(UPDATE: we finally have news regarding the suspended ND 5)
This is a battle of “iconic/legendary in one sport, total afterthought despite being solid in the other.” If we decide to do a Notre Dame versus North Carolina game preview ahead of the January 5th meeting in basketball, we could copy and paste the exact same sentence. UNC Tar Heels football actually has a decent history; they’ve produced a lot of great defensive players.
Today however, the program is known for it’s extremely egregious academic scandal. And this game is more about Notre Dame football not beating itself by looking ahead to the big show-down with Florida State.
It’s the cliche “trap game.” So hopefully, the media don’t fall into the trap themselves; and overkill that narrative themselves.
TV: NBC 3:30 EST, Dan Hicks, Mike Mayock, Katherine Tappen
SPREAD: Notre Dame football -17
North Carolina Preview:
This has a very ACC Conference game kind of feel. The Tar Heels are only here because ND joined the ACC in every sport except football and made a deal that they would load up the schedule against ACC teams. Hence, all those Big Ten opponents are off the schedule now. The Big Ten/ACC Challenge has DECIDED! And the Atlantic Coast Conference is actually worse than the Big 10. Take out #1 Florida State, and it’s really bad.
Georgia Tech is undefeated but I don’t take them, and their 1940s offense seriously. Clemson is ranked for some reason, but as we just learned, the polls are nothing more than some blogger’s glorified power rankings (this specific theme will be re-occurring in this week’s Notre Dame preview)
The Tar Heels began the season ranked #23 as they had a lot of key players returning. However, they’ve been awful, especially on defense and it only verifies how pointless preseason rankings are. The Tar Heels have the nation’s WORST defense. Yes, 125/125 at 42 points per game. Something called “Liberty” scored 29 points on them.
Liberty is that unaccredited school founded by Jerry Falwell. I’m not sure football players at Liberty even believe in evolution. East Carolina scored 70 points on the Tar Heels, 70! Everett Golson and Notre Dame just survived the nation’s best defense. Stanford was #1 in scoring, yards and passing defense. Imagine what #5 and company are going to do to the Heels and their 92nd rank run defense.
It’s probably time for North Carolina fans to shift their attention to basketball season. That said, are you looking for a basketball version of @FauxPelini ? Well, @DaggumRoy is the closest thing I could find. Like the Bo Pelini parody account, the Roy Williams parody account is the best one you can find in the respective college sport.
Good deal for them Colar’s, now. RT @HardwoodPizza: DgmRoy- Tough times in Ann Arbor. Mich offering free ticket w/ purchase of 2 Coca Colas.
— Daggum Roy (@DaggumRoy) September 23, 2014
To be fair the Redskins logo is only racist if you can read and/or see
— Fake Bo Pelini (@FauxPelini) October 7, 2014
#5 Notre Dame football Preview:
We brought up academic scandal at UNC in the intro. So what about the five suspended Notre Dame football players? Consider this your news update on the situation. That is, if you’re into reading and deciphering legalese.
Brian Kelly said Tuesday afternoon that he has not been informed of anything regarding the five suspended Notre Dame football players yet. Kelly reiterated what was said in the statement on Sunday: a decision is “imminent,” and the school will tell the players. Then it’s up to the ND 5 to decide if they want to go public or not. Kelly said he thinks imminent means any day now.
We hear from someone that Notre Dame football is “overrated” almost every year. This week, that overrated claim lost much of its legitimacy. Notre Dame entered their showdown with #14 Stanford having beaten teams with a combined record of 7-12.
Their five opponents had a combined zero wins over teams in the power five conferences. Everything changed Saturday as college football had it’s version of the March Madness “survive and advance.” All those teams in the top 25 were upset and a bunch of teams ahead of the Fighting Irish in the polls were knocked off.
AP Top 25 (final results) #2-L #3-L #4-L #6-L #8-L #14-L #15-L #16-L #17-L #18-L #19-L — JB Long (@JB_Long) October 5, 2014
The Irish defeated a very good Stanford program that has been to four straight BCS Bowls. So whether Notre Dame football is overrated or not in the long term, as if now…they’re not. Who else would you put in their place right now?
Seriously, who else would take their spot in the polls right now?
Prediction: Notre Dame football 52, North Carolina (when does hoops season start?) 30
Two of the heroes in the victory over Stanford -Ben Koyack and Jaylon Smith- are two Notre Dame football players who fly under the radar. Both are 2016 NFL Draft first round potential. Yet all we ever hear about is Everett Golson. So this game, keep an eye on Smith and Koyack. Also, expect a steady diet of Cam McDaniel and Tarean Folston.
The Irish will run all over Carolina; then we’ll see Malik Zaire get some mop-up time. Then look for the Tar Heels to get a bunch of points in garbage time.
Paul M. Banks owns, operates and very often writes The Sports Bank.net ,which is partners with Fox Sports. Read his features stories in the Chicago Tribune RedEye edition. Listen to him on 1620 The Zone. Follow him on Twitter (@paulmbanks). His work has been featured in hundreds of media outlets including The Washington Post and ESPN 2