Sorry that there was no game recap and this is a late preview. I’ve had a busy week interviewing for jobs for next summer (4 interviews, 4 days, 2 cities) and evidently the rest of the basement has been pretty busy as well.
Notre Dame goes into another big game. As I said last week, they are all must win at this point. In fact, this may be even more must win solely in that Purdue lost at home last weekend to Northern Illinois. NIU is not a great team. That means that Purdue is likely not very good. That means this is the type of game that ND needs to go into and destroy an opponent. I said the same thing last year before Syracuse, and the Irish let me down. Hopefully it doesn’t happen again. The type of game that afterwards, ND and it’s fans need to feel good about themselves. If the team can’t do that, the next two games against UW and USC could be less fun than hoped for.
What to watch for:
Who replaces Michael Floyd? Part of the reason I have been incognito since Saturday is that I have been fretting about this very question. In my opinion, Floyd is the best player on the team. Can a mixture of Kamara, Parris, Evans, West and some others make up for his production? I say they will make up some of that production, and keep some pressure off of Tate (who needs his old sure-handedness to return), but that the real pressure release valve will be Rudolph. If Rudolph and Tate can split the defenses, than the third and fourth receivers will be fine.
Will the defense stop somebody? Yeah, right… My guess is that the team may have some luck this weekend. This is something I will be keeping a close eye on tonight (assuming that the offense keeps on working like clockwork).
Will special teams improve? The area of special teams that is most worrisome is the kicking distance on punts and kickoffs, coupled with hang time so that coverage can get into position. This has hurt the Irish this year, and the special teams players MUST become consistent in a good way (meaning that their consistency has to be a yes answer to this question and not a no).
Anyways, Go Irish! Beat Boilermakers!
ND 41 vs. PurDon’t 24
Filed under: Notre Dame
I would also add that ND needs to focus and keep the stupid penalties down. On a road game to a Big(11)Ten school, I want to see composure & discipline, especially from juniors & seniors.