Notre Dame vs. Army: A Key College Football Showdown

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00:00Another great game tonight inside Yankee Stadium where an

00:06undefeated team is yet again a double-digit and more than two

00:11touchdown underdog. That is the 9-0 Army Black Knights taking

00:16on number six Notre Dame. The lone loss against NIU but

00:20outside of that coach, they have been a wagon this year.

00:24Fourteen and a half points spread in favor of the fighting

00:27Irish. If Army stays in this game, how close can they keep

00:30it? I don't think they'll keep it close enough at the end of

00:35the game. Now, I have some background here. I played Army

00:37last year and the year before. I also played Army when I was in

00:41Auburn. So, I see them playing inferior teams. I see them

00:44playing power five teams and there is a difference and I

00:48think that's the reason Notre Dame with their talent will

00:50eventually pull away. Now, this quarterback is something

00:53special. You can't look at Navy because they turned the ball

00:56over six times. That's an outlier. It doesn't apply here.

00:58I don't think Army will turn the ball over. Army, if they

01:01can make a lot of third downs and fourth downs because they'll

01:03go for it and not turn the ball over, they can keep it close

01:07but the talent level is too much for Notre Dame. The

01:09differences in these two teams will be the offensive and

01:12defensive lines. Notre Dame ought to be able to match the

01:15smaller players off the ball and on defense, the key to

01:18stopping the option is to get penetration. Make things happen

01:21in the backfield because they want to do all that faking and

01:24misdirection and that's what Notre Dame will be able to do.

01:26So, Notre Dame will pull away too much talent and the talent

01:29will be and they'll cover. Coach, if Army is to

01:33potentially pull off the upset, how important is it for them

01:37to dictate the tempo and score first in this matchup?

01:41Oh, they've gotta score first and control the clock. That's

01:45exactly right. If they can score early and move the ball

01:48and keep the ball on offense for long periods of time, the

01:51longer this game stays close, the more nervous it gets. I

01:54know, I was beating Army way back when I was at Auburn by

01:57about 30 points and then they kicked the field goal almost to

02:00win the game at the end. So, Army needs to get ahead, need

02:02to control the ball and keep Notre Dame's offense off the

02:05field. So, they must control tempo. They don't run the

02:09hurry-up offense but they run a misdirection, one step ahead of

02:13the defense type of offense. And so, if they can do that and

02:16hit a couple of big pass plays, they throw it better than they

02:19used to. If they can get a couple of big plays, don't turn

02:21it over. They're gonna keep that ball, their offense on the

02:25field.

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