Notre Dame must do this to avoid a letdown against Northern Illinois after beating Texas A&M

Notre Dame is coming off the biggest win of the Marcus Freeman era but now the question is can the Irish avoid a letdown against Northern Illinois we break it down next you are locked on Irish your daily podcast on the Notre Dame Fighting Irish part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day hello and welcome to locked on Irish my name is Tyler rojack and I'm the host I'm a notre a Alum and producer at Fox Sports and I'm thrilled to have you here on Wednesday September 4th and thanks for starting your day right here by making this your first listen of the day as always this show is free and available wherever you get your podcast plus you can watch the full episode on YouTube as well remember to like And subscribe if you are watching on YouTube or if you're listening to the Pod please rate the show five stars maybe even leave a review if you're feeling extra generous and of course subscribe today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel now through September 22nd all FanDuel customers can bet $5 and get a 3-week free trial of NFL Sunday Ticket from YouTube and YouTube TV just visit fanduel.com to get started okay the time has come to shift our attention from Texas A&M to Northern Illinois the Irish kickoff their home slate for the 20124 campaign on Saturday against the Northern Illinois Husky so today I going to preview the matchup break down the matchups in all three phases of the game and share my keys to the game then I'll get to my official predictions at the end but here's what you need need to know about this game so kickoff is slated for 3:30 p.m. eastern time and this is the very first matchup between these two schools the game is going to air on NBC and it is the first time that notame will have this new broadcasting crew or at least partially new because Dan Hicks is going to make his return to the Notre Dame Booth as the play-by-play guy and everyone's favorite color commentator Jason Garrett is going to return for his third season obviously I say that a little sarcastically but right now the weather forecast looks pretty good 33% chance of rain in the morning but then it should clear up and it looks like it's going to be a little bit cooler than a normal home opener but should be s in the afternoon and right now Notre Dame is favored by 28 and a half points on FanDuel the over under sits at 45 and a half so basically Vegas is predicting Notre Dame to win by a score close to 37 to9 and the Huskies are led by head coach Thomas hammock who is entering his sixth season leading his alma mater he's got a 25 and 33 record overall but they did finish 7-6 last season and they finished n and5 back in 2021 my big takeaway about this game before I get to The Scouting Report the keys to the game all that is that I'm nervous I am I don't feel great about this game and this really doesn't have anything to do with Northern Illinois roster although they do have some good players which I'm going to get to but this has everything to do with the fact that Notre Dame is coming off a huge Road win in the the season opener historically Notre Dame has not performed well in these situations when they play a weaker opponent in week two coming off a big time game in the season opener Tim Ali of Irish Illustrated did a great write up about this on their site I'm looking forward to talking about this more in depth with him tomorrow so spoiler alert Tim Ali is going to be on the show tomorrow great guest you're going to want to be in for that but he went through it what Notre Dame has done in the season opener and then week two when they've had this opportunity right when they're playing a big game and then an inferior opponent the following week so in 2022 notame lost a close game on the road to the fourth ranked Ohio State Buckeyes in Marcus Freeman's head coaching debut was a close game Notre Dame LED in the fourth quarter they ultimately lost 21-1 and then I think you know what happened the following week Notre Dame lost to Marshall 26-21 at home the honeymoon was over it was an absolute dumpster fire on the Notre Dame football program and Marcus Sten even said they went a little bit too hard getting ready for that Ohio State game they were not prepared to play against Marshall and it cost him they lost that game 2021 Notre Dame beat Florida State on the road on a game-winning field goal in overtime and even though Florida State wasn't ranked it was a difficult environment to play in notame was ranked at the time was a big game and then the following week Notre Dame needed a game-winning touchdown Drive led by Jack H who literally dislocated his finger on the drive to beat too I think his name was tcoin Finn the quarterback of Toledo if he went down instead of scoring a touchdown there at the the end they could have ran out the clock kicked a game-winning field goal and beaten Notre Dame just think about how different Notre football would be if that actually happened but it didn't 2018 Notre Dame knocked off the 14th ranked Michigan Wolverines in the season opener at home 24- 17 great game huge win for the program but then they almost lost to Ball State the following week they did win 24-6 and they needed Drew tranquil to recover an onside kick there at the end that was an absolutely abysmal display of offense in that game that was one of the grossest games I can ever remember watching Notre Dame play 2016 Notre Dame lost to Texas in the opener but then they managed to beat Nevada handedly the following so this is the outlier technically I if I really wanted to I could have stopped after 2018 and my argument would have been already made but you know what we're not going to do that we are going to point out all the outcomes in this scenario 2015 though you go back to when um Notre dominated Texas 38 to3 in the air opener and granted Texas wasn't even ranked but still it's Texas and it was a very big game then Notre Dame needed a game-winning touchdown pass in the final seconds to beat Virginia the following week they ended up winning that game by a touchdown and yeah I understand the starting quarterback Malik Zer got hurt in