Notre Dame Football: 3 bold predictions vs. Duke

The 11th-ranked Notre Dame (4-1) Fighting Irish take on the 17th-ranked Duke Blue Devils (4-0) at the Wallace Wade Stadium in Durham, North Carolina, on Saturday, Sept. 30, at 7:30 pm ET.

If you were to look at the box score from last week’s Ohio State game, you would tell me that the Notre Dame Fighting Irish should have been victorious. They weren’t. Two of the premier college programs in the country were going at it blow after blow. In the end, Ohio State was victorious, and now the Fighting Irish are trying to recover from the loss and get back to the explosive yet unpredictable team they were before that game.

After a tough loss, this may be a letdown spot, but Notre Dame football is still alive for a Playoff berth and should be able to deal with Duke’s front seven to get the ground game going, just like in all their contests.

As for Duke, I do think the Blue Devils might be just a smidgen overrated at this point. They are coming off of a win vs. Connecticut.

Riley Leonard threw for 248 yards and a touchdown and ran for another score as the Blue Devils decimated winless Connecticut 41-7 on last Saturday with a dominant defensive performance. Duke held Connecticut to 203 total yards and allowed just 32 yards in the first half to take a 27-0 lead. The Huskies’ only score came with 12 seconds left in the game.

The Duke Blue Devils have outscored opponents 149-35 and this week will be looking to start a season 5-0 for the first time since 1994.