We spoke to our One Foot Down brethren to get a sense of how the Irish feel heading into Saturday
We’re now just three short days away from Texas A&M’s season-opener against Notre Dame. You’ve heard a lot of our thoughts on the matchup, but we wanted to find out how the Irish are feeling. For that, we reached out to our friends and One Foot Down, SB Nation’s Notre Dame team site, to answer a few questions.
Thanks to Pat Rick, Editor at One Foot Down, for taking the tiime.
Good Bull Hunting: What’s the outlook of the fanbase as the Irish head into year three under Marcus Freeman?
One Foot Down: I would say overall the fanbase is largely feeling pretty good and the vibes are positive. Marcus Freeman has gone out and secured two very veteran coordinators, they’ve done a good job in building strong depth and recruiting promising young talent (especially on defense), and have used the transfer portal to effectively fill holes with some exciting guys. Add in that this season’s schedule is much lighter than previous years and that there are 12 Playoff spots now instead of 4, and it looks like a promising potential season ahead for ND.
But, because of all that, and because Freeman is now in Year 3, Irish fans are also now in “prove it” mode. Freeman’s record in his two full seasons at the helm is 19-7, with Sun Bowl and Gator Bowl victories to his name. Like any top program with bigger aspirations, that level of success really isn’t going to cut it long-term, and so fans are really looking for progress this year toward actually competing with the best of the best for a shot at a national championship.
At a bare minimum, Freeman’s squad needs to make the CFP this season, and most fans would be very disappointed without at least one Playoff win — simply making it shouldn’t be considered a massive success at this point. We Fighting Irish are starved for major postseason success, considering ND hasn’t won a NY6 bowl game in the BCS/CFP era, and has been blown out in both of their CFP appearances and in their only BCS title game appearance.
Freeman has been learning on the job how to be a head coach, which is definitely not easy to do at a top program. However, he’s such a likable guy and represents the university 1000x better than Brian Kelly ever did, so we’re willing to cut him some slack on losing to Marshall and Stanford in Year 1, not showing up against Louisville and Clemson last year, etc. But with such a veteran and talented defense, improved offensive skill talent, the right coordinators, and a schedule that sets him up for a successful season in Year 3? It’s time for Freeman to kick some ass. If not, he won’t be fired, but the rumblings will certainly begin about whether he can do this or whether the Irish need to look elsewhere in the next couple years.
GBH: Who would you say are the top three impact players in the Irish roster?
OFD: Oh man, this is a tough one — there were ~10 names that immediately came to mind.
Benjamin Morrison is one of the best cornerbacks in the country and a possible 1st rounder next spring, and so he has to be my first choice. He’s long, quite the ball hawk (9 interceptions in his first two seasons), and technically sound to a level that allows defensive coordinator Al Golden the ability to do a lot of different things with the rest of the defense because he’s usually pretty good on an island (e.g. he held Marvin Harrison Jr. to 3 catches for 32 yards last year).
DT Howard Cross III is my next pick, as he’s another preseason All-American on this Irish defense who’s actually a tad undersized for the position, but is constantly described as having “violent hands” and is so strong and experienced up front that he can change the game from the middle of the d-line (66 tackles, 2 sacks, 2 forced fumbles, and 31 QB hurries per PFF). He’s had some injury issues in fall camp, though, so we will see if he’s 100% when the game gets going on Saturday night.
My natural third choice would probably also need to come on defense in All-American safety Xavier Watts, who won the Bronco Nagurski Award last season (52 tackles, 7 INTs, 1 FF, 1 FR TD). But I’m actually going to make him an “Honorable Mention” and instead give the 3rd spot to QB Riley Leonard, because when you talk about “impact,” his athleticism, running ability, and hopefully accuracy/arm strength will probably have more of an impact on this season — especially at the most important position in football — than an elite safety like Watts. This ND offense NEEDS Leonard to play up to his potential. The ND defense would be significantly worse without Watts, but could probably still be pretty darn good.
Other Honorable Mentions to go with Watts: DT Rylie Mills, TE Mitchell Evans, RB Jeremiyah Love, LB Jack Kiser, and WR Jaden Greathouse.
GBH: Much has been made of all of the “new” on the Notre Dame offensive line, especially following the injury of Charles Jagusah. On a scale of 1 to 10, what’s your number on the panic meter for that unit?
OFD: If 1 is totally calm and 10 is having a full-on panic attack, I’d say I’m about an 8 or 9 for this specific matchup with A&M, and then maybe a 6 for the full season.
