Notre Dame Football: Key Offensive Matchups vs. Bowling Green

Notre Dame football heads into Week 5 of the college football season at 3-1, and now will face a struggling Bowling Green team before playing rival USC.

There isn’t really another way to spin it: This should be a great day for the offense. The Irish put up 66 on New Mexico a few weeks back, but you could also convince me New Mexico could put up 66 on Bowling Green. With that said, there is a difference between scoring a ton of points and being completely disrespectful. I am expecting another 60+ point effort and I would probably expect the Irish to cover, as well. As for key offensive matchups, this week will be a tad different than most.

Backup running backs vs. Bowling Green Starting Defense

I don’t want to see Tony Jones Jr. in this game. We know what he is and he is too valuable to lose in this type of game with Armstrong already out. He will likely receive a few carries, but that should be the gist of his day. C’bo Flemister, Jahmir Smith, Avery Davis, Kyren Williams and Mick Assaf should receive the lion’s share of the carries. That should be done not only to preserve starters, but also partly to see what they can do with a full game script. The Irish should look to build the confidence of young running backs that will need to be called upon in the future in more important contests.

This is also a way to get other teams watching other game film. Avery Davis has the speed to scare teams when he on the field. Jahmir Smith is a bruiser that most teams should watch out for on the goal line and in short yardage situations. C’bo gives the team a speed element they are lacking with Armstrong out. Williams is sort of a jack of all trades type of player. All of these guys bring a different element to the offense that other teams should at least have to watch out for.

Young WRs/TEs vs. Bowling Green Starting Defense

Much of the same can be said with the wide receivers. Chase Claypool and Chris Finke are noticeably banged up and Lawrence Keys wasn’t even on the original Bowling Green depth chart.  That is fine. The offense doesn’t need them. Like Tony Jones, I expect at least Claypool and Finke to see the field early on, but I really hope they are on the bench by the start of the second quarter. A ton of Javon McKinley, Braden Lenzy, Joe Wilkins Jr., Michael Young (since he hasn’t played much), Micah Jones and the two freshman Cam Hart and Kendall Abdur-Rahman should still keep the offense cooking on Saturday afternoon, especially those first four mentioned. All four should be integral parts of the 2020 season and later on this year as well. Let’s see them in a greater capacity on Saturday.

Phil Jurkovec vs. Starting Defense

Seeing a pattern here? I want the backups in early and I don’t think it will matter when looking at the final score. Jurkovec, unfortunately, wasn’t able to play much in the New Mexico game due to a deep thigh bruise. Hopefully, that is behind him now and we can see him run the Notre Dame offense for (at least) a full half.

Some have suggested that Jurkovec should be pushing Book for starting playing time. I won’t go that far, but I do want a glimpse of what 2020 could bring and maybe even if the staff would want Jurkovec in 2020 regardless of Book’s pro decision. It is undeniable he has loads of potential as both a thrower and a runner, and he could provide a new twist to this offense that they currently struggle with on a consistent basis.

Saturday should be a day where we see plenty of quality play from players we don’t hear from too often.