Notre Dame Football: Will Maryland or Boston College Upset the Irish?

Notre Dame passed the first of its three November tests against ACC teams when the Irish beat Wake Forest 24-17 last Saturday in less than convincing fashion.

Regardless of how mediocre Notre Dame looked in beating the Demon Deacons, the fact is that the Irish are now 6-3 and still have the chance of running the table and finishing the season with double-digit wins.

The big remaining game on the schedule is, of course, the Thanksgiving weekend showdown with No. 4 Stanford on Nov. 26. But before that matchup, the Irish have two more battles with ACC teams: Maryland this weekend and Boston College on Nov. 19.

The Terrapins and the Eagles are both 2-7 on the season, and neither of them have shown much fight this year.

From a talent standpoint, Notre Dame holds an advantage over each team on both sides of the ball, and statistically, these two teams rank near the bottom of the ACC in both total offense and total defense.

Still, just because these two opponents are having rough years, that doesn’t mean that the Irish can come out and play sloppy, mediocre football and still expect to roll to victory.

Maryland has given teams like Clemson, Georgia Tech and West Virginia a run for their money this year. If the Terrapins actually show up to play, and if they’re actually more concerned about the game than what they’re wearing, they can be a very dangerous team.

Given the fact that Notre Dame will hit the road again for the second consecutive week and have to make the trip to Landover, Maryland for this Saturday’s game also has to be taken into account.

Now, it's true, there’s no reason that Notre Dame shouldn’t be 8-3 when the Irish head to Stanford on Thanksgiving weekend. But considering Maryland and Boston College can play with nothing to lose at this point in the season, Brian Kelly better make sure he has team motivated and has his players taking these next two games seriously. Or else, they might experience yet another setback in a season that's already been full of them.