Notre Dame Football: Reassessing North Carolina as a Trap Game

Back in the dog days of summer, I discussed possible trap games on Notre Dame’s 2014 schedule. There were multiple options that met most of the criteria, but nearly every sign pointed to Saturday’s home game with North Carolina (3:30 p.m. ET, NBC) as a game where the Irish could get caught in a lack of focus.

Last week’s opponent, Stanford, was expected to physically test the Irish. It did.

Next week’s opponent, Florida State, was expected to be undefeated and ranked No. 1. It is.

So yes, the Fighting Irish are vulnerable Saturday afternoon. Of course, there are two sides to every story. Is North Carolina (2-3, 0-2 ACC) good enough to push Notre Dame in South Bend?

For a preseason Top 25 team, North Carolina has severely underachieved in the first half of the season. The Tar Heels won their first two games but were taken to the wire by San Diego State, an average Mountain West team. They’ve been non-competitive in their three defeats, losing by an average of 20 points to East Carolina, Clemson and Virginia Tech.

Their uptempo spread offense, for which head coach Larry Fedora was hired three years ago, has been highly inconsistent. A fast, athletic defense has been shredded for 50 points twice in the past three weeks.

Fedora can’t decide on a quarterback, as junior Marquise Williams and freshman Mitch Trubisky are again expected to both see the field this week. They've combined for 11 touchdowns and seven interceptions while completing just 59 percent of their pass attempts.

But, we were saying similar things about the Tar Heels last year, when they were sitting at 1-5. By season’s end, they had won six of seven games and routed Cincinnati in the Belk Bowl. They could’ve called it a season in mid-October, but they battled back and finished respectably.

As I explained before the Purdue-Notre Dame game, when the Irish were four-touchdown favorites after defeating Michigan but trailed late in the first half, we’ve seen this time and time again with Brian Kelly’s teams. A big win leads to a slow start the following week, regardless of opponent.

It’s a habit that, while not unique to Notre Dame, the Irish have struggled to kick. Any coach will tell you that he can’t get the identical level of effort out of his team for 12 straight games. Unlike most teams, however, Notre Dame rarely plays a team that is simply overmatched from the start.

That’s one of many challenges that Kelly has taken on at Notre Dame that he could avoid elsewhere. He’s been able to navigate those waters in terms of end result, but not without some significant scares (see 2012 BYU and Pittsburgh).

Despite a 17-point spread, North Carolina is capable of competing and perhaps even winning in South Bend. It probably won’t happen, but a quick study of both history and human psychology will tell you that the Irish will likely find themselves in a battle for much of Saturday’s game.

Notre Dame could render its magical escape against Stanford insignificant with a poor performance a week later, and it would certainly take much of the luster off of next week’s trip to Tallahassee.

But that’s the challenge in a sport that doesn’t allow for an off game, especially at Notre Dame. Don’t be fooled by North Carolina’s play leading up to Saturday. An Irish team with even the slightest absence of focus could find itself unexpectedly needing a second straight week of Notre Dame Stadium magic.