#9 Notre Dame opens the 2016 season in Texas; where the dramatic television series Friday Night Lights (2006-2011) was set. Thus “clear eyes, full hearts” for season opening week game preview. I know we’re all sick of talking season at this point, so let’s get to the real actual season now.
Also, be sure to read the Notre Dame season preview over at this link.
SERIES INFO: Notre Dame leads the series with Texas, 9-2, including a 4-0 record in Austin. This is the first meeting between the Irish and Longhorns in Texas since a 27-24 Notre Dame victory on Sept. 21, 1996, in Austin, Texas.
THE SPREAD: Notre Dame -3.5
THE VIEWING INFORMATION: 7:30 p.m. ET; Sunday, Sept. 4, 2016 Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium (100,119); Austin, Texas. ABC national telecast with Joe Tessitore (play-by-play), Todd Blackledge (analysis) and Holly Rowe (sideline).
When Notre Dame opens the season at Texas (where FNL was set by the way) September 4th, there will be no true QB1. Both quarterbacks, DeShone Kizer and Malik Zaire will play in the opener. Here’s more on that.
Todd Blackledge, who will call the game Sunday night on ND going with two QBs.
“as a former quarterback, obviously I’m not a huge fan of playing two quarterbacks. But by the same token, I’m not necessarily all in with the idea that if you — the adage if you have two quarterbacks then you really have no quarterbacks, because again, in today’s world of college football, I think you have to have at least two guys ready to take first-team reps and ready to play at a high level because of the effectiveness of quarterback run game in offenses today.”
“You know, the offenses that are really prolific, you either have an NFL-type quarterback who can make every throw, or you have an element of quarterback run, and when you do that, you put the guy at risk. So again, I live in Ohio, and watching what Ohio State did on their way to a National Championship, you know, they ended up going through three quarterbacks because of injury, but the key was that each one of them was ready to step up and play at a high level when their number was called.”
“So early in the season you start out by saying, okay, look, we’re going to play two guys. But eventually I think they’ll work into one guy as a starter, but you want to make sure that other guy is not only happy but ready to play at a high level when his number is called, because you are one play away from being a starting quarterback if you’re a backup.”
Fom the same conference call, Tessitore sizing up the game-
“I think the Notre Dame Texas game, more could be revealed in this game than perhaps any other opening weekend game out there because I think Notre Dame, of course, top-10 team but very much perceived as a team with enough new talent to reload in spots where they need it and a team capable of putting it all together for a run to the playoff, but yet there’s still a lot that has to be decided.
“I want to see who emerges at wide receiver and fills some of that void at tight end, who steps up on the defensive line where they do have some players that are back again and others need to step up.”
“And for Texas, you feel this buzz this off-season as this is the point of the breakthrough and the true freshman quarterback, but yet Swoopes is still there and the big dominating tandem in the backfield. But there are still the issues from last year that you want to see resolved, the run defense. Yeah, they’re a year older. Yeah, there’s a new offense, an exciting young new offensive coordinator, but is it too big of a leap to go from where they were to now what’s expected, and I think very early on on Sunday, we may start to get some of those answers.”
THE PICK: Notre Dame 28, Texas 27
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.