that game but they were down 14 to 12 at halftime with Malik Zer in that game so this is a trend and it's been going on for the past decade and Northern Illinois certainly looks like a team that could pose problems if the Irish don't come ready to play Human Nature is undefeated as they say and it is human nature for guys especially especially young college athletes to take their foot off the gas a little bit after they play in such a big meaningful game that required so much out of them both physically and mentally and that's exactly what's happening to Notre am here coming off a very hardfought win on the road against Tex A&M if this team does not prepare the right way I could see this being a close game in the second half I am not predicting Notre Dame to lose I don't think they're ever going to be in danger or in legitimate danger of losing this game but I would not be surprised at all if this is an ugly start and it's a close game going into the halftime let me make this clear if notame prepares the right way and they come out ready to go they will dominate this team that's what they should do the question is will the players prepare the right way and are they going to be locked in and ready to go on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. Eastern history suggests that they might not be in Northern Illinois has enough good players to at least compete against Notre Ham's roster as Marcus frean pointed out in his press conference they returned 18 starters from last season this team is no stranger to playing Power five opponents they do it every single year last year they actually upset Boston College in the season opener they ended up getting dominated by Nebraska a couple weeks later but every year they challenged themselves and they place in power five teams this is their Super Bowl the players of Northern Illinois are going to tell their grandkids about the opportunity that they had to play in Notre Dame stadium and this program has played in big environments before they went and they played at at Nebraska at Ohio State and at Michigan so for Notre Dame this is nothing compared to what they just went through and what they hope to achieve this season whereas on that other sideline they are going to be ready to go for this game and I have no doubt that the Notre Dame coaching staff has been preaching to the players all week that they need to be focused they can't let up and they need to prepare but at the end of the day the coaches can only do so much it is on the players to deliver in practice in the film room in meetings and every aspect of their preparation leading up to this game coaches can only do so much and games like this are all about finishing drives if you do not finish you could find yourself in the same situation that Oregon found itself in against Idaho in their season opener with 945 left in the fourth quarter the Oregon Ducks who are some people's preseason pick to win the national championship they were only up 17 to 14 on Idaho Idaho okay they ended up winning the game 24 to 14 and they outgained Idaho 487 to 217 in total yards but it was a close game because Oregon did not finish their drives they clearly did not take Idaho very seriously and Idaho hit them with a couple trick plays for touchdowns I definitely anticipate some trick plays from Northern Illinois in this game because they are not going to be able to move the ball consistently on this defense by running their normal offense but there is a chance that this team could compete with Notre Dame if Notre Dame does not come out ready to go those are my concerns about this game there's a chance I end up being dead wrong about all of this not could come out ready to roll and they could end up dominating this team and then my comment section is going to blow up they're going to be like you're an idiot forever thinking that Northern Illinois had a chance in this game and honestly I hope you're right if Notre name does that I will be thoroughly impressed because that shows that this is a player Le team and player-led teams often have the most success like I said the coaches are going to be preaching all the stuff to the player all week but it's on the players to actually prepare the right way and player-led teams really especially lately just look at what Michigan did last year like yes Jim Harbaugh is a great coach as much as it pains me to admit it and um obviously Harbaugh was a huge part in them winning the national championship but he wasn't even on the sideline for like what six games during last season including three of their most important ones last year to close out the regular season including Penn State and Ohio State but it didn't matter because they had such a veteran group The players were ready to go they prepared the right way and they didn't let their lack of a coach affect them notam is veteran defense and they do have some veteran transfers on offense and it's going to be their responsibility to make sure that this team prepares the right way all week long and come out and ready to dominate their opponent that is what they should do but will they we're going to find out on Saturday coming up next I'm going to break down Northern Illinois personnel and explain why notame has such a big advantage in all three phases if they play to their full potential today's episode is brought to you by eBay Motors passion drive and patience the formula for winning championships is also what keeps your ride or die alive eBay Motors is everything you need to maintain your vehicle and level it up to Peak Performance from superchargers roof racks exhaust kits LED headlights and more whether you're into speed power or style eBay Motors has got you covered and with over 122 million parts for your number one Rider eye You'll Always Find exactly what you're looking for and with eBay 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they had a pretty solid defense they finished tied for 27th in the country in scoring defense and they allowed just 21 points per game they also finished 39th in the country in points per Drive their best player on their D line is their senior Edge rusher number four Ren Thomas but he missed last week's game with an