North Carolina vs. Notre Dame Odds

Written by Jason Lowry

This weekend the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame will look to continue their impressive start to the season when they head to North Carolina to take on the No. 22 ranked Tar Heels. The Irish (4-1) have already won more games than they did all of last season, and last week they took care of business at home against Stanford wining 28-21. On the other hand the Tar Heels (4-1) have had just as good of start, and after beating then No. 24 UConn last week 38-12, the Tar Heels made their way into the top 25 for the first time this season. Both teams come in with the same record, but the oddsmakers are favoring the Tar Heels at home by 7 points over the Irish.

This will be only the 2nd game for the Irish on the road, and their lone road game against Michigan State didn’t go so well, as the Spartans beat up on them 23-7. Since that beating quarterback Jimmy Clausen has went off throwing for 622 yards and 6 touchdowns in the last 2 games, including a 347 yard performance last week against Stanford. Its a good thing Clausen has it going through the air, as the Irish really haven’t been to effective on the ground. Armando Allen and Robert Hughes continue to share the load out of the backfield, but they have got just two touchdowns a piece out of this combo. With Clausen airing it out all the time receivers Golden Tate and Michael Floyd continue to reap the benefits. The Irish offense better be ready to go this weekend against a tough Carolina defense.

The Irish defense continues to play pretty solid week in and week out, but just like the offense struggled on the road so did the defense. Last week the Irish held the Cardinals to just 7 points through 3 quarters, but then gave up two early scores in the 4th quarter to make it just a 7 point game. Overall though it might have been one of the Irish’s best performance this season, as they had 3 interceptions, forced a fumble, and had 5 sacks. The key for the Irish this week will be stopping the run game of the Tar Heels and make them beat them through the air.

The Tar Heels continue to roll this season with what looks like the best team the Tar Heels have had in a while. After suffering a tough loss to Virginia Tech by 3 at home, they went and took care of business on the road against the Hurricanes, and last week against a very good Connecticut team. It looks like Cameron Sexon is the man the Tar Heels will stick with at quarterback, and though he isn’t ask to do much, he has done a pretty solid job so far, including throwing for 117 yards and a score last week. The real story of the offense was the play of running back Shaun Draughn, who ran it 19 times for 109 yards and a score. The running game also got a boost from Ryan Houston who punched in a 1 yd score early on, and had a big 35 yard scamper as well. The key for the Tar Heels this week, will be getting that run game going against the Irish, and putting together some solid drives to ware down the Irish D.

The North Carolina defense has been tough, and they too might of had one of their best games of the season last week, as they took it to a Connecticut team that had been averaging over 33 points in their last 3 games. Not only did the Tar Heels get a touchdown on a block punt in the 2nd quarter, but Marvin Austin joined in on the fun when he returned an interception 23 yds for a score. Anytime you get 14 points from your defense you better win the football game, and the Tar Heels did just that. The Tar Heels forced 3 picks last week, and will have to bring it this week when they try and stop the passing attack of the Irish, who have shredded defensives of late.

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