My Kind of (Irish) Town

The travelling "offsite" home game Notre Dame circus descends on our fair city of Chicago starting tomorrow; complete with academic, volunteer, band, religious and oh yeah football events.   We are making a weekend of it by staying downtown on Friday night to enjoy the pep rally and one of the lectures.  Weather looks rather chilly for Saturday night but dry.  I actually like the idea of it being a little cold because the last time we faced Miami on a cold day in El Paso we stomped them.  Here's hoping we see a repeat Saturday.

The Irish are on a roll and the vibe continues to be positive in the press and on campus.  Injuries are not a factor this week and one has to believe the extra week of preparation should help the Irish.  I have a feeling they are going to come out of the tunnel energized and I think we will play well again.

Keys for this game:

Will the offense get it going again?  It is time for Golson to put it all together again and if his pattern of on/off performances holds we should see more production this week.  I am guessing Kelly has put a little more of the playbook in the game plan so maybe we will see a few wrinkles designed to get the ball to Eifert or get Golson running the ball.  Definitely want to see the O-line step it up against an undersized Miami defensive front and get the run game going.  A solid run game will help Everett settle into to a more balanced pass attack in my view.

Miami is pretty fast and has a couple play makers.  The QB is actually more talented than Denard Robinson which would be scary except that he does not have a lot of great players around him.  The Hurricanes will have to do it through the air and since our front seven will stop the run we should be able to double cover most routes.  Our secondary will be tested if Miami has any time to throw.  I just do not see them scoring much against us.  But I do think they will bring some attitude and keep it interesting in the first half. 

As the game goes on I expect the Hurricanes will be cold, we will wear them down and pull away in the second half.  Paper here has the Irish favored but 13 which is a pretty big spread.  Given our lack of scoring it is hard to see us winning by two touchdowns but it could happen if Miami gives up.  I am guessing they will.  Can you say 5-0?

Prediction:  ND 30, Miami 14

GO IRISH!