Vanderbilt Three Keys: Notre Dame

Three-keys-Vanderbilt

Vanderbilt visits Notre Dame on Saturday in South Bend, Ind. Here are your three keys to a Commodore victory over the Irish.

By Don Yates

It’s Notre Dame, So what?

When LSU did their walk through of AT&T Stadium in Dallas before beating Miami, Ed Orgeron told his players, “Look around. You see a football field. It’s the same size as our practice field.” The Commodores can’t get too caught up in the Irish history. Vandy’s players should look at this game like any other. It’s always fun to go on a road trip, especially to new venues. However, the Notre Dame players put their pants the same way as everyone else. The football field there is the same size as Vanderbilt’s field. Vandy needs to not be in awe of the Irish.

Pressure Wimbush

The Word of Life mural by Millard SheetsNotre Dame QB Brandon Wimbush is a duel threat quarterback. Over his career he’s completed 168 of 333 passes for 2,354 yards, 17 touchdowns and 10 interceptions. This season in two games he’s 29 for 53 for 467 yards for a TD and 4 interceptions. As you can see, he’s an interception liability and Vanderbilt needs to exploit that fact. Stop the run and force passes. Deskized blitzes and multiple defensive looks can confuse Wimbush and force him to throw to the wrong folks.

Strong Running Game

Ball State ran for 169 yards against the Irish last week. If BSU can get 169 on the Irish, Vandy should be able to gain at least 200 yards. A strong Vandy running game will help keep the Commodore defense rested and wear down Notre Dame’s defense, setting up Vandy for second half success. Besides, it’ll be neat to see Khari Blasingame, Ke’Shawn Vaughn and Jamauri Wakefield dancing around in the end zone.

This is a game Vanderbilt can win. The Commodores are probably as healthy as they have been all season. Things look good but it all comes down to making plays on the field.

Saturday’s game kicks off at 1:30 pm CT. TV: NBC.

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