Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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GAME PREVIEW: LSU Notre Dame demonstrated it can play four quarters of physical football during its 31‑27 loss at No. 2 Florida State Oct. 18, when the Irish defensive roster was relatively intact. How much is left in its reservoir or fuel tank versus LSU two months later will dictate if such a performance can be duplicated. QUARTERBACK PLAY Both teams are entering the game with supposedly an open competition at quarterback. In the winter of 2012, LSU thought it had landed its quarterback of the future in verbal commit Gunner Kiel, who changed his mind in the 11th hour, enrolled at Notre Dame and is now at Cincinnati. Consequently, this season the Tigers have struggled with the passing game while having had to replace quarterback Zach Metten‑ berger and wideouts Jarvis Landry and Odell Beckham Jr., who are all in the NFL. LSU sophomore quarterback An‑ thony Jennings has completed only 48.8 percent of his passes for a pedes‑ trian 1,460 yards. True freshman Bran‑ don Harris received the starting nod at Auburn Oct. 4, but was 3‑of‑14 passing for 58 yards in the 41‑7 loss. The Tigers have not reached 200 yards passing seven straight games. Reports are that Jennings and Harris are splitting first‑team snaps 50‑50 in practice. "If they have designs on being a leader on this team and being that quarterback, this will be a very com‑ petitive time even before the game," LSU head coach Les Miles said of his QB competition. Irish head coach Brian Kelly also said this December would feature open competition between 23‑game starter and senior Everett Golson with sopho‑ more Malik Zaire, who saw his first extensive collegiate action in the USC debacle Nov. 29. Ironically, Kelly's best success at Notre Dame came when not too much was placed on the quarterback — a 4‑0 finish in 2010 with freshman Tommy Rees, and the 12‑1 season in 2012 with sophomore Golson and Rees in relief. Possibly, that's the direction the Irish might need to go versus LSU. "We may have to move over one lane and maybe not be in that speed lane and maybe slow it down just a little bit and tighten some things up," Kelly said of the approach to offense versus LSU. FUTURE PRELUDE? When 8‑4 Notre Dame met 8‑4 Flor‑ ida State in the 2011 Champs Sports Bowl, popular belief held that it would be a prelude to a BCS National Championship encounter in a year or two because both teams were replete with top sophomore and freshman talent. Indeed, a 12‑0 Notre Dame team played in the BCS National Champi‑ onship Game the following season, while Florida State won it all in 2013 and made the four‑team College Foot‑ ball Playoff this season. The 2014 Music City Bowl has a similar theme with 8‑4 LSU and 7‑5 Notre Dame, whose strengths are in their underclassmen. After losing a