Showdown in Chicago: #12 Notre Dame takes on # 18 Wisconsin at Solider Field.
Two power house programs are set to face-off in another installment of the Shamrock Series when Notre Dame lines up vs Wisconsin Saturday in Chicago. This top 25 matchup has national attention with ESPN, FOX and Barstool Sports all sending their College Football pregame shows to Chicago. I love the matchup of two great programs that haven’t played each other in years, but there are two things I would change. The first would be the time – this should not be an 11am (CT) kickoff. I know Fox has the rights and wants their big games on early, but Notre Dame and Wisconsin deserve to be a primetime, under the lights game. The second thing I would change is the neutral site of the game. Notre Dame and Wisconsin signed up to play two games, one here in Chicago and the second up in Green Bay. As a Packers fan, I love the second location but would much rather have this be a true home and home. For me, college football is about the atmosphere around the big games and these games would be giant if they were played at Notre Dame Stadium or Camp Randall up in Madison. With all that said, I cannot wait for Saturday regardless of where it’s played.
Notre Dame comes into the game ranked 12th in the country, while Wisconsin is sitting 6 spots back at number 18. The Badgers have been favored by most to beat the Irish, even with the rankings as they are. I’m not surprised by this, as Notre Dame has not looked like a great polished team in their first three games. The Irish come in to this game undefeated but with three close games against lesser opponents. The Badgers come into Saturday’s match up at 1-1, with an opening season loss to a top 10 Penn State. There are a lot of question marks around both teams but more around the Irish.
If this game was played a week after the Toledo game, I would be way more worried. The win last week vs Purdue was a better win than the first two wins of the season. Notre Dame didn’t look perfect, but they looked like a better team than the first two weeks. In my eyes, this game vs Wisconsin comes down the the Irish offensive line. If the offensive line plays well enough to keep Jack Coan up right and get a run game going, the Irish have a great shot at winning this game. Notre Dame’s top two play makers, Kevin Austin and Michael Mayer, were kept in check last week vs Purdue. I do not see this happing for a second week, those two are just too good to keep down to games in a row. Look for one if not both of them to have a great Saturday afternoon.
Notre Dame’s defense has looked a lot better in the last couple weeks. They are far from where they need to be but they should be able to hold off this Wisconsin offense, which has become your typical Wisconsin offense – ground and pound with little passing game. Notre Dame needs to make Wisconsin QB Graham Mertz beat them in the air; if the Irish defense can do that, an upset could be brewing in Chicago. Notre Dame has one of, if not the best, defensive players in the country with Kyle Hamilton. All-Americans need to step up in big games, and look for Hamilton to have a similar impact on the game like he had vs Florida State in the 1st game of the season.
While the offensive line still scares me, I am really hoping they can take another step forward and show how good they can be. Unfortunately, Wisconsin has a far better front seven than anyone the Irish have seen yet this season. So like I said earlier, that’s that this game comes down to. Can the Irish O-line hold up? With that said, I am looking for Jack Coan to have a big game playing vs his former team. The O-line has slowly gotten better since the first three weeks and Coan has still put up very good numbers, and I don’t see that stopping in this game. I do not have a prediction because this game in my eyes is a toss up, but that doesn’t mean I am not pulling for the Irish. GO IRISH, BEAT BUCKEY!