Notre Dame Football: Irish look to push past Vanderbilt

After a frustratingly close win over the 34 point underdogs in Ball State, Notre Dame football will look to right the ship in their Week 3 matchup vs. Vanderbilt.

After averaging over 34 points per game in 2017, expectations were reasonably high for quarterback Brandon Wimbush and his offense heading into a matchup with the MAC’s Ball State Cardinals. However, the offense fell flat after an impressive opening touchdown drive, leaving the Irish defense with the majority of the heavy lifting.

Understandably, there’s a significant difference between a primetime matchup with a rival such as Michigan and a 3:30 start time against an inferior Group of Five program. However, there was no excuse for how the Irish offense performed last Saturday. Similarly, there will be no excuses this week as the Irish take on Vanderbilt in a matchup even earlier in the day.

Here’s how to watch it all go down as the Irish take on the Commodores in the third ever meeting between the two programs.

Date: Saturday, Sep. 15
Time: 2:30 p.m. ET
Location: South Bend, Ind.
Venue: Notre Dame Stadium
TV: NBC
Live Stream: NBC Live Stream or FuboTV

Keys to Victory

The Notre Dame defense was able to carry the team to victory despite Wimbush’s struggles against Ball State. However, it will take a more concerted effort from the Irish offense to take down a stronger Commodore defense. The Irish are the favorites here, but they’ll need to trust their run game rather than Wimbush’s arm if they want to claim a third straight victory at home.

What did the Cardinals in against the Irish was their inability to capitalize off of Wimbush’s turnovers. The key for Vanderbilt in this game will be ensuring points after any Notre Dame turnover. The Commodore offense isn’t great, but they won’t need to be as long as the defense can keep Wimbush flustered.

Betting Odds

Odds provided by Odds Shark

Point Spread: Notre Dame -13.5
Spread: 51.5

Prediction

Last season, Wimush was able to follow up some borderline performances with huge numbers. Head coach Brian Kelly will do his best to have his team face off against Stanford with an undefeated record, whether Wimush is a part of that or not. As for now, tip the scales to Notre Dame in what could prove to be a bounce-back performance from Wimbush.

Final Score: Vanderbilt 17, Notre Dame 30