Notre Dame vs. Miami Showdown: Can the Hurricanes Win?

SportsGrid

Watch Notre Dame vs. Miami Showdown: Can the Hurricanes Win? - SportsGrid on Dailymotion

Transcript

00:00The other big game in the conference, it's in South Beach, Sunday night, 7.30, top-ranked Notre Dame and Miami square off.

00:08Coach, Notre Dame has not been able to knock off Miami over the past six meetings.

00:13They're 0-6. They have to travel on the road.

00:16They're a slight 2.5-point road favorite in this matchup.

00:20Miami 10-3 last year. Carson Beck comes over.

00:23Can Miami strike the upset in South Beach to give the Hurricanes a 1-0 record in week number one?

00:31Yeah, I think they can. I think Miami can do that, and I think they will do that.

00:36They've got a new defensive coordinator from Minnesota.

00:39He was successful at James Madison. He was successful at Rutgers.

00:42He was successful at Minnesota.

00:44Everywhere he's gone, he's turned defenses around, and he's got a defense that needs turning around.

00:50But I think they're going to be completely different on defense.

00:53They brought in some new secondary.

00:55They've got people that fit into his system, and I think they have got the veteran quarterback.

01:00Notre Dame's going to run the football, and they've got to run the football to keep control of that clock,

01:04to keep their offense on the field, and to bring that new quarterback in a little slower,

01:10a little more comfortable in that setting because not only you've got an outstanding atmosphere down there,

01:16but you've also got a heat.

01:18The heat may be a factor when they go down and play in deep Florida.

01:21It always used to be, so I've got the fact that the veteran quarterback going to a team with a lot more talent,

01:27and again, you've got Carson Beck, 27-4 last year.

01:30He knows how to win.

01:31He knows how to win big games, and I think Miami kind of – I think Mario kind of got his back to the wall,

01:37and that defense had to get better.

01:39He's got a defensive coordinator that can get him there.

01:42I think that's going to change Miami's whole outlook this year.

01:44They start playing the kind of defense that this defensive coordinator has produced everywhere he's been.

01:52Well, to your point, they only allowed 112 rushing yards per game.

01:56They allowed opponents to convert only 36 percent on third-down conversions,

02:00but in their three losses, the two that mattered to Georgia Tech,

02:04they allowed opponents to convert 64 percent on third downs,

02:08and more importantly, against Syracuse, they allowed that offense to convert 70 percent of the time.

02:13That's why they lost that matchup and found themselves on the outside looking in.

02:18I will say this about Notre Dame, Coach.

02:20Notre Dame last year was 8-1 on the road or on a neutral field site.

02:25They won those eight games by an average margin of victory of 23.6 points per game.

02:30They held 10 opponents under 200 yards passing.

02:34They were 9-1 in those games and won those games by an astounding 33.6 points per game.

02:42I'm rolling the – I'm laying the two-and-a-half with Notre Dame.

02:46I think they would have by double digits.

02:49What do you think?

02:50Well, you know what?

02:51I'm just – and maybe I – the coaching factor is so big in my mind because I've been around –

02:56when you bring in a coordinator and you pay him, and he's one of the top guys –

03:01he was a top guy that everybody's wanting to hire him.

03:03And when you pay to bring a guy in, their defense is not going to look or act anything like it did in the past.

03:10It's a different football team completely because Mario Cristobal is an all-offensive lineman.

03:15He's not going to get in the way of the defensive coordinator.

03:17And I just think that's the one thing that kept them out of the playoffs last year

03:21and kept them out of a championship contention.

03:24That changes this year.

03:25Defense changes.

03:26It'll be a nice, close ball game, but I've got Miami pulled this long.

Category

Transcript

Recommended