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For more on Notre Dame Football, check out One Foot Down, SB Nation's Notre Dame blog. For more on the Bulls, check out Voodoo Five, SB Nation's South Florida blog.
Notre Dame Fighting Irish Head Coach Brian Kelly spoke to reporters Tuesday afternoon in preparation for their season opener Saturday afternoon against the South Florida Bulls. He opened up with some general comments about their opponent, as well as their Head Coach, Skip Holtz:
South Florida is going to be a great challenge for us. I think it starts, when you talk about South Florida, with their head coach, Skip Holtz, who has done a very good job in a short period of time. I think everyone needs to understand that he has great experience as a head coach. When he was at UConn, starting a program that was non-BCS, bringing it up, then obviously East Carolina, always playing up to his competition, now it's South Florida. I think a lot of publications have picked them to be a BCS team.
So, again, if you look at it, it starts with Skip Holtz and, you know, what he's been able to do as a head coach, you know his football team is going to be ready to play, especially coming back to Notre Dame. Certainly the athleticism, in particular as I mentioned B.J. Daniels, and then defensively having experience back, especially in the back end of the defense. You always feel good about that in your opener, that you have experience in the defensive backfield.
Earlier in camp, Kelly mentioned that his team was the most focused he had coached during his career. Have they been able to maintain that high level of focus, or are they starting to get antsy, with gameday so close:
We were locked in pretty good yesterday. I think we've taken breaks at the right time for our team not to be stale mentally, and I think those breaks have allowed us to have a lot of energy in our practices. I thought we had our best day yesterday, again, the other reason why, is it was our second break in five days, so they're looking better getting in and out of their breaks, just from a physical standpoint.
Both B.J. Daniels of USF and Denard Robinson from Michigan, the Irish's second opponent, are dual-threat Quarterbacks. How are the Irish preparing for these guys?
Well, I think, you know, when you're dealing with a quarterback that is a dual threat and we're talking about his ability to run, you have to go over all those things that put the ball in his hands, whether it be option, read option, sprint out, you know, break and contain, all those things have to be part of your defensive preparation.
So we've become accustomed to having that within our defensive game plan, because of last year, but we spent obviously a great deal of time in making sure that we have answers to defend the run portion of a quarterback.
It could be a number of different ways, but that's important against South Florida. Everett [Golson] and Andrew [Hendrix] certainly assist in that preparation, both of them helped us this week in preparing for B.J. Daniels, because they're both guys that you have to defend as it relates to running the ball.
Of course, Holtz's father Lou had to come up at some point, seeing as how he was a legendary Head Coach under the Golden Dome. When he finally did, Kelly had a humorous response:
Is he related to Skip?
You can watch the entire press conference, listen to a podcast version, or read the transcript. The Irish and Bulls kick off at 3:40 ET Saturday at Notre Dame Stadium.
Preview: No. 16 Notre Dame Fighting Irish Vs. South Florida Bulls
While many of College Football's elite will have little more than a warm-up game this weekend, the same cannot be said for the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame. The Irish open up their season Saturday afternoon at home against an up-and-coming program, who just happen to have a Head Coach with a familiar last name. The South Florida Bulls will make their first trip to South Bend, led by ND alum Skip Holtz, son of legendary Irish Head Coach Lou Holtz. It's the first ever meeting between the two schools.
For the first time since 1993, Notre Dame enters a season after winning its final four games, something unimaginable to most Irish fans after the heartbreaking 28-27 loss at home to Tulsa last year, only days after the tragic death of student videographer Declan Sullivan. ND ripped off wins against #14 Utah, Army, at USC, beating their hated rival for the first time since 2001, and a Sun Bowl victory over a former hated rival, Miami, to finish 8-5 on the season. The resurgence came on the backs of a stifling defense, who had a stretch where they gave up just one touchdown in over 17 quarters, and it was a 4 play, 2 yard TD drive by USC.
The Bulls had an identical 8-5 record to the Irish in 2010, which included a Meineke Car Care Bowl victory over Clemson 31-26. Arguably their biggest win of the season came in Miami, where they defeated the Hurricanes 23-20 in Overtime, but they also had conference wins on the road at Cincinnati and at Louisville. USF clearly has no trouble going into opposing stadiums and pulling out wins.
When Notre Dame has the ball...
Much was made of the Quarterback competition held in Training camp this season between Senior Dayne Crist and Sophomore Tommy Rees, which Kelly announced last week was won by Crist. He's coming off his second season-ending knee surgery, suffered in the first quarter of the Tulsa game. Determined to play his senior season, he rehabbed the knee well enough to participate in Spring practice, and played in the annual Blue-Gold game. Even though Rees was a perfect 4-0 as a starter, Kelly feels his best option is Crist, and he hopes the senior will be under center, or more appropriately in the shotgun, for the entire season.
The Bulls will have their hands full with ND's biggest threat on offense, WR Michael Floyd. The assignment to try and stop Floyd will fall on the shoulders of Senior Quenton Washington, who has missed just one start over the past two seasons. The Irish aren't terribly deep at receiver behind their All-American candidate, with Sophomore TJ Jones and Junior Theo Riddick getting the start. USF's secondary is very experienced, returning both starting safeties from a year ago, Jon Lejiste and Jerrell Young, as well as Kayvon Webster, who has started 10 games in his career. The Bulls will have to slow down an Irish passing attack, which will be utilized quite often on Saturday.
The Irish return four starting Offensive Linemen up front, with Junior Chris Watt the only newcomer at LG. They'll be tasked with both protecting Crist in the pocket, as well as creating holes for ND's Running Backs, a very thin position in terms of experience. Junior Cierre Wood will get the start, as he averaged over 5 yards per carry last season. Senior Jonas Gray will also see the field often, as he's the only other Irish player to rush the ball in his career before Saturday. Look for Freshmen Cam McDaniel and George Atkinson to get a carry or two in the flow of the game, just to get their legs under them, and to see them in game action.
