Notre Dame football: Cincinnati presents Irish with toughest test yet
By Brad Weiss
The 2021 Notre Dame football team is undefeated going into Week 5, where they will take on another top-10 team in the Cincinnati Bearcats.
There are plenty of storylines when it comes to the Notre Dame football matchup against Cincinnati this weekend. This is a battle between two top-10 teams, that is true, but the matchup goes well beyond where they rank in the latest AP Poll.
Both Brian Kelly and Marcus Freeman were once coaches at Cincinnati, with Kelly being a head coach, and Freeman being the defensive coordinator there only a year ago. Freeman was a hot commodity this offseason and landed with the Irish, where he has the defense playing at a very high level going into this game.
The Bearcats also present the Irish with the toughest test on their schedule to date, as they go into this game riding high after a 38-24 victory at Indiana. The No. 7 ranked team in the country, Cincinnati has a legitimate first-round talent at the quarterback position in Desmond Ridder, as well as a strong rushing attack led by Jerome Ford, who is averaging six yards per carry.
For a Notre Dame defense that took a step in the right direction on Saturday against Wisconsin, this is going to be a measuring stick for sure.
A win could mean an undefeated season for Notre Dame football
Football is played week to week, and we have seen many times this season that good teams fall to worse teams time and time again. In fact, we see ranked teams losing to teams that they were double-digit favorites against, so no team can be taken lightly.
However, the Bearcats could be the final tough hurdle for this Irish team on the way to an undefeated season. The rest of the schedule has looked more than pedestrian this season after looking like a gauntlet early on, so take care of the Bearcats, and the Irish could be staring down a third College Football Playoff appearance in the last four years.