Passing Attack the Key
UHND.com - Frank Vitovitch
September 1, 2000

Notre Dame, Ind - Notre Dame is a day away for kicking off its 2000 season against the Texas A&M Aggies and to me the key to winning this game is simple for Notre Dame - have success early in the passing game and they will win. Texas A&M might be thin up front because of injuries, but their starters are still strong and capable of stopping Notre Dame early if they put eight men in the box.

Texas A&M has a very good starting front seven.   They are very capable of shutting down Notre Dame if they come out running up the middle often on the first few series.  However, if Notre Dame comes out firing and hits some big passing plays, they will loosen the Texas A&M defense up.  Then as the game drags on Notre Dame will be able to exploit A&M's lack of depth up front and grind away with the running game.

Arnaz Battle needs to hit some passes early if for nothing else but for confidence reasons.  Doing so will also force Texas A&M to respect the passing game which opens up the running game.  Notre Dame is talented enough at wide receiver to beat A&M deep early on Saturday. 

If Notre Dame decides to run the ball and try to control the pace of the game early and Texas A&M shuts them down, Battle along with the rest of the offense's confidence will diminish.  On the other hand if Notre Dame comes out facing an eight man front and Battle hits David Givens for a long touchdown Battle's confidence will be through the roof and the pre game jitters will be gone.

Another key to victory will be whether or not Notre Dame utilizes its talented tight ends.  Jabari Holloway and Dan O'Leary are both extremely talented receiving tight ends.  Arnaz Battle can also use them to gain confidence.   In college football, the tight end is usually open and both O'Leary and Holloway are capable of making people miss in the open field and breaking tackles. 

Importance of this game
This game is in many ways much more important than the Nebraska game or any other game this year.  Notre Dame has not won a game since last October, the last time they beat a ranked opponent was in when they beat Oklahoma last season, and a loss the first game of the year will have fans in an up roar.

If Notre Dame wins this game, Arnaz Battle and this young team's confidence will be sky high for the Nebraska game.  If Notre Dame can win this game comfortably will also help the Irish's chances heading into the Nebraska game as well as the rest of the first half of the season.

This game will set the tone for the season and a loss would be devastating.  With Nebraska coming to town with a very powerful team Notre Dame needs all the help it can get heading into and a win over Texas A&M is a good start. 

This game will also give everyone a clue as to whether Bob Davie will be back next season.  If Notre Dame losses and looks sloppy in the process Davie's head coaching ability will be in doubt ever more so than before.   Unlike past seasons, everyone on this team (except the 5th year seniors) will have been recruited by Bob Davie.  Any lack of talent this season can not be blamed on Lou Holtz.

The bottom line is this game is a MUST win for Notre Dame.  This game should be treated as a bowl game for Notre Dame because if they lose this game their bowl chances won't be looking good.  Even though this is only one game, it will set the tone for Notre Dame's early season gauntlet.  Heading into first half of the season 0-1 will hurt the team's confidence since beating Nebraska after losing to Texas A&M becomes very unlikely.

Prediction
I think Bob Davie and staff realize the importance of this game and that they will have their boys ready.  That being said I am going to pick Notre Dame in this by a score of 31 to 17.  I think Notre Dame goes deep early and then pounds away at A&M's thin front line for the win in front of what I am hoping will be a raucous home crowd.