Game One: Notre Dame Vs. Nevada

Colin Kaepernick.

The name that Irish fans will have etched into their memories by the end of the day Sept. 5. The name that will burst forth from the loudspeakers at Notre Dame Stadium all day. The reason that Nevada has a chance to upset the Irish.

The Wolfpack's junior signal caller holds a host of Nevada records, and has been noticed nationally by being one of a handful of quarterbacks ever to throw for more than 2000 yards in a season while also rushing for 1000. He narrowly missed joining Tim Tebow in the 20/20 club (20 TD's rushing and passing).

Kaepernick is fast and can throw. He runs Nevada's spread option offense the way Rich Rodriguez wishes his recruits at Michigan could he will be responsible for roughly 75 percent of the total Nevada offensive tally. And he will put points on the board.

The burden of stopping the Nevada attack will fall mainly on the linebackers and safeties of the Irish, as the Wolfpack employ more of a misdirection rushing attack with a lot of option, counter, and trap plays. There is little straight ahead rushing until they have sufficiently worn their opponent down.

Kaepernick lives outside the pocket, running bootleg after bootleg, often optioning off the halfback before rolling, then opting to throw or run depending on how the outside linebacker plays.

He is slippery, fast, and agile, and by the end of the day, Irish fans will be sick of hearing his name.

The Irish defense will have it's hands full trying to contain the Nevada offense.

The good news for Irish fans is that for all it's point scoring firepower, Nevada is one of the weaker defensive units that the Irish will face this year. Their secondary is a sieve that has yielded large yardage sums regularly.

In 2008, the Wolfpack allowed an average of 311 yards per game passing, along with 32.3 points.

If Kaepernick will keep the Wolfpack close, the defense will prevent them from winning it.

Notre Dame's receiving duo of Floyd and Tate along with TE Kyle Rudolph should haul in passes early and often and roll up a large yardage tally against the Nevada secondary.

Also key for the Irish is keeping the turnover margin in the positive. Interceptions can kill you against a team that can control the football and sustain drives. Last year the Wolfpack showed that it will fumble the football, putting it on the ground 21 times while losing 15.

The secondary made some amends for it's lack of coverage by picking-off 16 passes to net a turnover margin in the positive, if only by one.

Irish fans expecting a blow out victory should avoid the television, as this should be anything but. If the Irish are what they are expected to be, they should pull away late. If they are at all looking past, they could find their stay in the top 25 very brief.

In the end, look for Notre Dame's offensive weapons and improved ground game to be too much for the Nevada defense to contain.

Notre Dame 37

Nevada 21