injury and I expect he will be out for this game as well that is a big loss he led the team in tackles last season so that is a big Advantage for Notre Dame but they have a couple other good players on their front seven that you should keep an eye out for number eight Devonte omali he is a senior defensive tackle First Team all ma in the preseason According to some of the preseason watch list and things like that um they also have a pretty good senior linebacker number 26 J aen dolphin Great Name by the way he was second on the team in tackles last year all Mac preseason watch list as well Christian Ferman is a transfer who put up big numbers at his previous School Southeast Missouri State they also bring back a ton of experience in their secondary and they were very good against the pass last season so Northern Illinois finished six in the country in pass yards allowed per game and they bring back both of their starting safeties as well as quarterback Javon bird and their nickel jaon profet so Jan led the team with eight passes deflected last year but he did not come down with an interception um Javon bird he led their team an interceptions with three and he also had five pass breakups so these guys are old they played they played a ton of football they were productive when they played against teams who were at their level last season but then again Notre Dame SEC or Notre wide receivers should be able to move the ball on these guys but I don't think that this secondary is going to be one that just has big time coverage BS or they're going to find themselves where they don't know where they need to be they're not going to beat the themselves so my keys for the notame offense in this game is they have to run the ball effectively Northern Illinois was mediocre to below average at stopping the run last year they finished 69th nice in rush yards allowed per game last season and 73rd in yards per carry allowed at 4.3 we know that notame has the horses in the back field to run the ball we're going to see a heavy dose of Jeremiah Love jadarian price I also think you're going to see some freshman anas Williams and KRON young get their first game action because they were not a part of the offense against sex A&M and D mcculler the running backs coach made that pretty clear that was going to be the case in the preseason when he said you don't want to commit coaching M practice and throw your true freshman out there in that kind of environment so he didn't but we also know that D McCulla loves to rotate his guys so I do expect the Freshman to get some touches in this game that'll be something to keep an eye out for and Notre Dame can't rely on the big play either they did a little bit in the Texas A&M game especially on the ground they had way too many negative run plays seven tackles for lossow to the agies but they broke off those few big runs so in the end it didn't really matter but I expect to see a more consistent game on the ground for this Notre Dame rushing attack I also think another key to the game for this uh for this offense is Don't Force the downfield passing game if you don't have to yes Notre am's wide receivers are better than the players on NIU but they are going to win some reps like I said they're old they're experienced they played a lot of football and I don't really expect Notre Dame to push the ball downfield a ton given the fact that they're still developing on on the offensive line uh Riley Leonard got the rid of the ball in 2.18 seconds on average against Texas A&M According to Pete Samson of the athletic I think we're going to see more of the same in this game I wouldn't be surprised if they take some more shots because you got to do it at some point and it is Northern Illinois so I do think that they're going to push the ball downfield a little bit but I hope that they don't do what they did against Marshall in 2022 because if you remember Notre Dame played a very conservative offensive game against Ohio State and they really tried to Chuck it deep against Marshall they threw a bunch of passes downfield and it did not work out Tyler Buckner went one of seven passing past 20 yards against Marshall they really tried to force it it didn't work and now obviously by Leonard is a better quarterback than Tyler Buckner in the wide receiving core on this year's team is much better than um the receiving core in 2022 and they can still be effective moving the ball downfield without having to force it I don't think they're going to but I hope they don't try to make a statement and say oh well just because we didn't throw the ball down field a lot in the opener doesn't mean we can't do it and try doing it a bunch keep it reasonable throw it to your wide receivers out in space get that screen game going Notre ran the screens pretty effectively against Texas A&M I think they're going to rely on that against Northern Illinois as well also pretty simple one third key for the Irish offense don't beat yourself just cut down on the penalties please I talked a lot about it with Luke Smith yesterday uh in yesterday's show that applies to the defense as well but seriously cut down in the penalties please all right now let's take a look at Northern Illinois's offense going up against Nots defense so Northern Illinois did put up over 700 yards of total offense against Western Illinois but if you listen to yesterday's show you know that Western Illinois is the worst team maybe ever honestly I know that might seem hyperbolic but they are legitimately awful go look at their track record 0 And1 obviously this season they finished 0 and11 last season in the FCS and they lost every single game by multiple touchdowns three touchdowns was their smallest margin of defeat last year so this team is terrible I am not impressed by Northern Illinois 700 yards of offense against that team Ethan Hampton won their quarterback battle he played perfectly I guess against Western Illinois but again that's like playing a High School JV team he came into the season with nine touchdowns to eight interceptions I think Notre is going to get a couple interceptions off him because he actually did have one pick in that last game their best player on offense is