Notre Dame Football: Irish can’t afford to overlook Ball State

3. Notre Dame secondary still hasn’t been tested

Last week against Michigan Shea Patterson looked like a deer in the headlights. The Irish kept him out of the endzone and intercepted him once. He finished the game 20-of-30 passing for 227 yards. That’s only marginally better than Wimbush who isn’t impressing any NFL scouts like Patterson was supposed to.

Ball State will trot out a quarterback that didn’t have any of the accolades Patterson did. But he can sling it. The Cardinals’ offense tallied a school record 652 yards in their opening week win over Central Connecticut. 259 of those yards came on the arm of junior quarterback Riley Neal. He completed 76.7 percent of his passes and threw two touchdowns.

In Neal’s career appearances against Power 5 schools, he’s thrown for four touchdowns and zero interceptions while adding 171 yards rushing on 45 carries. A 3-star prospect out of Yorktown, Indiana, Neal was the No. 33 pro-passing prospect in the 2015 class. He might not be Patterson, but he’s no slouch.