Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/587814
GAME PREVIEW: TEMPLE couple times in pass coverage against UMass and Charlotte, but it's some‑ thing that he continues to work on. He's a leader, he's a fiery player — he's the heart of that defense." The Owls are also strong along the defensive line and secondary. Senior defensive tackle Matt Ioannidis joined Matakevich as a consensus preseason first‑team All‑AAC selection, picking up 13 tackles, including 3.5 for a loss, through the first five games, and Nar‑ ducci said they have plenty of talent and depth surrounding the tackle. "It's funny, I think their most ex‑ plosive pass rusher is junior Praise Martin‑Oguike," Narducci said. "He's a little undersized, but he's been banged up, so he didn't play a whole lot against Penn State and Cincinnati. He was the guy that blocked the game‑ swinging PAT against UMass. "On the other side, they have a guy named Nate D. Smith. He's a hard‑ working plugger that just keeps at it. Matt Ioannidis, like the others, isn't overly big, and he won't get many statistics — but he takes up a lot of blockers. He's one of the real leaders of this team." Despite the start that Temple has en‑ joyed, it hasn't played anybody with the talent that's scattered across Notre Dame's roster. That's why Narducci thinks in spite of the Owls' tremen‑ dous first several games of 2015, the Irish should still win by double digits. "I watched Notre Dame play UMass," Narducci said. "I know you can't always go off common oppo‑ nents, but UMass gave them a little trouble for a while, and then Notre Dame turned on the jets. "Temple struggled mightily with UMass. So when I look at those type of things, I'd have to say Notre Dame is probably 12 points better than Temple right now. I don't know what the line is going to be — but based on that, I really like Notre Dame's offensive line, among their other talented posi‑ tions." ✦ 2015 TEMPLE SCHEDULE Date Opponent (TV) Result/Time (ET) Sept. 5 Penn State W, 27‑10 Sept. 12 at Cincinnati W, 34‑26 Sept. 19 at Massachusetts W, 25‑23 Oct. 2 at Charlotte W, 37‑3 Oct. 10 Tulane W, 49‑10 Oct. 17 UCF W, 30‑16 Oct. 22 at East Carolina (ESPN2) 7 p.m. Oct. 31 Notre Dame TBA Nov. 6 at SMU (ESPN2) 8 p.m. Nov. 14 at South Florida TBA Nov. 21 Memphis TBA Nov. 28 Connecticut TBA 2015 NOTRE DAME FOOTBALL SCHEDULE Date Opponent (TV) Result/Time (ET) Sept. 5 Texas W, 38‑3 Sept. 12 at Virginia W, 34‑27 Sept. 19 Georgia Tech W, 30‑22 Sept. 26 Massachusetts W, 62‑27 Oct. 3 at Clemson L, 24‑22 Oct. 10 Navy W, 41‑24 Oct. 17 USC (NBC) W, 41‑31 Oct. 31 at Temple TBA Nov. 7 at Pittsburgh TBA Nov. 14 Wake Forest (NBC) 3:30 p.m. Nov. 21 vs. Boston College (NBCSN)* 7:30 p.m. Nov. 28 at Stanford TBA * Shamrock Series at Fenway Park in Boston