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

5. This is Ball State’s Super Bowl

The Ball State team might not know what day they play Eastern Michigan. The kickoff time against Ohio could be a bit fuzzy too. But every single player in that locker room knows the magnitude of Saturday’s contest against Notre Dame.

Many of the players that will step onto the field in front of a vibrant gold-clad crowd grew up wanting to play for Notre Dame. The Indiana natives on that roster grew up going to Notre Dame games and cheering for the Irish only to be passed over when the time came for their recruiting process to begin.

Notre Dame does a fair amount of national recruiting, so the personal ties between players might not be as close as they could be given the proximity of these two schools, but that won’t lessen the importance of this game.

Ball State probably loses this game nine times out of ten, 99 times out of 100 and 999 times out of 1000. But what if this time is that one time? Ball State is going to come out hoping it is.