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Notre Dame Football Prediction: North Carolina State vs. Notre Dame

By Andrew Hall

SOUTH BEND, IN - OCTOBER 21: Notre Dame Fighting Irish players celebrate after a 49-14 win against the USC Trojans at Notre Dame Stadium on October 21, 2017 in South Bend, Indiana. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images)
SOUTH BEND, IN - OCTOBER 21: Notre Dame Fighting Irish players celebrate after a 49-14 win against the USC Trojans at Notre Dame Stadium on October 21, 2017 in South Bend, Indiana. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images) /
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The Notre Dame football program must completely forget about their great victory against rival USC and move on to the 15th-ranked Wolfpack. This task is easier said than done.

Notre Dame Offense vs. North Carolina State Defense

This is the main event. The reason why so many love College Football. A clash between the immovable object and the unstoppable force.

The immovable object is North Carolina State’s defense, in particular the front four. The Wolfpack rank 6th in the country, allowing only 91.29 yards per game.

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The “maul cops” and Josh Adams are the unstoppable force. They also rank 6th in the nation in rushing offense. Notre Dame is currently rushing for 317.86 yards per contest.

Who will win out in this battle of wills? To this point, North Carolina State has not faced an elite rushing offense like the Fighting Irish. The teams who the Wolfpack played currently are sitting as ranked as follows:

  • South Carolina: 119th, 110.86 yards
  • Marshall: 80th, 150.86 yards
  • Florida State: 186th, 146.50 yards
  • Syracuse: 69th, 159.63 yards
  • Louisville: 28th, 219.13 yards
  • Pittsburgh: 89th, 141.50 yards

The best rushing team that the Wolfpack faced was Louisville. The Cardinal rushed for 116 yards against North Carolina State. Notre Dame needs to have 200+ yards to make a big difference against the Wolfpack.

Notre Dame Defense vs. North Carolina State Offense

The Wolfpack are averaging 35.4 points per game. Behind Georgia, North Carolina State is scoring the most points of any team that Notre Dame faced to date.

The biggest advantage for the Irish might be in the redzone. With 18th best redzone defense in the country, the Irish might be able to stop a relatively weak Wolfpack redzone offense. North Carolina State ranks 108th in redzone efficiency, scoring 75.76% of the time.

Can Notre Dame force the Wolfpack to score 3 points instead of 7 points? The stats indicated that they can.

Prediction

Notre Dame needs this win to move forward in the discussion for the College Football Playoff. North Carolina State might be the most complete team that the Irish will face until the post-season.

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To date, North Carolina State has not beaten a team ranked in the current Top 25 polls. On the other hand, the Fighting Irish defeated No. 16 Michigan State and No. 21 USC. This experience is the difference between what appears to be two evenly matched teams.

Final Score: North Carolina State 27 – Notre Dame 31

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