Kirk Herbstreit reveals how Duke can defeat Notre Dame on Saturday

Kirk Herbstreit believes he knows the recipe to success for Duke against No. 11 Notre Dame on Saturday.

While it’s been the Riley Leonard show leading into the matchup, the ESPN College GameDay analyst predicted it’ll come down to the Blue Devils defense, and whether or not they can control the line-of-scrimmage on Saturday night.

“I think the story, as much as Riley Leonard deserves to get attention, the quarterback for Duke, I think it’s the Duke defense in this case,” theorized Herbstreit. “Notre Dame is big and athletic upfront. Their offensive line does a great job of winning the line-of-scrimmage. That’s been a strength of Duke’s. Duke doesn’t have the size that some of these bigger programs have, but they make up for it with quickness and movement and different ways of attacking the line-of-scrimmage. They’re going to have to do that, I think, in order to stay in this game. Keep this crowd in this game. Beat them. Continue to play with the energy that they’ve played with all year.

“I think the big thing to remember with Duke, is the fact that they opened their season at home and beat Clemson. I think (that) got them to really believe that they can pull off wins like this. It’s no longer hoping. They really think that they can win, and beat teams with that big brand.”

Regardless, Duke football — Duke football — is the talk of the college football world on Saturday. If they can add a victory over Notre Dame to their resume, there’s no telling how high the Blue Devils can climb in 2023.

Mike Elko explains why hosting College GameDay moves Duke ‘into a different stratosphere’

Continuing, Mike Elko took over at Duke last year, and the Blue Devils were coming off a 3-9 record and an 0-8 mark in ACC play. He turned things around quickly to the tune of an 9-4 record in year one and a 4-0 start to this season.

That fast improvement has helped put Duke in the national spotlight. The Blue Devils kicked off the season with a huge upset of then-No. 9 Clemson at home, and they’ll have another opportunity to shake up the AP Top 25 on Saturday against No. 11 Notre Dame. That game will also take place on the big stage with a 7:30 p.m. ET kickoff and with College GameDay in Durham for the first time.

Elko knows how important that is for Duke and what it means for the national perception of the program.

“Obviously, it’s huge,” Elko told Roddy Jones on Sirius XM. “I think that show is recognized by the masses of college football. And for Duke to get an opportunity to host it for the first time so quickly, obviously, vaults our program into a different stratosphere a little bit from a prestige standpoint, from how recruits view us, from how people are looking at us. 

“I think it gives us an opportunity to get on a national stage again and showcase this program. Hopefully, we go out Saturday and do that the right way.”

On3’s Nick Schultz contributed to this article.