Notre Dame Football: Top Storylines vs Duke

A Confidence Boost

I may be a little spoiled or whiny here, but is it too hard to just get a completely dominating win vs a somewhat respectable team? The last time the Irish won comfortable vs. a good team was well over a month ago against Virginia, and even then it took a dominating defensive performance to do most of that damage.

Since then, a walk-through vs Bowling Green, a too-close-for-comfort win over USC, a bye, that Michigan debacle, and last week.

I get that wins are still all that matters, but the biggest gripe is that Notre Dame has the talent, players, and experience to dominate these teams, and they simply can’t. They try their hardest to make it look as difficult as possible.

The fact that I’m pleading for a dominating win vs. Duke really should tell the whole story. The Irish just have to come out and make sure the score reflects how much better they are than the Blue Devils on paper.

Get movement at the line of scrimmage, run the ball, let Claypool and Kmet make plays, and fly around on defense all day. There is no reason Notre Dame can’t win by three or four touchdowns, but talk is just that, easier said than done.

This team, Brian Kelly, the fan base — we all need to see improvements and a sign that this thing is going in the right direction. Get out of this rut and gain some confidence with a dominating win over Duke and get this train rolling.