Who picked Notre Dame? College GameDay predictions for Irish vs. Duke
For the second week in a row and the 36th time in since the show’s inception in 1993, ESPN’s College GameDay is at the site of a Notre Dame game. The No. 11 Fighting Irish (4-1) are on the road facing No. 17 Duke (4-0) in what is being billed as the biggest game in Wallace Wade Stadium history.
Rece Davis, Desmond Howard, Pat McAfee, “Stanford” Steve Coughlin and Kirk Herbstreit broadcasted the show from Duke’s campus in Durham Saturday morning. Of course, the legendary Lee Corso was present for a headgear pick as well. A week after putting on the Brutus the Buckeye mascot head to correctly pick Ohio State to beat Notre Dame, Corso put on his Irish outfit and did an Irish jig with the Notre Dame leprechaun mascot.
Davis and Herbstreit are calling Saturday’s 7:30 p.m. ET game on ABC, so they couldn’t make predictions. Coughlin picked Notre Dame while Howard and McAfee picked Duke. Celebrity guest picker Ken Jeong, a Duke graduate, picked the Blue Devils.
Notre Dame is a 5.5-point favorite to hand the Blue Devils their first loss even though the home team is undefeated and led by one of the top dual-threat quarterbacks in the country. Riley Leonard has completed 67.7 percent of his passes for 778 yards and 2 touchdowns. He has also run for 238 yards and 4 touchdowns.
The Irish counter with 24-year-old signal-caller Sam Hartman, one of the best pure passers in the sport. Hartman is completing 70.4 percent of his passes and has already gone for 1,236 yards through the air with 14 touchdowns and 0 interceptions. He now holds the Notre Dame record for the most touchdown passes without throwing an interception to begin a season.
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Duke beat Hartman when he was at Wake Forest last season. Leonard had a big game in going 29-of-41 for 391 yards with 4 touchdown passes and 1 interception. Hartman was 26-of-42 for 347 yards with 3 touchdowns and 1 interception. Leonard threw the game-winning 20-yard touchdown pass with 2:04 left. Hartman threw his INT less than a minute later to effectively end the game.
Ohio State quieted Hartman to the tune of just 175 passing yards and 1 touchdown. The Irish aren’t concerned with Hartman’s production or what happened last year Durham, though. He’s going to be a threat to put up successful numbers every time he steps onto the field. The main issue for Notre Dame is going to be fully getting over blowing a late lead in a three-point loss to the Buckeyes in a defeat that came with 10 players on the field for the Irish on Ohio State’s final two plays from scrimmage.
Duke and its fans aren’t going to make it easy on the Irish. With GameDay in tow as their appetizer and a full day of tailgating ahead of them, they’ll be fired up and ready to go like never before.
