Notre Dame Football vs. Wisconsin: 3 bold predictions in Week 4

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SOUTH BEND, IN – SEPTEMBER 11: Kyle Hamilton #14 of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish is seen before the game against the Toledo Rockets at Notre Dame Stadium on September 11, 2021 in South Bend, Indiana. (Photo by Michael Hickey/Getty Images) /

Notre Dame Football vs. Wisconsin: 3 bold predictions in Week 4

Neither Team Breaks 20 Points

To this point in the year, there have been concerns about Notre Dame’s defense allowing too many explosive plays. These explosive plays have burnt the Irish defense and helped to allow them to give up 38 and 29 points to Florida State and Toledo respectively.

By Week 3, against Purdue, those big plays were cleaned up and Notre Dame held down Purdue to only 13 points. That’s when you remember that Purdue coach Jeff Brohm is supposed to be an offensive genius.

For their part, Wisconsin is coming off a bye week, and is sitting at 1-1 on the year. They lost a close game to Penn State, then blew out an overmatched Eastern Michigan team. In each of those games, they allowed 16 and seven points respectively. Of course, that shouldn’t be a surprise, because for more than the last decade their calling card has been the defensive side of the ball.

Both offenses also have issues. Wisconsin can’t run the ball the way they used to, even though they want to run the ball like that. To add to that, their DNA almost doesn’t allow them to open up and throw the ball, even if they were capable of doing so.

On Notre Dame’s side, it’s no secret that the offensive line is an absolute disaster. It’s bad enough, and Wisconsin’s defense is good enough, that this game could be a disaster.

So, neither team is likely to score more than 20 points on Saturday.

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