Tomorrow night features the 2013 edition of the Shamrock
Series as the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame (3-2) will travel to Arlington,
Texas to take on the Arizona State Sun Devils (3-1, 22nd ranked).
This matchup is being played at AT&T Stadium, so “JerryWorld” figures to be
quite a seen on Saturday night. It is considered at home game for the Irish,
and both squads will be sporting some “interesting” uniforms. With that being
said, this should be a very entertaining ballgame.
Notre Dame is coming off of a 35-21 loss last week to the
Oklahoma Sooners, and they now control their own destiny. If the Irish have any
hopes of making a BCS Bowl game, they need to win their remaining seven
contests. With Arizona State, USC, Stanford, and other quality programs left on
the schedule, running the table is still possible, but it will be very
difficult.
Arizona State enters Saturday’s tilt having defeated the USC
Trojans 62-41 last week, and they will look to continue their offensive
explosiveness. The Sun Devils are ranked 11th in
the FBS in scoring (44.3 ppg) and 15th in total offense (505.0 ypg), so the
Irish defense will certainly be tested. The Sun Devils’ lone loss came against
Stanford, and they are a legitimate threat to reach and win the Pac-12
Championship. A win here would only help their confidence and momentum as they
fight through their conference slate.
Offensively, Notre Dame
needs to put up a lot of points if they want to win this game. As mentioned
above, Arizona State has a potent offense, so the Irish have to get into the
endzone and not settle for field goals when they get into the redzone. To do
this, look for Notre Dame to try to build on last week’s tremendous effort on
the ground. Last week, the Irish rushed for a season-high 220 yards and they
could be in store for an even bigger day with Arizona State surrendering 192.3
rushing yards per game, good for 90th in the country. Not only will
a good running attack likely lead to some touchdowns, it will also keep the
ball out of the Sun Devils’ hands. Hopefully, the Irish can establish a solid
ground game early on which should lead to some nice play-action pass plays. If
that becomes the case, then the Irish should be able to make a few big plays in
the passing game. However, if the running game is stagnant, then the Irish will
be in trouble. I don’t believe that Tommy Rees can sit in the pocket and throw
the ball 35 to 40 times and be effective. For Notre Dame to win this game, they
need a balanced offensive attack.
Defensively, Notre Dame
faces arguably their toughest challenge of the season. As stated earlier, the
Sun Devils average 44.3 points per game and 505 yards of total offense per
game. In addition to those stats, Arizona State ranks 7th in passing
offense at 358.8 yards per game, but just 84th in rushing offense at
146.3 yards per game. The good news is that Notre Dame should be able to keep the
Sun Devils’ running game in check. The bad news is that Arizona State could
have a field day versus the Irish secondary. Quarterback Taylor Kelly is off to
a great start in 2013 with 1,370 yards passing, a 61.4% completion percentage,
11 touchdowns, and 4 interceptions. As good as Kelly has been, the Sun Devils’
best weapon is Marion Grice. The senior has 439 yards of total offense (256
rushing, 183 receiving) and has scored a whooping 12 touchdowns on the season.
Grice could present some matchup problems for the Irish defense, so he is worth
keeping an eye on.
I expect a close and
relatively high-scoring game, but the Irish secondary has struggled too much
and their offense hasn’t been consistent enough to beat a team like Arizona
State.
Prediction: Arizona State 31, Notre
Dame 27
-Eric Tichelbaut
Follow me on Twitter @etichel07
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