Notre Dame football is one of the hottest teams in the nation right now with a couple of Heisman Trophy contenders leading the way. The Irish have already played three games and they’re about to partake in contest No. 4 on Saturday afternoon against Central Michigan.
The Chippewas come to town with a 1-1 record with the lone blemish coming at the hands of Michigan State in Week 1.
Notre Dame, on the other hand, is coming off a huge Week 2 road win over NC State in which the Irish just pulled away by exerting their dominance late.
Let’s get bold ahead of Saturday’s game in South Bend.
3. Audric Estime improves his yards per carry average
Through three games, Audric Estime leads college football with 345 rushing yards. The junior running back has four touchdowns as well, but he’s averaging a mind-blowing 8.0 yards per carry through three games. And it’s not like the Irish have been playing FCS opponents every week, they played Navy in the opener and NC State last weekend on the road.
Estime’s 14 carries for 134 yards and two touchdowns against NC State last week actually translated to his best yards per carry game of the season at 9.6 per touch.
How could he possibly improve an 8.0 yards per carry average through four games? Well, he’s going to have 12 carries for 130 yards and another couple of touchdowns on Saturday afternoon.
We thought his 8.0 yards per carry average was impressive before, but now it’s about to increase.
2. Sam Hartman throws five touchdown passes with no picks
Central Michigan’s defense isn’t what you’d call “stingy” by any means. The Chippewas have given up 472 yards per game this season against teams like Michigan State and New Hampshire and Notre Dame has the best offense that they’ve seen yet.
To me, this means that the Irish are going to go nuclear offensively.
While Audric Estime is rushing for over 100 yards on well over 8.0 yards per touch, Sam Hartman is going to be torching that secondary for over 300 yards and five touchdowns. What this means is that after this game, he’s going to have over 1,000 yards and 15 touchdowns with no interceptions on the year.
If you’re a math expert, that means he’ll be on pace for around 3,300 yards, 45 touchdowns, and no picks. Obviously the touchdowns and interceptions will likely level out, but the yards should increase.
Either way, Saturday will just aid his Heisman Trophy campaign.
1. Notre Dame football scores 60 points
To say that Central Michigan doesn’t have the best defense would be an understatement. Heck, the Chippewas may have the worst defense that Notre Dame has seen — OK, maybe that’s Tennessee State, but definitely the worst FBS defense.
Navy gave up 42 points to Notre Dame and the Irish were on easy mode the entire game. Tennessee State gave up 56. And NC State was hanging for a while and still surrendered 45 points at home to lose to the Irish.
If NC State is giving up 45 points, just imagine what Central Michigan will allow. The Chippewas are about to get hammered for 60-plus.
Is this a little too bold seeing as the Irish aren’t the kind of team to pour on when the game is clearly out of hand? Maybe, but I don’t even think it’s going to feel like piling on. The Irish are going to be able to move the ball with ease and I see them scoring on all buy like 2-3 drives to win the game 63-7.
Sam Hartman will have five touchdown passes, Audric Estime will add a couple, and we’ll see the backups score a couple of times, too.
A nice 60-burger for Notre Dame to give it confidence heading into Ohio State week.