number one their running back Ontario Brown he's a senior he rushed for nearly 1300 yards last season and 10 touchdowns First Team all Mac last year they also have an Iowa transer running back named Gavin Williams he's a decent player can also go out there help you out in the passing game as well out wide there's really just one wide receiver to keep an eye on he's number three Trayvon Rudolph he led the Huskies in receiving last season with 51 catches 531 yards but just two touchdowns they've got a decent tight end 81 Grayson Barnes he led the team in receiving touchdowns with five now their offensive line is really interesting because they lost their best player their Center he transferred to Louisville and they had a tackle who finished First Team all ma last year who graduated but they bring back three starters from last year plus a guy who started every game in 2022 he just missed most of last season and these guys have a ton of experience they have three different players who have played over 2,000 snaps in their careers according to Jamie uyama from Irish Sports daale my ke in the notame defense show up I mean I know I'm joking a little bit there but honestly just show up and you should be able to dominate this offense not is one of the best defenses in the country Al golden is going to prepare the same way he does for Northern Illinois that he does for every other team on the schedule he's going to make life hell on the opposing offense but specifically not needs to dominate the line of scrimmage and sell out to stop the run they have a good running back they have a veteran offensive line but Notre front seven should still get the better of them because they are bigger they're more athletic and they are just better at football our Northern Illinois wide receivers are not going to get open on Notre secondary it's just not going to happen so they are going to confuse them in the passing game but the only way that Northern Illinois could have any semblance of success on offense is if they get the Run game going if nor is able to stop that they should be fine my last key for the Irish defense watch out for trick plays seriously watch out for trick plays on every single play they need to stay disciplined I already mentioned what Idaho did against Oregon that is how they put points on the board and teams are going to run trick plays in games like this when they are clearly overmatched and Notre him has to stay disciplined and not fall in to that trap remember that Wake Forest game last year they got Notre Dame uh defense a few times and trick plays I think it was all in one drive they went down the field and scored so Notre Dame needs to learn from that they cannot allow trick plays to kill them in this game especially if their offense is struggling a little bit early on which I think is definitely a possibility but Notre defense should absolutely dominate this Northern Illinois off offense I think they will but if you shut down the Run game and you prevent trick plays they are going to pitch a shutout it's just a matter of staying disciplined and making sure that doesn't happen Okay coming up next we're going to take a quick look at the Special Teams matchup and then I'll share my predictions for the game today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel You' have heard me talk a lot about FanDuel America's number one sports book but right now we 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breakdown of Northern Illinois special teams probably not so I'm going to make this brief but we still got to cover it because as we know on this podcast special teams it's the third of the game and when I look at and I use special teams I will I will say that it is not a strength of this team Canon wood Canon Woodle is there I think that's how you say it he was 11 of 17 on field goal attempts last season 9 of 12 from within 40 yards which is still not that great but he was two of five from 40 plus so this guy does not really have a great leg he also missed an extra point in the season opener Tom Foley is their punter he had a weak punt of uh 32 yards in the opener he only averaged 40 yards per attempt last season so Notre Dame is definitely going to have the advantage in the kicking game Dean Partridge is their returner he actually did take a punt return back to the house last season so I guess he is capable but I am not worried about him doing that against Notre Dame I feel very good about Notre Dame special teams unit especially after the season opener I mean shout out to money Mitch man when he committed to Notre Dame in the transfer portal I felt like that was a huge get and then there were some concerns about him in the offseason like he wasn't being very consistent in practice and I was like that feels odd because he's only missed two field goal attempts in his career in games and then he showed you why Notre Dame went out and got him when he went three for three against Texas A&M that was awesome he was a very very critic itical component of notrees win I also expect James Rell the Aussie punter to have a little bit of a bounceback game as he gets more comfortable being the punter for this team in American football I think we might get a boot in this game we're like oh my God what was that I also hope that we finally get one of those muff punts because Texas A&M was probably ready for it I don't know if Northern Illinois guys are going to be ready for that weird punt action coming from James Rell so going to just get ahead of myself here on the predictions I think that Northern Illinois muffs a punt Notre Dame recovers It Anyway back to the Special Teams before we get to the rest of the predictions Notre Dame only had one chance to return a kick against Texas A&M they almost took it to the house I know it doesn't look like that because Jane Harrison ended up getting tackled pretty quickly but I noticed it on the rewatch someone missed a kickout block but if he had blocked it correctly Harrison might have been gone so another prediction I have maybe not for this game but for the season Jane Harrison is absolutely going to return two kickoff returns for a touchdown I could have just said said one that probably would have