Now Hold on Just a Second...
The year is 2021. The month is September. Wearing alternate uniforms at an NFL stadium, the Irish have a disappointing first half against Wisconsin, holding a one possession lead. Notre Dame scores a non-offensive touchdown and open the floodgates to a 41-13 victory.
The year is 2026. The month is September. Wearing alternate uniforms at an NFL stadium, the Irish have a disappointing first half against Wisconsin, holding a one possession lead. Notre Dame scores a non-offensive touchdown and open the floodgates to a 41-13 victory.
Perhaps there are more crazy parallels between the two games. I'm not really here to dive super-deep into numbers looking for them--that part of my writing is done and dusted (or at least that's what I'm telling myself). What I am here to is talk about the biggest difference between these two games.
In 2021, Notre Dame faced a questionable QB at best in Graham Mertz. 4 INTs, two of which turned into pick sixes, sealed the Badger's fate that day after Chris Tyree's amazing kickoff return TD to start the fourth quarter.
This time around, Luke Fickell completely rebuilt the plane and found a QB that can recognize the difference between red and navy blue (sidenote: love a color on color matchup--the gold shiny numbers could be rough under the lights, but I'll allow it to play off the shiny silver numbers Wisconsin trotted out). The Badgers looked like the down & dirty (complementary) offense they've been known for, throwing body blow after body blow at Notre Dame's defense, already down a couple impact players.
Notre Dame did what so many great college football teams do: took the best shot an underdog had, and let the talent gap shine after some halftime adjustments.
The interception happened because the Irish pash rush finally found their way through. The anemic running game in the first half damn near had a 100 yard rusher. C.J. Carr didn't light the world on fire, but put in a solid effort finding nine different Irish receivers, including Nolan James Jr. juking half the Badger secondary out of their jocks, knees, ankles, and perhaps even more body parts still needing recovery.
Remember being terrified of field goal kicking? Here's Spencer Porath booming a 52-yarder like it was nothing, having a perfect night (2/2 FG, 5/5 XP).
More Irish defenders go down in the game? No worries, the second string could start damn near anywhere in the nation. Oh, and by the way, we still have Leonard Moore out here making a bonkers tackle through a stiff arm and Adon Shuler may just kill a man.
Doubts crept in during the first half, but Marcus and company made damn sure there would be none at the end of the night.
That doesn't mean I don't have some questions going forward. Here are some off the top of my head:
