Notre Dame Football: Fighting Irish Can't Overlook Air Force

Notre Dame is actually looking good after those two ugly losses to start its season and drop it out of the AP Top 25 polls.

The Irish have a huge match against a solid USC team coming up on October 22, but they cannot underestimate their opponent this week, the Air Force.

The Irish have a bye after the Air Force and will have plenty of time to prepare, so I don’t think it will be a problem. However, you never know with such a young team that seems to have problems with mental focus at times.

Back in 2007, the Irish lost 41-24 to the Falcons, and the team needs to avoid another upset like that if they want to make a good bowl game and prove their doubters wrong.

The Air Force is coming off a huge win over Navy in overtime that not too many people saw coming.

The Falcons are a team that loves to pound it on the ground, and they are third in the nation in total rushing yards and 17th in points for. They have a pretty solid defense too, allowing just 28.3 per game while putting up 38.5 themselves.

Notre Dame is more than capable of beating them and is favored by over two touchdowns in the game.

The Irish need to make sure they stay focused and continue to work their balanced attack while playing suffocating defense.

Notre Dame was able to go an entire game against Purdue without a turnover, and it really paid off for the team. They won handily, 38-10, and proved their rushing defense was legit.

The only thing that could really kill the Irish this weekend is special teams play and somehow forgetting how to defend the rush.

I don’t see either of these happening but you never know with this crazy 2011 Notre Dame team.