Notre Dame vs. Miami (Fl.)
Notre Dame has had issues at quarterback and those issues could hurt the Fighting Irish in this game. Freshman Tommy Rees has been pretty good since regular starter Dayne Crist went down with a knee injury. His lack of experience is going to be a challenge to overcome in part because of the great Miami pass defense. A lot of Notre Dame’s passing offense is based around moving receivers around to create match-up problems. However Miami’s secondary is pretty deep and can match-up well against spread offenses like the one Brian Kelly uses. Notre Dame’s biggest weapon in the passing game is Michael Floyd, who relies heavily on his size and speed to succeed as a playmaker. Miami has the corners that should be able to neutralize those key skills. Ryan Hill and Demarcus Van Dyke are both big corners who can cover Floyd in red zone situations, neutralizing the height advantage, while Brandon Harris can run with Floyd between the 20s. Rees needs to be able to take advantage of the attention that Floyd gets and spread the ball around to numerous receivers. That’s going to be a problem if the Notre Dame offensive line can’t at least slow Allen Bailey and company. Bailey leads a talented Miami defensive line that helped the Hurricanes defense rack up 37 sacks on the season. Even if they can stop the front four, Miami does a good job blitzing and has enough confidence in their secondary to leave their receivers in one-on-one coverage. How Rees handles this pass rush is going to go a long way to determining the winner of this game. One thing that the Notre Dame coaching staff can do to help ease that pressure, is keep the running game going with a certain amount of consistency. While main running back Armando Allen is out, Cierre Woods and Robert Hughes have worked well as a combo. Woods is fast and Hughes is a physical, downhill runner that can keep the Miami defense off-balance and keep the pressure off of Tommy Rees. However, for this to work Notre dame’s offensive line still needs to be able to control the Miami defensive line.
Miami’s quarterback situation is not much better than Notre Dame’s. Jacory Harris is getting his first start in several weeks and while has the arm strength to make plays down the field, he also has a tendency to sail the ball, leaving it up for grabs. It was this tendency that led Miami’s coaching staff to leave him on the bench after he recovered from a concussion. He’ll be helped by the running game, which is split between a four runningbacks, most notably Greg Cooper and Damian Berry. Though none of the runningbacks who are likely to get carries in this game are players you should be terrified of, Cooper and Berry are tough runners who can help wear down the clock when the time is right. The real threat on the Miami offense is Leonard Hankerson. He is the first Hurricane wide receiver to have double digit touchdown catches since the great Michael Irvin and he has big play ability. The offensive coaching staff likes to move him around the formation, finding match-ups they like that will allow him to make big plays. It makes it difficult to roll coverage toward him, but Notre Dame will clearly be focused on keeping him contained and forcing Harris into throwing ill-advised passes.
Prospects to Watch
Notre Dame
Michael Floyd – Wide Receiver: Floyd came into this season as one of the best wide receiver prospects in the country. Given the inconsistency and inexperience at quarterback this year, he proved that he is certainly worth that kind of praise. He has excellent measurable, with the exception of long speed. Sadly, Floyd falls into the group of receivers who are faster than most college secondaries but not fast enough to consistently beat NFL coverage. That being said, he still has great hands and enough speed to challenge the secondary deep if they leave him uncovered. His size can help create mismatches on smaller corners and in the endzone, but he’s not the type to catch the ball and make a defender miss. He is also willing to go over the middle, but he isn’t a great blocker so teams that favor the run may not give him a chance. He has had his fair share of injuries, but he has also fought back from them to produce consistently. Should he declare, he’ll likely go somewhere between rounds 2 and 3.
Miami (Fl.)
Allen Bailey – Defensive End/Tackle: Bailey reminds me of former Hurricanes defensive end, Calais Campbell. He is highly productive as a defensive end, using a variety of power moves to get into the backfield and be disruptive. He has experience playing both on the edge and along the interior and is a disciplined run defender. However, like Campbell, he is a defensive end/defensive tackle tweener, size-wise. He is too big and not fast enough to be a regular 4-3 defensive end (let alone a 3-4 outside linebacker) and too small to be a regular defensive tackle. But also like Campbell, he can fit into a defensive line rotation, probably start as a 3-4 defensive end if he adds some bulk. His experience and power are difficult to ignore, however he’s probably going to slip to the second round because of his size.
Final Pick
Notre Dame – While I’m not confident in Tommy Rees, I’ll take a freshman quarterback who has been playing consistently the past few weeks, over a rusty veteran like Jacory Harris.
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