Notre Dame vs. UMass Complete Game Preview
SOUTH BEND, Ind. — After an early-season trek filled with three wins in a variety of ways and a slew of injuries, Notre Dame football hosts UMass on Saturday in what, on paper, could be a helpful reprieve for a wounded squad.
The Irish throttled Texas, slipped past Virginia on the road and dominated Georgia Tech with a terrific defensive performance Saturday. Now they welcome the Minutemen, who are only in their fourth season at the FBS level after transitioning from FCS.
UMass dropped its season opener to Colorado, 48-14, on the road two weekends ago and almost clipped Temple on Saturday before falling, 25-23, at home.
“If our guys continue to improve like they did from Week 1 to Week 2, it gives us a chance to be a good football team,” UMass head coach Mark Whipple said.
“They had Temple beat,” Irish head coach Brian Kelly said of UMass. “Temple is a team that's already beaten Cincinnati and Penn State. So that's a quality football team. … So we are going to have to play well, because this is a team that can beat you. There's no question.”
Date: Saturday, September 26
Time: 3:30 p.m. ET
Place: Notre Dame Stadium in Notre Dame, Indiana
TV: NBC
Radio: IMG College Sports, SiriusXM Channel 129
Spread: Notre Dame by 28.5, according to Odds Shark
Notre Dame Keys to Victory
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Protect the Football
On paper, Notre Dame shouldn’t have too many issues with a UMass team that limped to three wins last season against MAC stalwarts Kent State, Eastern Michigan and Ball State.
But a surefire way to keep a team around is to cough up the football. Before quarterback DeShone Kizer lobbed his second-quarter interception into the end zone, Notre Dame hadn’t committed a turnover since the second quarter of last season’s loss to USC—a stretch of more than 230 game minutes.
Georgia Tech turned the interception into an 80-yard touchdown drive, and if not for a missed field goal, the Yellow Jackets could have added another three points off an Irish miscue when freshman tight end Alize Jones fumbled before halftime.
Bring the Defensive Attitude
Facing a triple-option offense, in many ways, is a unique undertaking. Notre Dame will only face such an offense one more time this season when it clashes with Navy next month.
But after they stymied Georgia Tech’s high-powered offense Saturday, clamping quarterback Justin Thomas and owning the Yellow Jackets on third downs, Irish players spoke of some of the items that can be carried over, even against traditional offenses.
“I think the biggest thing we’re taking from this game is our attitude,” junior defensive end Isaac Rochell said. “We wanted to win and we knew we had to dominate up front, and we did that. We have to keep building on that attitude we’ve kind of established.”
Sophomore linebacker Greer Martini mentioned the grit and toughness with which the Irish defense battled against Tech’s offense, and defensive back and captain Matthias Farley noted his unit’s confidence. There’s more to defensive growth than those intangibles, but those are certainly starting points for a defense to step up the rest of the way.
“We were pretty aggressive defensively [against Georgia Tech], which I think will help us coming back this week against UMass,” Kelly said. “I think that’s very, very important.”
UMass Keys to Victory
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Limit the Mistakes
Asked what a win over No. 6 Notre Dame would mean for his program, Whipple joked UMass would merely improve to 1-2. The head coach added he’s in “bunker mode” trying to figure out how to get a first down against the Irish.
In many ways, it does start that simply for the Minutemen. As a four-touchdown underdog on the road, UMass cannot afford to hurt itself with mistakes—penalties, turnovers and blown coverages, to name a few.
“They don’t have any weaknesses,” Whipple said. “We have to be on point. You can’t give them anything easy.”
The Minutemen fumbled four times—only losing one—and tossed one interception against the Owls on Saturday. UMass has also committed 16 penalties for an average of 78 penalty yards per game so far this season, a weekly average that ranks 111th in the country, per CFBStats.com.
Flush the Temple Ending
A two-point loss to a talented Temple team may not offer only motivation and confidence for the Minutemen, considering the way UMass lost.
After embarking on an eight-play drive to score the go-ahead touchdown with one minute, 20 seconds remaining in regulation, Temple blocked the extra point and returned it for two points, setting the stage for a game-winning—rather than game-tying—field goal.
“It feels like it's deja vu a little bit with those situations where it is almost unbelievable how it unfolds,” UMass quarterback Blake Frohnapfel told reporters Saturday. “I'm a redshirt senior so my time here is running out, but I think for these younger guys who have years left in this program, they'll learn from these times and they can help build from it. We said that later in this year, we're going to have the same situation happen and the next time we'll take care of it."
Whipple said, naturally, he expects his team to be excited for a marquee matchup with Notre Dame but noted he thought the same for last season’s late-September trip to Penn State, which ended with a 48-7 beatdown at the hands of the Nittany Lions.
“I’ve gotta get our guys motivated and kind of get the Temple game out and, certainly, it would be a big win for us,” Whipple said.
Notre Dame Players to Watch
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DeShone Kizer
In his first career start at Notre Dame, redshirt freshman quarterback DeShone Kizer completed 21 of 30 passes for 242 yards, one touchdown and one interception.
