Draft pick come April. In fact, the DeShone Kizer becoming the #1 overall pick in 2017 talk is already going; in full force.
He will get a good test this week, as Duke’s team strength is their secondary; especially their corners.
Duke Football Preview:
The Blue Devils and their fans could have just stayed on an extended business trip/vacation if they really wanted. (Not really, we know they have other important things to do) The Blue Devils visited Northwestern last week, which is close enough to South Bend that you could easily drive there and back in the same day.
Duke fell 24-7 in a game that was tight until the late third/early fourth quarter. Duke is starting over with a new, youngster at QB, but Coach David Cutcliffe doesn’t hold back the playbook too much for him.
The Devils no longer have safety Jeremy Cash, last year’s ACC defensive player of the year, but they still have excellent defensive backs in Devon Edwards, a potential All-American candidate, and Breon Borders, who is an interception machine. Given the inexperience of ND’s wide receivers, this match-up could get interesting.
On the other side, injuries and legal issues have depleted the ND secondary; that’s been well documented. However, we’re just not sold on Duke QB Daniel Jones being truly able to exploit that.
Make no mistake about it though, this is nothing close to the Duke team that went to the ACC title game a few years ago. They’re not even close to the 8-5 squad of last year. The Blue Devils lost at home to a very bad Wake Forest team in week two and looked pretty bad at times last Saturday night versus a Northwestern team which was truly reeling coming in.
Prediction Notre Dame Football 52, Duke 17
A lot of publications picked Duke to finish last in ACC this season, and early on, the Blue Devils are living down to those expectations. An angry ND team gets the punching bag that they need this week, in order to rebuild their confidence.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, partnered with FOX Sports Engage Network. and News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, currently contributes regularly to the Chicago Tribune’s RedEye publication and Bold Global.
He also consistently appears on numerous radio and television talk shows all across the country. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram and Sound Cloud.