Throw in the fact that Texas, as an athletic department, had a “look-in-the-mirror” moment with its hiring and firing of former Athletic Director Steve Patterson, and all of that should make you really appreciate the steadiness of what DeLoss Dodds and Mack Brown did for so long, even if you still are frustrated with those final years of the Brown era. The Redbird defense continued to show out, holding Notre Dame to two shots on goal in the second half, giving them only four for the entire match while the Redbirds finished with five on goal and eight total. Brian Kelly says the plan is to play both quarterbacks, which is always an interesting choice. Now, do they have the range maybe at times we would like? However, I do have a slight bone to pick with choosing to run a two quarterback system in this season. But for now, Kelly sees it as the best option.
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“I think a lot of attention, a lot of eyes … will be wanting to focus on that, but sometimes when you focus on the quarterbacks, you forget about there’s a lot of other things going on out there”, Kelly said.
Line: Notre Dame by 3½. Attorneys for Williams and White filed motions to waive initial hearings. “Our running game – it’s going to be good”, said Coker. I don’t like laying points, but even with concerns about the quarterback rotation the Irish are the better football team and I think there is just a little too much faith being placed on the Texas offense to improve.
The 6-foot-1, 245 pound former four-star recruit has the keys to the auto now, and there’s plenty of optimism the Crete-Monee High School alum will succeed as The Guy in Brian VanGorder’s defense.
“Certainly you want to put veterans on the field if you can”, Kelly said. “The middle linebacker position is the most hard position to get down and he’s got it cold. I don’t know if it’s a rotational situation right now, but I do see him getting into the game”. It doesn’t matter how fast the receivers are or how tough to tackle the backs are if the offensive line can’t hold up.
The front-end depth Notre Dame has on defense is rock-solid.
Outside linebacker James Onwualu’s 3.0 sacks are the most for a returning player in 2016.
Irish freshman forward Jennifer Westendorf attempts to intercept a pass during Notre Dame’s 1-0 win over Wisconsin on August 21 at Alumni Stadium.
All that inexperience means plenty of question marks. Score prediction: ND 31 Texas 24Ryan BridgesTexas will look very different this year compared with last year, and I expect a more competitive game. This year the Longhorns seek revenge as they host the Irish for the season opener Sunday night down in Austin.
“To have a big game, game one allows to to kind of recall on that throughout the season”, says quarterback DeShone Kizer.
Notre Dame Football begins its 2016 campaign with a rare Sunday night showdown with the Texas Longhorns in the Shamrock Series. They also lost to Notre Dame, 38-3. “Part of his mental toughness and commitment to the game is to realize where he was, where he is and where he can go”.
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Notre Dame will have only a brief respite before being in action again, taking on Missouri on Sunday. Having Hill and Davis in the secondary instead of Bonney and Echols should enable Vance Bedford to throw more rushers at the Irish quarterbacks, but anyone who reaches the QB still has to finish the play, something they struggled with especially early a year ago.
