Tag: Notre Dame vs Vanderbilt

Notre Dame edged a tougher than expected Vanderbilt with a bizarre fumble by Vandy on the ND one yard line on a play that just missed being called down. Yeah it’s a win, but man does that feel like a loss to me.

ND started early and actually ran the ball – and the OL blocked. It was ND 16-3 at the half. ND was blanked in the 3rd quarter and was held to 6 in the 4th. Vandy was a foot away from upsetting the Irish.

Wimbush had 84 yards rushing followed by Tony Jones who had 118 yards.

Overall the ND Defense played very well especially LB Tranquill and the secondary.

The ND OL finally decided to block rather than watch so ND amassed 245 Rushing yards.

The Vandy QB passed for 328 yards.

In the Michigan game ND had 3 second half points in the second half and settled for 6 against Vandy. Somewhere down the line this ND team is going to be blown out against a team that starts fast and doesn’t fold in the 3rd quarter.

Wake Forest is a noon game which we should worry about.

Here are the game highlights:

Here is the post game Brian Kelly interview:

**Reminder** – The game starts at 2:30 EST on NBC.

“We play in the SEC – I don’t worry about going to South Bend” sayeth Vanderbilt HC Derek Mason. This is Mason’s 2nd year having coached Defense at Stanford so he knows Kelly’s Offensive tendencies.

Vandy is 2-0 having defeated:

• Middle Tenn. State: 35-7
• Nevada: 41-10

If Ball State was not in awe of ND, Vandy sure as hell won’t be.

Their Offense is led by QB Kyle Shurmur, son of NY Giants HC Pat Shurmur – so he’s basically a gym rat. He’s a control QB completing 67% of his passes.

He is almost the same type ob QB as former ND QB Tommy Rees. He won’t get rattled. Vandy has good RB’s and receivers and an effective OL.

On Defense, they held 2 opponents to a combined 17 points.

Due to the coaches background, Vandy will be very similar to Stanford.

So Vandy won’t fold and they are better than Ball State. They want to contain Wimbush forcing him to pass and stay in the pocket and bring a ferocious pass rush to get into Wimbush’s head.

ND wins by a FG

Notre Dame 23 Vandy 20

Here is the Brian Kelly pre game press conference: