NC State Wolfpack: Optimism Against a hungry Notre Dame
The NC State Wolfpack head into today’s game favored at home against Notre Dame.
Somehow we have gotten to this point, the point where the NC State Wolfpack are favored in a game against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.
The Wolfpack are a week away from denying Wake Forest the full jump into ACC relevance. The Irish are five weeks away from being a top ten ranked team. Now Notre is 2-3 and not predicted to beat State by ESPN’s matchup predictor.
How did we get here? Notre Dame started their season with a loss to Texas, and the Longhorns have not exactly lit the world on fire since that game. Then they manhandled by Michigan State, who just lost to Indiana last week. Finally they lost at home to Duke only for Duke to turn around and lose to lowly Virginia the next week.
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The golden era of DeShone Kizer and Brian Kelly refuses to dawn this season. Heck, CBS Sports bracket guy Jerry Palm had the Irish in the playoff at the beginning of the season.
Clearly the issue is the Irish defense. It gave up score after score to Duke despite knowing that the situation required stops. If the unsung Duke running game can break the Irish, then was that mean for the likes of Matt Dayes?
State has shown itself quite adaptable in the past to exploiting a known weakness. They will not be shy to run any number of players at the Irish front. Ryan Finley has shown himself to be capable as a graduate transfer quarterback.
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The danger is of course underestimating Notre Dame. If the Irish aren’t supposed to be this bad, then chances are that they won’t be forever. State did not fare well against bowl teams last year, and this is the most talent they have seen yet this season.
In that way, this will be a good test for State as they try to gauge how handle the three big dogs in their own division. The Seminoles, Cardinals, and Tigers are all waiting down the road. If State can win some key matchups in this game, then an upset may be in the works later this season.