Notre Dame Predictions

PRESTON

Last Saturday's game was really flukey in my opinion. The week prior the Oregon St. offense, with their starting QB mind you, put up a whopping 19 points in a close one at home to Washington St. On BYU's end, their defense the previous 3 weeks had not given up a single touchdown. They literally went 13 quarters without giving up a touchdown! So now they give up 5 to Oregon St. at home where none of those 5 touchdowns were even results of Riley Nelson turnovers? It was extremely flukey and Oregon St. severely out-coached BYU. Their gameplan was perfect, and the BYU defense got their butt kicked. Was the BYU defense "exposed"? I saw that going around all night and on twitter. I don't think that is the case at all. BYU's defense is still a top 10 defense in the nation. Oregon St. is a top 5 offense through the air and took away BYU's defensive strengths immediately by limiting pressure and not turning the ball over. I think this caught Bronco in particular off guard and he was unable to make any adjustments on defense. Despite all of this, BYU was still only down 4 points halfway through the 4th quarter.

So fast forward to this Saturday's game against a Notre Dame team having their best season in the last decade. It is great to see them relevant in the college football world again, but Notre Dame however, is still flawed. They have had QB issues all year with Golson and Reese. Golson has struggled to really garner that QB1 reputation and he will be playing Saturday after suffering a concussion against Stanford just last week. Despite their offensive struggles, Notre Dame is still undefeated. Their defense is also one of the best in the nation, and I expect this game to be a chess match with both teams trying to limit turnovers by running the ball early and often putting the game in the hands of their defenses. Yes, BYU's defense will bounce back. Will it be enough? Probably not. If this game were being played in Provo I would be the first to call upset, instead I see Notre Dame winning a game that will be closer than most people think.

Notre Dame 13, BYU 10

JAKE

Call me crazy but I honestly think that BYU has a shot at in this game. Sure the offense is turning the ball over at an alarming rate and the defense looked porous last week. I still have faith. I have been watching Notre Dame this season and I have never been impressed by their offense. If BYU fans are tired of Riley Nelson giving up the football then Everett Golson will be a welcome sight. They have great  athletes at the skill positions but they offense hasn't hit their stride and the BYU defense should hold them in check.

Now I have to mention how menacing the Notre Dame defense is.  They are all kinds of scary and matching that up with the fact that BYU offense has a frightening tendency to turn the ball over makes me think that this could be ugly. HOWEVER, I have this strange feeling that Riley will try to play within himself and not force anything. Wait, did I really just say that? There is no way that Riley doesn't try to do too much. He's that guy you work with who is super nice and wants to impress everyone but he's not capable of half of the projects he is taking on. I love him but Riley needs to slow his roll. If he does, it might be close. If not, you know what happens.

Notre Dame 17, BYU 7

SCOTT

As I am about to leave for the game, I will try to make this brief. Notre Dame is good. BYU is not bad. Both teams have a good/great defense. Both teams have offenses that leave something(s) to be desired. Turnovers will decide this game, and hopefully BYU can limit them.

Interesting note: BYU is undefeated in football games which I attend. Let's continue that.

BYU 14, Notre Dame 13