Notre Dame's Preview Against Miami November 7th

Hello, my name is Conor Allen and i have been following the Fighting Irish my whole life. I am an adiv fan and I love to write. This is my article.

Notre Dame’s Preview This Week Against Miami FL

By Conor Allen

Preview

This Saturday, Notre Dame will be taking on one of their all-time rivals in the University of Miami FL. As of right now, the No. 11 Irish (CFP bracket) are 7-1 (ESPN) coming into the game after a questionable loss to BYU and an uninspiring win against Navy where they struggled a lot in the first half. The Irish now play host to the No. 1 Miami Hurricanes (ESPN) where they will face their biggest test of the season. The Hurricanes are just one of three teams left in the top twenty-five that remain undefeated (CFP) with strong seasons by their quarterback Darian Menash, top wide receiver Malachi Toney and the strong play of their defence. So far this season, Mensah has been a standout, passing for 2425 yards, 25 touchdowns with an 80.7% completion rate with just one interception thrown all season. (College Football Sports Reference). He is having a historic season that has pushed him up the draft boards to one of the top quarterbacks in this year’s NFL draft class. (Jordan Reid, nfldraftbuzz.com)

         His right hand man Malachi Toney has also been one of the top wide receivers in college football this year, leading the ACC with 73 receptions for 1027 yads and 13 touchdowns in only eight games. (CFSR The second year wide receiver has been a key catalyst for this team and everything they have accomplished so far. Unfortunately, he will not be playing this Saturday against the Irish as he goes for ankle surgery following an unexpected injury at practice on Wednesday that will keep him out until the CFP. (ESPN) Without him, the rest of the Miami’s receiving corps will have to step up against a strong Irish secondary that has looked weak in recent weeks but is led by one of the top cornerbacks in the league Leonard Moore. This will be a tough test for Cristobal and Mensah as the next wideout has just 28 receptions for 372 yards. (CFSR) It remains to be seen how Miami FL will play without their top target and if Notre Dame and their secondary can take advantage of his untimely injury.

What this means for Notre Dame?

Going into the game, the Irish have drawn a lot of criticism for their weak schedule and lack of wins against top teams. (multiple sources) With Toney out, this gives Notre Dame a good chance to take down the Hurricanes and earn themselves a quality win against the top team in the country. They struggled against BYU, losing 28-24 (ESPN) and looked horrible in the first half, having to rely on a strong but late push in the second half. Last week against Navy, they again got off to a slow start that once saw the Midshipman lead 13-7 with 5:38 minutes left in the second quarter (ESPN). Notre Dame composed themselves after halftime and played their brand of football, running the ball as they finished with 204 yards on the ground (ESPN) in a 35-13 win, (ESPN) shutting out Navy in the second half. (ESPN) With Notre Dame playing at home and Miami FL missing their top wide receiver Malachi Toney, Notre Dame has better odds to win now. Now let’s breakdown what the game could look like.

Without Toney, Maimi’s offence suffers heavily with no true second option at receiver, they Hurricanes will have to rely on their run game that has totaled 1620 yards rushing over eight games this season, compared to Notre Dame’s 1488 yards. (CFSR) Although Miami FL has more yards on the ground, the injury to Toney will likely affect the outcome of their run game. With the threat of Toney not being out wide, Notre Dame can line up more players at the line of scrimmage as Mensah does not have Toney to throw quick wide receiver screens to. To go along with this, over the past four games, Miami’s offensive line has surrendered 66 pressures, allowing 10 sacks and 11 quarterback hits. (PPF) If Chris Ash and Notre Dame’s defence can find a way to get after Mensah early on and take away the wide receiver screens, it could make life hard for Christobal and his offence.

 Miami FL is not alone as Notre Dame also faces injuries along their defensive line with standout defensive tackle Francis Brewu questionable for the game. (multiple sources) The Irish will also be without top linebacker Drayk Bowen who is out the year with a broken foot he suffered during the game last week against Navy following a questionable chop block. (ESPN) However, Notre Dame comes into the game giving up just 13.4 ppg which ranks 5th in the nation. They have also given up just 236.3 yards per game and 85.4 rushing yards per game (2.8 yards a carry) that ranks 7th in the nation. (CFSR) Quarterbacks against the fighting Irish have just a 61.3 completion percent, twenty percent less than Mensah’s completion percentage. (CFSR) With Miami’s offensive line struggles and the absence of Malachi Toney, Notre Dame has a great chance to seize a win and upset the No. 1 ranked Hurricanes.

The Criticism

         There are a lot of critics out there who have complained about Notre Dame all season and their lack of wins against top teams. Many analysts regard Notre Dame’s smashing of Wisconsin at the beginning of the year not impressive after the Badgers were shut out last week 30-0 against Iowa. (ESPN) Although Notre Dame has been dominant in most of their wins, people have brought up both the Michigan State and North Carolina games. Although Michigan St came into the game at 2-1 (ESPN), they have lost five straight dropping them to 2-6 for the season. (ESPN) While Notre Dame controlled the game and beat them 27-10 (ESPN), a lot of critics have pointed out that a 17-point win against an uninspiring Michigan St team is unimpressive and a knock on their resume. Following a high from the destruction of Purdue, Notre Dame again struggled early against North Carolina just like we have seen from them in the last two games. Ultimately, Notre Dame pulled off a 37-26 win against Bill Belichuck’s team and their top defence (ESPN) but is that enough to sway voters.

         Notre Dame may not have a signature win this season but neither do a lot of other top teams with one big team being Indiana. The 8-1 Hoosiers have played just one ranked team in Ohio State who they lost to 19-15 (ESPN) in what was an awful performance by Hoover and the entire offence. Other wins against Minnesota and Michigan have come in overtime with shaky performances and a game they should have lost to Minnesota. With no signature wins on their resume either, the head scratching begins for what does count as a signature win, especially for a Notre Dame team that does not seem like they can catch a break from the media or the CFP committee.

         Coming into the week, many circled this game against Miami FL on their calendars as the most important game of the season. Best Miami FL and win out their final two games and the Irish are in the College Football Playoff, lose and Notre Dame can kiss their chances at making the playoffs goodbye. However, with the injury to Toney that keeps him out of the lineup Saturday, does this change how voters see the game. If Notre Dame can pull off the upset, does the win look as good as if Toney were playing? Can Notre Dame win by a large enough margin to convince voters they deserve to be in the playoffs? These two big questions will be answered this Saturday night when the two teams face off in South Bend. For now, we must wait and can only speculate what the injury to Toney does to the Miami offence and how impressive a win against Miami FL would be for Notre Dame to the CFP committee.

References:

ESPN com Sports-reference.com com Jordan Reid of ESPN