Who would have thought that after the poor showing from this Notre Dame Fighting Irish team in the first two games of this year that they would be anywhere close to the Top 25 of either the Associated Press or the USA Today Coaches Polls?
Yet, starting in Week 3 against Michigan State, the Irish have been on a roll winning three straight games. The winning streak has this Irish team playing with a confidence that it hasn’t had since before the first game against South Florida. That poor showing against South Florida and the heart-breaking loss against Michigan the following week looked to doom what could have been a great season.
However, a win this week at home against Air Force, a team that is 3-1 on the season, will be enough to rank this team with the other top teams.
Coming into this game Notre Dame is listed under the “Others receiving votes” section from the polls. They do rank behind other team,s like that Michigan State team they beat to start this three-game winning streak. But, they have to hope that teams like Houston, Washington and Texas Tech all suffer losses this week.
Having said that, this game at home against Air Force brings a tough test for the Irish run defense. Air Force ranks second in the NCAA in average rushing yards per game with 306.5 yards per game.
In Notre Dame’s three wins, they haven’t allowed a running back to rush for over 100 yards, with two of those wins not even allowing the team to rush for over 50 yards.
It seems as if this Notre Dame team will be up to stopping the one-sided attack of Air Force.
But then there’s the quarterback everyone loves to hate, Tommy Rees. He’s the quarterback that you either love or hate as the leader of this Notre Dame offense. He’s known to make an amazing throw to Michael Floyd and then make a boneheaded throw in the red zone that results in an interception.
It’s cliché to say that if Rees limits his turnovers the Irish win big on Saturday, but it’s the only reason why the Irish will lose this game on Saturday.
Irish fans should expect to see Rees’ throws limited, resulting in this winning streak to continue heading into the USC game. If there is a way that Notre Dame still is unranked heading into that game, a win versus USC will certainly put them back with the best of college football.
Andrew Bynum Jordan Farmar Derek Fisher Pau Gasol Lamar Odom Baron Davis
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