Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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34 NOV. 5, 2018 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED It has been an inconsistent season for the Wildcats with a tough loss to Akron and struggling with the likes of Nebraska and Rutgers. However, the team competed well against Michigan, to go with its road wins over Purdue and Michigan State. For Vaccher, it would not be sur- prising to see the Wildcats push Notre Dame to the brink. "I fully expect this to be a close game," he said. "Northwestern is a funny team. They can look down- right awful at times. On the flip side, the Wildcats went toe-to-toe with Michigan and held a fourth-quarter lead before bowing, and then went up to East Lansing and upset the Spartans. "Northwestern tends to play up or down to its competition, so I see the 'good' Wildcats showing up for the Irish. They would love nothing more than to extend their winning streak against Notre Dame to three and knock the Irish out of the na- tional championship hunt. "Without a running game and so many questions on offense, it's dif- ficult to pick Northwestern, so I'm leaning toward Notre Dame." ✦ GAME PREVIEW: NORTHWESTERN Sophomore linebacker Paddy Fisher was second on the team with 54 tackles after seven games. PHOTO BY STEPHEN J. CARRERA/NORTHWESTERN ATHLETICS 2018 NOTRE DAME SCHEDULE Date Opponent (TV) Result/Time (ET) Sept. 1 Michigan W, 24-17 Sept. 8 Ball State W, 24-16 Sept. 15 Vanderbilt W, 22-17 Sept. 22 at Wake Forest W, 56-27 Sept. 29 Stanford W, 38-17 Oct. 6 at Virginia Tech W, 45-23 Oct. 13 Pittsburgh W, 19-14 Oct. 27 vs. Navy* W, 44-22 Nov. 3 at Northwestern (ESPN) 7:15 p.m. Nov. 10 Florida State (NBC) 7:30 p.m. Nov. 17 vs. Syracuse^ (NBC) 2:30 p.m. Nov. 24 at USC TBA * at SDCCU Stadium in San Diego; ^ at Yankee Stadium in Bronx, N.Y. 2018 NORTHWESTERN SCHEDULE Date Opponent (TV) Result/Time (ET) Aug. 30 at Purdue W, 31-27 Sept. 8 Duke L, 21-7 Sept. 15 Akron L, 39-34 Sept. 29 Michigan L, 20-17 Oct. 6 at Michigan State W, 29-19 Oct. 13 Nebraska W, 34-31 (OT) Oct. 20 at Rutgers W, 18-15 Oct. 27 Wisconsin W, 31-17 Nov. 3 Notre Dame (ESPN) 7:15 p.m. Nov. 10 at Iowa TBA Nov. 17 at Minnesota TBA Nov. 24 Illinois TBA