Essentially, I think Notre Dame has stockpiled enough young offensive line talent the last few years where they’ll find the right 5 guys by mid/late in the season as they rotate guys in, they get experience as the year goes on and begin to jell as a unit, and eventually form a pretty solid line by end of year. However, the idea of starting a true freshman in his first game ever — a guy, mind you, who was a 3-star recruit expected to be a guard in his time at ND, not some 5-star tackle prospect — against Nic Scourton and co. is absolutely terrifying.
The offensive line was already a massive question mark with Jagusah healthy and starting at LT. So with him out, a true frosh in his place, and sophomore Sam Pendleton suddenly winning the LG job when two WAY more experienced guys were seemingly battling each other for it (Pat Coogan and Rocco Spindler), it all just makes me nervous. You’ve got SIX combined career starts between ND’s starting 5 offensive linemen, with 60% of the guys making their first start of their careers in a ranked night game at Kyle Field. Woof.
I’m hoping ND offensive line coach Joe Rudolph knows what he’s doing and that the young, inexperienced guys winning those jobs is a good thing and means they’re super talented and can’t be kept off the field, but I definitely wouldn’t bet on that until we see how they hold up this weekend in a very stressful first test.
GBH: How much do you think the road environment (both the weather and the fans) will impact Notre Dame?
OFD: I would say a decent amount for both of those factors.
The heat will be a factor for sure, but I think it will be the lesser of the two. This ND team is pretty deep at most positions, so I do think they’ll weather the weather pretty well. But with the Aggies being more used to the August Texas heat, I could see the Irish struggling with it a bit more and maybe having a few more guys needing to leave the game with cramps, etc.
I believe the fans at Kyle Field will BRING IT for this one, though, and so I’m more worried about the Irish giving up some big plays early on or allowing the A&M defense to get a few early sacks or a turnover. That will ratchet up that crowd energy, and then it could become super difficult for ND to pull themselves together and not unravel as things get crazy in the stands. I still have nightmares about the 2017 Notre Dame @ Miami game when Miami made some big plays early, the crowd found another gear, and the Irish collapsed embarrassingly in a blowout loss that ruined a likely CFP bid.
Texas A&M’s home atmosphere is going to be a tougher environment than Hurricane fans at Hard Rock Stadium, in my opinion, so I really hope recent history doesn’t repeat itself on Saturday. The Irish need to not make any huge mistakes in that first quarter to prevent that rabid bloodlust from setting in with the crowd, and if it does, the veteran leaders need to collect the team and get them going back in the right direction. Otherwise, it could get bad, fast.
GBH: Answer these two questions: Notre Dame wins if _____. Notre Dame loses if _____.
OFD: Notre Dame wins if they take care of the ball and win the turnover battle while keeping Riley Leonard mostly upright and forcing Weigman to scramble early and often.
Notre Dame loses if Leonard is running for his life on every play, if they turn the ball over 2+ times, and if the defense doesn’t get much of a pass rush on Weigman and allows him to sit back and patiently find open receivers.
GBH: Finally, give your game prediction.
OFD: 33 years as a Notre Dame fan have trained me to expect the worst when an Irish team is actually expected to be very good in the preseason. So I write the following while knocking on all the wood in my house, because it’s more wishful thinking than what I believe with any certainty at this point.
I think this will be a super tough road environment and may end up being the toughest game ND plays all season (or at least one of the toughest). The outcome Saturday night will set the tone for the rest of the year, without question. With that said, I think this Notre Dame defense is really darn good with playmakers and veteran leaders at every level, and so I think they will largely corral the Aggies’ offense save for maybe a couple chunk plays and maybe 1-2 methodical scoring drives led by Weigman.
I also think that if you’re going to have an inexperienced offensive line trying to block lots of big, fast, and athletic defensive linemen in a hostile atmosphere, having a proficient running QB like Riley Leonard and a couple stud running backs in Love and Jadarian Price really makes a difference — as does having an OC in Mike Denbrock who’s been around the block. The Irish have improved talent at the skill positions, and so if Leonard can find time to get the ball to them through the air and if ND ball carriers can be given just the slightest of running lanes, I think the Irish will be able to move the ball fairly successfully throughout this matchup.
I don’t anticipate a blowout win by any means, but I think Notre Dame proves they’re a deeper and more veteran team and ultimately wins by 7-10 points in a somewhat low-scoring affair. Let’s say 24-16 is the final score, with plenty of struggle throughout that makes this game uncomfortable for Irish fans from wire to wire.