Only one game into the season, some differences between Notre Dame and USF are easier to spot than others. The most glaring one is that the Irish stopped the run against Duke, while the Bulls had their way on the ground against The Citadel. Something will have to give in South Bend on Saturday. And as mentioned earlier this week, the Irish will have three prominent Bulls running backs to defend against instead of one or two.
USF probably won’t have three more turnovers than Notre Dame like it did in its opener. That top-ranked passing efficiency against likely won’t stand, either. It’s going to take something completely unexpected for the Bulls to shut down the Irish offense this successfully. That would be something along the lines of the Irish being forced to use their all of their third-string guys because everyone good got sick or injured overnight.
You don’t even need to look at these numbers to know the Irish’s chances of a loss are slim. The numbers will paint a more complete picture as we get deeper into the season. That being the case, it’s fortunate that the equivalent of a MAC team has been scheduled this early. Let’s save the real analyzing for the ACC.