“It was my first week as a starting quarterback,” Kizer said after Saturday’s win. “That was my first bus ride over as a starting quarterback. It was my first week of school as a starting quarterback. To get all that behind me, to see how it feels to be a quarterback at the University of Notre Dame, it's going to help me immensely next week and when we continue to go into different atmospheres like Clemson in two weeks, have my first rivalry games, things like that.”
In assessing Kizer’s performance, Kelly said the Toledo, Ohio, product did “some pretty good things.” Kelly credited Kizer with managing the offensive protections and making solid reads in the running game. Kizer could have been more accurate, Kelly said, and his end-zone interception was “a big one.”
“Completely my fault,” Kizer said of the interception, a result of him misreading Georgia Tech’s bracket coverage on Irish wideout Corey Robinson. “A freshman mistake out there. We talked about it on the sideline and moved forward. That's the way you have to go about it.”
What strides will Kizer make with his first start tucked beneath his belt?
Max Redfield
Starting junior safety Max Redfield did not play in Saturday’s win over Georgia Tech, a two-pronged product of his hand injury and Tech’s option.
“Elijah [Shumate] played very well, and [Redfield] was in a backup position because of the option, and then his hand, we obviously didn't play very well the week before with it, so that's what put him in a backup position,” Kelly said.
Kelly said the staff will likely have a conversation with Redfield, assess how his hand, which has necessitated a cast in recent weeks, feels and see how he fares beginning with Tuesday’s practice.
With sophomore safety Drue Tranquill lost for the season with a torn right ACL suffered just before halftime Saturday and with fifth-year safety Avery Sebastian (fractured foot) still a few weeks away from returning, Redfield’s status and ability is worth monitoring for the Irish.
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UMass Players to Watch
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Blake Frohnapfel
UMass graduate student quarterback Blake Frohnapfel threw for 393 yards and three touchdowns in the loss to Temple. The former Marshall signal-caller is coming off a 2014 campaign in which he racked up 3,345 passing yards and 23 touchdowns, both of which ranked among the leaders in the MAC.
With less than three minutes to go in the fourth quarter and with his team trailing Temple, 20-17, Frohnapfel led UMass on an eight-play, 59-yard drive to put the Minutemen (briefly) ahead of the Owls.
Jovan Santos-Knox
Senior inside linebacker Jovan Santos-Knox led the conference with 143 tackles last season—the eighth-most in program history—and landed on the watch lists for the Bednarik, Nagurski and Lombardi awards entering 2015.
He paced the Minutemen with 11 tackles, three tackles for a loss and a sack against Temple on Saturday after a six-stop effort against Colorado.
Santos-Knox will be tasked with leading a front seven against Irish running back C.J. Prosise, who has piled up 451 rushing yards through three games for Notre Dame.
What They're Saying
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“Certainly, we can’t afford to lose any more players at key positions.” — Irish head coach Brian Kelly, who mentioned quarterback and running back in particular.
“Drue Tranquill was a very important player in our back end of the defense because of his versatility. So there is a break point. We are still at a point where we have guys that can come in and step in, but there’s no question that we have to be able to stem the tide here with these injuries.” — Kelly after announcing Tranquill is out for the season with a torn ACL. Tranquill is the sixth Irish player to suffer a season-ending injury since August.
“I think first and foremost, getting back into the routine that you kind of lose, your practice routine. I think I mentioned last week, you don't go against each other. So just getting back to that routine that's very, very important that they are used to. So we have to get back to it right away on Tuesday.” — Kelly on avoiding a post-option defensive hangover
“We want to get him in as soon as we can, because as I said, eventually he's going to have to get in the game; so the sooner, the better.” — Kelly on true freshman quarterback Brandon Wimbush
“For me, it's always putting together a game plan that fits to the quarterback’s liking and at whatever level they are at in terms of the playbook, they know half of it, all of it, picking the things that they really have a comfort with.” — Kelly when asked about his success with backup quarterbacks
“I'm glad our defensive coaches didn't think he could backpedal really well, which kind of looks silly right now, doesn't it? So much for our evaluation process. Yeah, he's an outstanding athlete, and he'll do anything for the team. That's why it's great to see the success that he's having.” — Kelly on running back C.J. Prosise, who began his career at Notre Dame as a safety before shifting to slot receiver and, now, running back
“I don’t know what to say anymore.” — Kelly on Notre Dame’s six season-ending injuries
“You pretty much got to throw it up for him. He's going to come down with it. You throw it high, he's going to jump a spectacular way and get it.” — Irish quarterback DeShone Kizer on star wide receiver Will Fuller
“Jaylon Smith is a top-10 pick in the NFL. He can rush the pass. He can drop. He can play coverage.” — UMass head coach Mark Whipple on Notre Dame’s standout linebacker
Prediction
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Notre Dame has never played an FCS opponent, and the Irish do have a truly challenging schedule, littered with Power Five opponents.
But Notre Dame gets its breather this week against the Minutemen.
Expect Prosise to find success behind Notre Dame’s experienced offensive line, setting the tone for the Irish to improve 4-0.
The Irish will have plenty of reason beyond injuries to dip into their depth Saturday.
Notre Dame 38, UMass 13
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