Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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Under the Dome Point ✦ Counterpoint: Which Team Has The Best Chance To Beat Notre Dame In The Next Month? Sooner Or Later Sooners Will Win By Dan Murphy A Shamrock Series Letdown By Andrew Owens The next three weeks will be the turning point The Irish approach the upcoming trio of games in Notre Dame's season. The Irish should be BCS with a season in the balance. Win all three, and bound if they get through Oklahoma, Arizona BCS hopes stay alive. Drop a game or two, and State and USC without a loss. That won't be easy. there's no telling where Notre Dame will spend If Notre Dame does drop the holidays. another game in the next Given Notre Dame's recent month, chances are it will home success, it will be difficult be against Oklahoma. for the Sooners to capture their The Sooners (3-0) are second series win. USC already off to a strong start defensuffered an embarrassing home sively, giving up 9.0 points loss to Washington State, and per game thus far. More head coach Lane Kiffin's ship could importantly, the offense sink even further by the time the got a jump-start when Trojans arrive in South Bend. redshirt junior Blake Bell Sandwiched between the Oklatook over the reins in the homa and USC home games is this third week of the season. year's Shamrock Series tilt against Bell, all 252 pounds of Arizona State in Dallas. The Irish him, showed off an arm won the first four Shamrock Series that most people didn't games, and in convincing fashion. believe he had in a 51-20 This could be the year that quar- All four wins were by 24 points win over Tulsa. The Irish terback Blake Bell and the Sooners or more. have struggled with mobile break through against the Irish. The Sun Devils, however, are a photo courtesy oklahoma tough matchup. Junior dual-threat quarterbacks this year, and Bell will be as dangerous as any of the signal- quarterback Taylor Kelly could be a nightmare callers they've already faced. for the Irish to defend, and ASU will be well preArizona State can air it out, but coming off of pared having already faced Wisconsin, Stanford three tough games against Wisconsin, Stanford and USC. Head coach Todd Graham is settling in and USC without a week to recover will leave them well at Arizona State, and he could notch another physically aching. Notre Dame should be able to signature win if the Sun Devils pull off an upset. control the line of scrimmage. USC is always a Like Notre Dame with its upcoming three-game threat for Notre Dame, but Lane Kiffin's team isn't stretch, Arizona State is experiencing its own baquite the same this time around. The Sooners are rometer now by playing the Badgers, Cardinal, 1-9 all time against Notre Dame. Eventually, that Trojans and Irish in consecutive weeks. If the Sun lopsided series has to regress toward the mean, Devils aren't physically and mentally deflated by and coming off of a bye week with a full head of the time they head to Dallas, they could be primed steam makes this season the time to do it. to upset Notre Dame.