Notre Dame Football: 3 Bold Predictions vs. Florida State
By Chase Eyrich
Irish secondary will struggle
Notre Dame’s secondary has had its ups and downs this season. Taking everything into account, they have done what they needed to. Six of Notre Dame’s nine opponents have been held to under 200 passing yards.
Vanderbilt and Virginia Tech gave the secondary the most problems all season.
Florida State is also in an odd position. Heading into their tenth game of the season, the Seminoles still have a quarterback discussion on their hands.
Deondre Francois is expected to be back from injury, but James Blackman played well enough last week that he deserves the start this week.
Blackman smoked North Carolina State for 421 yards. Granted, NC State allows over 300 passing yards a game, but Blackman took it even further, adding four touchdowns.
Where he has struggled is running with the ball. Notre Dame’s front seven is talented enough that the Irish should be getting enough pressure on Blackman. If he can get the ball out quickly, he could find a lot of success against Notre Dame’s secondary.
While he shouldn’t be able to have that type of performance versus the Irish, he should be able to have a decent day. With that being said, around 250 yards would be considered a very good day against Notre Dame.
Even with only 141 passing yards, Northwestern proved they could give the secondary some fits. You add in the weather and it’s a player-by-player case of who’s going to buckle down and push through.
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If it’s Francois under center, Notre Dame might not have much to worry about. If it’s Blackman, that could be a different case.