Every week at any level of football is the biggest week of the year and this Saturday is no different for the Irish. They welcome in defensive coordinator Marcus Freeman’s former team, the No.9 ranked Cincinnati Bearcats.
It presents yet another ranked opponent in front of Notre Dame, this one at home. The Bearcats come in confident, especially fourth-year starter Desmond Ridder. He enters the contest with tons of experience and a winning resume. Over his four seasons he’s guided Cincinnati to a 34-5 record while throwing 64 touchdown passes to just 22 interceptions. Ridder has played in plenty of big games on the road and this one won’t phase him at all.
He told Cincinnati TV sports reporter Brandon Saho that Notre Dame Stadium “shouldn’t be loud for too long.” Clearly Ridder is implying that not only will the Bearcats play well, but they’ll silence the crowd early with their play.
🗣 Desmond Ridder isn’t worried about the noise pic.twitter.com/7ycWai4NO8
— PFF College (@PFF_College) September 30, 2021
I love the confidence but Ridder doesn’t have to play against the soon to be raucous fans. He’s going to have to go against Isaiah Foskey, Kyle Hamilton, JD Bertrand, the Ademilola brothers, Cam Hart and the rest of the Irish defense. His focus should be on them, not the crowd. Ridder is just adding fuel to the Irish’s fire, and a defense that saw turn a huge corner against Wisconsin last week.