Notre Dame football: Fans should not be overlooking Cincinnati?
The Notre Dame football team has a tough opponent in the Cincinnati Bearcats, and way too many fans seem to be overlooking arguably the best team on the schedule.
Let’s be honest here: Notre Dame football is not at the level of Clemson, Alabama, or Ohio State.
Yes, the Irish have made the College Football Playoff two of the last three seasons. They’ve also been stomped on two of the last three seasons, and are firmly a level below those three elites. They have been for quite some time, and they will be again this year.
Do you know who else falls into that category in 2021? The Cincinnati Bearcats.
So why is everyone dismissing this game like it’s some no-name FCS team?
This year’s version of the Bearcats has a legitimate possibility of being the first Group of Five programs to make the College Football Playoff. The schedule sets up perfectly: a top-ten Irish team is just a week after a road trip to a top-25 Indiana.
Hosting UCF and SMU give a little boost as well.
Recently, our own Dan Morrison predicted that not only would Cincinnati give Notre Dame football a run for their money, but the Bearcats would pull the upset. It seems to have thrown Notre Dame Twitter into a frenzy about why that upset won’t happen.
It seems as if any time someone mentions that there’s even a possibility of Cincinnati pulling the upset — which, by the way, would be an upset in name only — a section of fans take it as an impossible scenario that would never play itself out.
But why can’t Cincinnati beat this Notre Dame football team?
Cincinnati brings back 12 starters from a 9-1 team that nearly beat Georgia in the Peach Bowl. That’s a Georgia team, by the way, that the Irish lost to the season prior and the same Georgia team that is a darkhorse National Championship contender this season.
Quarterback Desmond Ridder leads an offense that finished 17th in scoring at 37.5 points per game, and familiar face Michael Young projects to be one of Ridder’s top targets this season.
The defense was solid too, ranking 8th in scoring and 13th in total defense. And before you go and say these numbers wouldn’t be as high if the schedule didn’t change, would they really be different if Western Michigan, Miami Ohio, and Nebraska were also on the schedule?
Save for Nebraska, those numbers might actually be better with those schools. Cincinnati played the hand they were dealt last season and they weren’t the only team in that boat. Then factor in that Cincinnati catches Notre Dame one week after a major showdown against Wisconsin.
The Badgers will once again be a physical team that punishes opponents. How much of a hangover will there be?
If there’s one benefit for the Irish, it’s Marcus Freeman. The new defensive coordinator comes to South Bend from the Bearcats, where he knows and has seen exactly what Luck Fickell and company like to do on offense. Notre Dame football should almost always beat Cincinnati, as it is a blue blood against an ascending Group of Five team, and the Irish should win that game much more often than not.
Just like Iowa State should almost always beat Louisiana. How’d that work out last season? Tennessee should almost always beat Vanderbilt. That series is tied 5-5 over the last ten meetings. There’s no “almost” about this one: Michigan should always beat App State. 2007 laughs at that game.
I’m not saying Cincinnati is a certified National Championship contender. I don’t think they could beat Alabama, Clemson, or Ohio State, and even the likes of Oklahoma might not be the best of results for Cincinnati. But for Irish fans or players to overlook the Bearcats is wrong.
As of early July, Notre Dame is a two-point favorite courtesy of South Point Las Vegas. If you really think Notre Dame will just cakewalk over Cincinnati, you’re setting yourself up for a major disappointment.