USF's front seven only returns three starters from 2010, with only one of those on the Defensive Line, Junior Cory Grissom. Sam Barrington and DeDe Lattimore will anchor the Linebackers, along with Freshman Reshard Clientt. These guys will be tested up front against the experience Irish linemen, but this looks to be a distinct advantage for Notre Dame.
The key for Notre Dame will be the establish the line of scrimmage, and start to wear down the inexperienced front four of the Bulls. Look for Floyd to have a safety shadowing him the entire game, so there's the potential for one of those other two WRs, or TE Tyler Eifert, to hit big plays on the opposite side of the field from Floyd. The Bulls will need their veteran secondary to step-up huge if they want to win.
When South Florida has the ball...
USF is led by third year starting Quarterback B.J. Daniels, who as we alluded to earlier, is a threat both with his arms, and with his legs. He completed 56% of his passes from a year ago, and has scored 17 touchdowns running the ball in his career. Tasked with protecting Daniels will be an offensive line with only two returning starters, G Jeremiah Warren and C Chaz Hine, both starting for their third season now.
It won't take long for those new starters to be tested, as the Irish's Defensive Line is by far their deepest and best unit on the field. DEs Kapron Lewis-Moore and Ethan Johnson are both on the watch list for the Hendricks award, given to the nation's top DE. Add in NT Sean Cwynar, the anchor of the defensive line that played so well to finish the season last year, and that's just the start of ND's depth. Their second team line has yet to play a snap in college, but they are one of the most talented groups to come to Notre Dame in years: Freshmen DEs Aaron Lynch and Stephon Tuitt are monsters already at age 18, and "Irish Chocolate" Louis Nix III has slimmed down from his 2010 weight of around 365 pounds to a svelte 325, looking to increase his stamina.
The Bulls Wide Receiving group will feature only one start from 2010 between the three of them, but that number is a little deceiving. Both Senior A.J. Love (19 career starts), who tore his ACL in spring practice last season, and Sophomore Sterling Griffin (10 career starts, who had a season ending ankle injury in the offseason before the 2010 campaign, return to the lineup after a year absence. While both are experienced, neither has been in a live game in over 20 months, so they may be a bit rusty early in the game.
The Irish secondary, while not as deep as they'd like, is loaded with experience. Senior Safety Harrison Smith, a Sports Illustrated Preseason All-American, leads the way after intercepting seven passes a season ago, including three in the bowl win against Miami and the game clincher at Southern Cal. He's joined by fellow seniors Gary Gray and Robert Blanton at CB, and Senior Jamoris Slaughter at the other safety spot. Beyond these four, however, the Irish are very green, with only Junior safety Zeke Motta having any significant game action. Look for Sophomore CB Lo Wood to see significant time as the Nickel, trying to slow down the Bulls passing attack.
You also can't mention the Notre Dame defense without mentioning the other All-American candidate, Junior ILB Manti Te'o, who was 10th in the nation last season in tackles, and looks to improve even more from his first two seasons. Also on the inside of the 3-4 alignment is Junior Dan Fox, who beat out returning starter Carlo Calabrese for the job next to Te'o. Both guys should see time Saturday.
On Special Teams...
The Irish return Lou Groza award finalist David Ruffer, whose only FG miss on the season came in the Sun Bowl against Miami. In the return game it will be, to quote Coach Kelly, "Theo Riddick, Theo Riddick, Theo Riddick". He even said that Riddick would get some time off as a WR if needed to make sure he's fresh on Special Teams. Kelly hopes that his playmaker can make something happen on kickoff and punt returns, something the Irish had trouble with all last season.
USF Kicker Maikon Bonani is quite accurate himself, hitting 81% of his Field Goals a season ago, and 76% for his career, including a 49 yarder. Junior kick returner Lindsey Lamar is one of the more dynamic returners in the country, averaging over 26 yards a return last year, including two touchdowns, and was a first team All-Big East selection in the return game. Sophomore Terrence Mitchell will once again return punts for the Bulls, where he averaged 11 yard per return in 2010.
Keys to the game...
Like the old cliche goes, the game will be won in the trenches. The Irish hold a significant advantage in experience, returning 7 of their 8 starters on both lines, while the Bulls only return 3 of their 9. If the young Bulls can hold their own against the Irish lines, they will be in the game until the very end. The return game will be key for USF, where they hopefully can use their speed to get better field position, making their drives much shorter. Michael Floyd may be bottled up for most of the day against a pretty good USF secondary, so look for those other receivers to make an impact if the Irish are to win.
South Florida is being picked by several college football analysts to win the Big East this season, so this is clearly not an easy win for the Irish. With a trip to Michigan looming next week, it would be easy for the players and coaches to look past this game. However, I don't expect this to happen. Kelly has stated this is the most focused team he's coached in his career, and they know the task at hand. They've given the Bulls the respect they most certainly deserve, and will be ready for up-tempo style they run. With Kelly's background in the Big East, he has seen some of these players before, including QB B.J.Daniels, which gives him a slight edge over Holtz, who clearly has many ties to the University, can't say the same about any of the players suiting up in the blue uniforms Saturday. The Irish defense will give up some yards, but finding the end zone will be a tough task for the Bulls. Look for ND to pull away with a late touchdown, making the score a little more lopsided than what the play on the field would indicate.
SB Nation Indiana Prediction: Notre Dame 27, South Florida 16
Aug 31 9:00a by Matt Grecco