Who To Watch Louisville at Boston College (Sat 7:15pm ET ESPN2) Following the conclusion of ND-ASU, head on over to the Deuce to catch Louisville take on Boston College. The Eagles shocked USC earlier in the year with a rush-heavy gameplan, and we'll see how Louisville looks after a tough loss against Florida State and Jameis' shaved points. A Cardinals victory will keep Notre Dame's schedule strength from dipping, and there will surely be other dominoes falling elsewhere in college ...
Schedule Strength
Opponent Watch: Weeknight Delivery Edition
Who To Watch Florida State at Louisville (Thu 7:30pm ET ESPN) Hope you enjoyed the bye week, Loyal Readers, because we're all saddled up for the stretch run. Brian Kelly is 13-3 in November as head coach of Notre Dame, but the focus of this post lies outside of South Bend. On Thursday night, Jameis Winston takes his Humble Pie to play another Notre Dame opponent, Louisville. The Cardinals play in Papa Johns Stadium, so we'll infer this Humble Pie comes with pepperoni, but hold the ...
Opponent Watch: Sleepless Saturday Edition
Who To Watch USC at Utah (Sat 10:00pm ET Fox Sports 1) If you can't get to sleep late on Saturday night (and let's be honest: after last week, who can?), here's a Pac-12 matchup on an obscure cable channel that kicks off waaay later than a football game should. Utah's offense shouldn't provide matchup problems for USC's defense, but a better metric is to watch how the Ute defense is able to contain the Trojan offense. With the Thanksgiving trip out west looming for the Irish as the ...
Opponent Watch: Red Wedding Edition
Who To Watch North Carolina State at Louisville (Sat 3:30pm ET ESPN Gameplan) Notre Dame's game is in primetime, so here's a way to calm your nerves before kickoff. Louisville travels to South Bend just before Thanksgiving, and they should have a fully-integrated Bobby Petrino offense by that juncture. NC State gave Florida State a scare a while back, taking advantage of Seminole miscues, but couldn't finish off the defending national champions. ...
Opponent Watch: Saturday Appetizer Edition
Who To Watch Florida State at Syracuse (Sat 12:00pm ET ESPN) The Seminoles head to upstate New York to take on Syracuse this Saturday, and you can see how mobile quarterback Terrel Hunt does against the FSU defense as a sort of early harbinger of next week's showdown in Tallahassee. It will be interesting to see how good FSU's run game looks against the Orange, as I think making Jameis Winston one-dimensional will be critical to any Irish success. Syracuse has a much more ...
Opponent Watch: Red October Edition
Who To Watch Arizona State at USC (7:30pm ET Fox) After the Notre Dame - Stanford game concludes, head over to Fox to watch the two remaining Pac-12 opponents on the 2014 schedule. The Trojans and Sun Devils sport identical 3-1 records, but as you'll see below, Southern Cal has been tested against much tougher competition thus far. ASU is without starting QB Taylor Kelly, and, judging by last week's performance against UCLA, also without a defense. SC's offense has been sluggish at ...
Opponent Watch: Color Wheel Edition
Who To Watch Stanford at Washington (Sat 4:00pm ET FOX) Notre Dame football is back in prime time on Saturday against the Syracuse Orange, and before kickoff you should wet your whistle with this Pac-12 matchup. The Cardinal travel to South Bend next week, and you can get a quick preview as they play Chris Petersen and the Fightin' Purples of Washington. Kevin Hogan, the current signal-caller for Stanford, only played sparingly during the overtime ND-Stanford 2012 tilt, and last year ...
Opponent Watch: Bye Week Edition
Who To Watch Clemson at Florida State (Sat 8:00pm ET ABC) It's a bye week, Irish fans. Hug your spouse, go outside and play with your children...or watch more college football. If recent events are to be believed, nothing will keep Jameis Winston out of Saturday's prime-time clash with Clemson -- neither unsavory female allegations, nor crab leg theft (pictured), nor the obscene remarks he reportedly (allegedly?) shouted from atop a table in the student union this week. Assuming that ...
Opponent Watch: Snooze Edition
Who To Watch Louisville at Virginia (Sat 12:30pm ET ESPN - Gameplan) Following the loss of QB Teddy Bridgewater to the NFL and coach Charlie Strong to Texas, Louisville has opted for Bobby Petrino 2.0. The offense seems potent enough, although their two tests thus far have been a substandard Miami Hurricane squad and a Murray State...I want to say... "team"? I'm not sure if Virginia is a worthy adversary, but they hung with UCLA (who sportswriters seem to think can contend in the ...
Opponent Watch: West Coast Appetizer
Who To Watch USC at Stanford (Sat 3:30pm ET, ABC) Week 2 doesn't have much to offer, and your Saturday primetime is already booked with Notre Dame vs. Michigan, so I'll recommend a matchup of two future ND opponents. Out west on The Farm, see Steve Sarkisian in his first true road test against David Shaw's Cardinal. ...