Bone up on your Friday Night Lights, Notre Dame football fans. The Texas Longhorns, predicted to finish anywhere between 5th and 7th in the 10 team Big 12, come to town for a nightcap opener. Texas doesn’t boast of any All-American candidates, or sure-fire NFL first round draft picks. You see the name brand Texas and think “clear eyes, full hearts, can’t lose,” but that’s not true.
There’s a reason #11 ND is the heavy favorite in this one; Texas is mediocre. It’s going to take awhile for Charlie Strong to get this program turned around.
As Tim Riggins would say “Texas forever, six.” You should expect the Irish to win this one by a helluva lot more than six though. The Horns are about the 35th-45th best team in the country. Brian Kelly needs to win this one by at least a couple touchdowns.
Spread: ND -10
TV: 6:30 central on NBC, Saturday night. Dan Hicks returns as the play-by-play voice this season. Doug Flutie will serve as lead analyst.
Series: This is the 11th time Notre Dame football and Texas football have played, with the Fighting Irish having won eight of the 10 contests. In addition, Notre Dame (882 total victories) and Texas (881) rank 2nd and 3rd, respectively, on the college football all-time wins list. On paper, this is a great game. In terms of brand name recognition, it’s fantastic. In actuality though, it’s #11 versus #40 kind of.
#11 Notre Dame Football Preview:
Fighting Irish wide receiver Chris Brown summed it up best, when I asked him what he’s most looking forward to in the opener versus Texas.
“The energy,” he said.
“The energy is going to be out of this world due to all the grinding we’re doing in camp, and it’s two powerhouse teams. Texas is a well known team, we’re a well known team, sold out, under the lights, how big can it get?”
Perhaps Brady Quinn summed up the season outlook best, and you can hear that in our podcast at this link.
“There’s a lot of optimism around this team, in part because they’re so talented,” Quinn said.
“To be honest with you, I don’t think they’ve had this much talent on a team in two decades. It’s been a long time since they’ve had this much talk about future draft prospects likeNick Martin, Sheldon Day, Ronnie Stanley and Jaylon Smith. These are legitimate guys who could go in the first round.”
Texas football preview:
Not only are there no Longhorns on any preseason All-American teams, we don’t see them on any preseason all-conference teams either. Hard to find any true day one or day two NFL Draft prospects either. This isn’t what we’re used to with Texas football. To their credit, they have one of the best D-Lines in the Big 12. Only Baylor is stronger at that position group. Of course, the O-Line is ND’s biggest strength, so it’s kind of negated then.
Also, Texas QB Tyrone Swoopes is just mediocre at best; on a good day.
Score Prediction: 44-29. It will be a great game for a quarter and a half. Then ND will pull away. UT closes the gap with late garbage time points.
Season Prediction: I’m guessing Notre Dame football goes 9-3 this season (go here to see my 2015 national college football season predictions, to see what three games I have them losing)
Notre Dame Football Preview Series
-Ronnie Stanley resembling top 10 overall NFL Draft talk
Will Fuller is Notre Dame football ’s best chance at the Heisman
Todd Burlage of Blue and Gold Illustrated/The Fan Indiana breaks down Notre Dame’s offense on Maximus & The Bartender:
KeiVarae Russell returns; wins Media Day
Malik Zaire takes issue with usage of the term “dual threat”
Comprehensive Notre Dame football Season Preview
2015 Notre Dame football is playoff or bust
-WR Chris Brown is a big Borussia Dortmund supporter
-Brady Quinn’s Notre Dame football Season Preview and predictions
-Three star ND football players who are flying under the radar
Paul M. Banks owns, operates and writes The Sports Bank.net, which is part of the FOX Sports Engage Network. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, currently contributes to the Chicago Tribune RedEye edition. He also appears regularly on numerous talk radio stations all across the country. Catch him Tuesdays on KOZN 1620 the Zone.
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