been the safe play I mean he was an All-American last year at Marshall urning kicks I think he's going to get two this season I honestly believe it I have trust in Marty baji to get it done I mean jarian price got one last season so why can't Harrison get to okay prediction time so I like Notre to win but not to cover I'm predicting a final score of 27 to6 and I know some people are going to give me crap for picking such a low scoring game that's not really that that great 27-6 only three touchdowns against Northern Illinois it's a Mac team but until Notre Dame proves that they can avoid a let down particularly under Marcus Freeman I am going to assume it will happen to some degree Northern Illinois is not ever going to have a chance of winning this game and I don't think they are going to move the ball at all on this defense it's just not possible but I just don't think that Notre Dame is going to fix all of their issues on offense in one game I just don't see that happen I really hope that Notre doesn't run Riley Leonard at all because he took some shots against A&M and they need to protect him at all costs going forward so that is one positive aspect of their offense that I think they're going to shy away from they are going to lean on their running backs they're going to work the ball to the wide receivers and they're going to make some plays no doubt but I expect there to be a little bit of a struggle early on Riley Leonard even said after the Texas A&M game he's still getting in sync with the wide receivers and that's going to take some time I don't expect that to be all figured out by week two this is an experienced secondary they're not going to beat themselves and even though Notre is the more talented team they're the better Coach team they need to come out and be ready to play and I'm just not sure that it's going to happen because as I said human nature is undefeated and there's just no way this team can be up and ready to go in the same way that they were against Texas A&M now if notame comes out and they dominate from the jump I will be so happy to be wrong and I will be so thoroughly impressed by the makeup of this group it's it's not easy to bounce back after such a tough game especially one on the road in that heat and then stay locked in to go up against a Max school at home if they do I will feel that much better about the rest of the season because even though I think Notre Dame is going to be favored in every game except maybe the USC game now prior to last week I said well yeah they're going to be favored against USC but the way that they looked against LSU and the fact that it's a home game maybe USC ends up being favored by a small margin there there are some tricky spots I not schedule where they could slip up if they don't come ready to play I mean Florida State I'm ruling that out they're horrible Georgia Tech could be tricky maybe even Miami of Ohio like there are some potential trap games but if notame comes out in this game and they Dominate and they show hey they're going to prepare that hard and that intensely every single week then it's a WP like notame is going to go undefeated and they might cruise to it right but that's not normally how things work because these are college kids that we were talking about 18 to 22 years old I guess now 24 years old right because with the transfer portal and the eligibility the co year of Eligibility and all that they're a little bit older but still they're young and I think this is a great opportunity for Marcus Freeman to show that he's got a full handle on his team and he has learned from those past mistakes they were not ready to play against Stanford in his first year they were not ready to play against Marshall those are weak teams now he figured that out in year two but this is a new test for him and it's an opportunity for him to show that hey no matter who the opponent is he's going to have his team locked in and ready to go I like how he mentioned in his Monday press conference that Jim Trester called him about 10 minutes before it started and said hey remember stay locked in because when everything seems all as well it's really not it's an illusion I definitely butchered the exact uh phrase there by Jim Trestle but I like that Jim Trestle is planting that seed in Marcus Freeman's head and I hope that Mark strean takes that to heart preaches that to his team and the players accept it because it might not mean much at all on the national stage but this is an important game for Notre I really believe that and Saturday is going to show a lot about how this team conducts itself in practice I'm a little nervous it might be a little ugly but I'm really excited to watch the Irish run out of the tunnel in Notre Dame Stadium on Saturday that's going to be a lot of fun I'm hopeful that this team does come out and dominate and I would love to be wrong and I know that if I am wrong odds are you are going to enjoy telling me and that's really the fun of this right I have a lot of fun doing this when I'm right when I'm wrong whatever unless I'm wrong and then not ends up losing that's not nearly as fun but that is going to do it for me today thanks again for making lockdown Irish your first listen end of the day Big Show tomorrow I already mentioned it you're not going to want to miss it Tim Omi from Irish illustrate is going to make his return to talk about his Impressions from week one How the Irish can avoid a letdown on Saturday and what lies ahead for the rest of the season Tim is one of my favorite guests it has been a while since he's been on the show so I'm looking forward to that the best way to make sure that you don't miss tomorrow's episode or really any other episode for that matter is to subscribe on YouTube or wherever you're listening to the podcast also remember get those mailbag questions in doing a Friday mailbag every single Friday the rest of the season starting uh I guess starting last Friday but I'm going to have another one ready this Friday drop in the YouTube comments send them in on social media also for your second listen check out the locked on college football podcast with spencec mclocklin and I'll see you tomorrow same time same place