Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1526670
BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM SEPT. 21, 2024 39 GAME PREVIEW: MIAMI (OHIO) letdown and another sign of a real issue at hand, but Notre Dame should still be able to shut down the RedHawks in the air anyway. Advantage: Notre Dame NOTRE DAME RUNNING OFFENSE VS. MIAMI (OHIO) RUN DEFENSE Through Week 2, Notre Dame ranked tied for 94th in the FBS in total rushing attempts with 62, and quarterback Riley Leonard had 23 of those. Sophomore tailback Jeremiyah Love led the team with 25, and junior Jadarian Price ranked third with 12. Those two need to get the ball more. Love was averaging a staggering 6.8 yards per rush through two games. Price was not far be- hind at 5.7. Notre Dame knew all along it had something special in those two runners, but for whatever reason in two close games at Texas A&M and at home against Northern Illinois, Notre Dame offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock elected not to put the ball in their hands a whole lot. That was especially true in the latter matchup; Love ran 11 times against the Huskies and Price only carried four times. It could be that Notre Dame has a very young offensive line that Denbrock doesn't want to lean on too much in the early part of the season. It could also be that Notre Dame likes what it has in Leonard as a runner, obviously, and that takes opportunities away from Price and Love. But with every other player on the Notre Dame roster only accounting for 2 carries combined, it's clear Love and Price are everything — everybody not named Leonard — to the Irish in the run game. They should be getting more looks. If that happens against Miami, they'll be squar- ing up against senior linebackers Matt Salopek and Ty Wise. The former is the reigning MAC Defensive Player of the Year after recording 144 tackles and 8.5 for a loss. If the award didn't go to Salopek it could have easily gone to Wise, who had 122 tackles and 8 sacks. In theory, on paper and in a vacuum, Notre Dame running backs should be able to run by Miami (Ohio) linebackers. Salopek was a three-star recruit rated outside the top 2,000 players in his class. Wise was a three-star who spent a year at Indiana. He's a Carmel native, so maybe he's got a personal motive to perform well in his home state. Back to the paper and the vacuum, though. No amount of home-state motivation should be enough for Wise to stymie Love and Price. In two games against power conference foes in 2023, even with Wise and Salopek having phenomenal seasons, the RedHawks allowed an average of 261.5 rushing yards to Miami (Fla.) and Cincinnati. Advantage: Notre Dame NOTRE DAME PASSING OFFENSE VS. MIAMI (OHIO) PASS DEFENSE Notre Dame had one of the worst passing of- fenses in the country through Week 2. No ifs, ands or buts about it. Really, really bad. No passing touchdowns. Just 160.5 passing yards per game, 114th in the FBS. One passing play of at least 20 yards, tied with South Florida for the few- Staff Predictions Todd D. Burlage: Notre Dame 24, Miami (Ohio) 13 Eleventh-year head coach Chuck Martin — a former Irish assistant — and the RedHawks entered 2024 off an 11-3 season in which they claimed the first MAC title for the school since 2019. The road to a repeat hinges on the play of sixth-year senior quarterback Brett Gabbert. He entered this season third in program history in passing yards (7,893) and touchdown passes (59). Miami opened with a 13-6 loss at Northwestern Aug. 31, during which it gained only 267 yards of offense before an early bye week and a game versus Cincinnati in Week 3. Picked to defend its MAC title, Miami returned 12 starters and could give Notre Dame fits if the RedHawks can hang around early. Steve Downey: Notre Dame 27, Miami (Ohio) 6 Yes, the RedHawks won the MAC last year and were predicted to do it against this year, ahead of Northern Illinois among others. And yes, their defense — anchored by outstanding linebackers Matt Salopek and Ty Wise — is the real deal. That is reason enough to be concerned considering how poorly the Irish offense performed to start the season. However, Miami (Ohio) doesn't possess an offensive weapon the caliber of NIU's Antario Brown, who was a one-man wrecking crew with 225 yards from scrimmage against the Irish in Week 2. I expect the Irish defense will be able to take control of this one, not unlike what happened to the RedHawks in their 13-6 loss at Northwestern in Week 1. Kyle Kelly: Notre Dame 23, Miami (Ohio) 16 Until I see differently, I believe the Irish could be in for another brawl with a MAC team — especially since former Notre Dame assistant Chuck Martin is Miami's head coach. I'll still give the Irish the benefit of the doubt to win, but I see it being much closer of a contest than what it should be. Tyler Horka: Notre Dame 30, Miami (Ohio) 14 One Mid-American Conference loss was enough for Notre Dame. It took the 11th try and a Fighting Irish team getting too far out in front of its skis for the MAC to finally notch a victory over Notre Dame, and it's not going to happen two times in a row. That said, is it going to be particularly pretty for Marcus Freeman and Co.? Probably not. The Irish showed in the home opener that they actually aren't a top-five-caliber team. But they are better than the RedHawks, and they'll do enough to let that be known in the second game in South Bend of the season. Mike Singer: Notre Dame 34, Miami (Ohio) 9 The Irish had their seemingly annual test/loss against a Group of Five team already this fall when Northern Illinois pulled a stunner and knocked off Notre Dame. I don't see it happening twice. I like Notre Dame to win this one rather comfortably. Miami had a strong 2023 campaign and looks to have a competitive defense, but I don't see the RedHawks having much success moving the ball on the Irish. Jack Soble: Notre Dame 24, Miami (Ohio) 10 Miami is better defensively than some of Notre Dame's Power Four opponents, particularly Purdue. It wouldn't be a shock if the offense looks sluggish, but Riley Leonard — if he remains the starting quarterback — has to protect the football and not let careless turnovers hurt the Irish like they did against NIU. I think the Notre Dame defense really takes what happened during the last home game personally and puts on a show, halting any chance of a RedHawks upset. Brian Ugwu posted 8 sacks among 12 tackles for loss last season, and he notched 62 total tackles, too, which is an extremely high total for a defen- sive lineman. PHOTO COURTESY MIAMI (OHIO) ATHLETICS