Notre Dame Football vs Miami Hurricanes: Game Preview, Prediction

With Notre Dame football moving to an ACC heavy schedule each year, some traditional rivalries have dissipated and been extinguished. However, other rivalries now what the potential to flourish. Take the Miami Hurricanes for instance. The Canes started 4-0 and rose to #10 in the AP Poll.

Now they visit South Bend having lost their last three, and in free fall. Even though both sides are essentially wounded animals right now, this is still a game that Notre Dame football fans had circled on their calendar for quite awhile.

https://twitter.com/PaulMBanks/status/791706134033866752

In the modern era, the most meaningful Miami- Notre Dame football game was the 2010 Sun Bowl; won by the Fighting Irish. During the 1980s though, this was a big rivalry. How big? HUGE! as Bernie Sanders would say. The rivalry has been chronicled in ESPN’s 30 for 30 series, or as I call it “ESPN for adults in the room.”

Yes, 30 for 30 is ESPN for the thinking person, and “The U.” is 30 for the 30 at the top of its game. Now comes a new 30 for 30 that will focus not just on Miami, but both sides in the “Catholics vs Convicts” rivalry between the Canes and the Irish.

Notre Dame now drops to 0-1 all time in games played 1.5 miles west of a Hurricane. #HurricaneMatthew #NDvsNCSU

— Paul M. Banks (@PaulMBanks) October 8, 2016

Here’s a link to the preview of the 30 for 30.

TV: 2:30 CST/3:30 EST PM Saturday NBC

SPREAD: Notre Dame football +2 1/2 (however, the line has been moving back and forth quite a bit, and this one is pretty close to being a “pick’em.”) You wonder if ND is getting more respect to the fact that, unlike their opponent here, they’ve actually played an entire game in a real hurricane this season!

Notre Dame Preview:

Notre Dame football Head Coach Brian Kelly received the dreaded vote of confidence from Notre Dame Athletic Director Jack Swarbrick.

“Anytime that your athletic director has to come out and say that, as a head coach you’re disappointed that any kind of comments like that have to be made,” Kelly said Tuesday during his weekly press conference.

“I didn’t ask him, that was his decision (to say it),” Kelly said. “I clearly understand what he was doing. He was probably sick and tired of being sick and tired, too.”

Notre Dame football fans, in droves no less, have the pitch forks out for him. Although I strongly disagree with them, I get their frustration, and to quote Bill Clinton, “I feel their pain.”

I know this is a very unpopular opinion right now, but I still think you got to give Kelly at least another season. This year is just a hiccup. He’s proven himself to be consistent enough since 2010, and he’s certainly been much more consistent than everyone who came to ND between himself and Lou Holtz.

Anyway, here’s a link to more on Kelly and the case to keep him.

Two more losses and 2016 Notre Dame football is officially eliminated from bowl contention. For all intents and purposes, you already know right now that they’re not going bowling. So how does Kelly keep the team motivated to keep going when there’s no real chance at the postseason?

“all these kids, come to Notre Dame because they want to be challenged,” Kelly said yesterday.

“So they have incredible intrinsic motivation every day to get up, to go to class, to want to succeed. It’s why they come here. There’s an immense amount of pride. They want to freakin’ win. They want to win.

“They really don’t care whether they get a Visa gift card in the bowl game. They want to practice more. They want to be with their teammates. They want to be with their guys. They want to win football games. They want to be successful in the classroom. They want to be successful on the football field. That’s why they came here. That’s why I’m here. That’s all we talk about. That’s all we do every day, is think about how we can be more successful.”

“So there’s no carrot there that is really more appealing to us than wanting to win a football game.”

Kelly, a Boston Red Sox guy, was asked who he has in the World Series? He picked the Cubs to win and finally end their long Series title drought.

Q. Being a Red Sox guys, are you going with the Cubs or the Indians?
COACH KELLY: Boy, that’s a tough call. In both those instances, you know, you’re rooting one for the underdog of Cleveland, and obviously Chicago hasn’t been there. But I’m going to go with the Cubs. I think my geographical awareness, I might get a pass this week where I’m not on the front page of some newspaper if I stick with the Cubs. Maybe I’ll make the Cleveland newspaper.

Miami Hurricanes Preview:

Saturday could very likely bring a match-up of the first and third quarterbacks selected in the NFL Draft this April. Or the second and third. Miami Hurricanes signal caller Brad Kaaya is consistently showing up in most NFL mock drafts as third QB off the boards. There’s a debate between #1 and #2, Clemson’s Deshaun Watson and Notre Dame’s DeShone Kizer.

Of course, all this could change as this is an extremely fluid situation. The NFL Draft stock market will fluctuate wildly between now and April when the draft takes place in Philadelphia.

However, as it stands right now, it’s an ACC bonanza with the top three signal callers in the same conference. You might also see and hear a lot of Kizer versus Watson narratives this spring, just like we heard Carson Wentz versus Jared Goff last year, and Jameis Winston versus Marcus Mariota the year before that.

Go here to see where we have all three of these ACC QBs in our latest NFL mock draft.

Although to be honest, Brad Kaaya has truly seen his problems this year. Not all his fault though, as the whole team is struggling with issues at multiple positions.

Via the Miami Sun Sentinel

Entering the year, the Hurricanes (4-3, 1-3 Atlantic Coast Conference) faced questions about their lack of depth and wondered if their offensive line — one of the most inexperienced in the ACC a season ago — could be effective.

Now past the midway point, the Hurricanes are faced with the harsh reality that coach Mark Richt’s rebuild in Coral Gables isn’t going to be an easy project.

There are no quick fixes for the lack of depth that’s been highlighted by injuries to starters, including offensive lineman Sunny Odogwu, defensive ends Chad Thomas and Demetrius Jackson and cornerback Sheldrick Redwine. On Thursday, they may have lost another starter when safety Rayshawn Jenkins’ right leg bent awkwardly and the redshirt senior needed assistance from Miami’s medical staff to get off the field. He was unable to put any weight on the injured leg and didn’t return.

Prediction ND 21, Miami 20

It’ll be tight the whole way, and perhaps sloppy at times. There will be moments of aesthetically pleasing football juxtaposed against a few ugly moments, but this Notre Dame football team will find a way to slip past the Canes. After all, they’ve already played a college football game in an actual hurricane this year!

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.