College football action on Saturday evening and we will see a pair of Independent teams square off as the BYU Cougars invade Notre Dame Stadium in South Bend, Indiana to grapple with the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. The Cougars enter this game off of a 38-26 home win over Utah State to move to 4-1 on the year. Notre Dame comes in off of a 45-32 road win over North Carolina, which puts them at 2-2 on the young season. These teams last met in 2013 and the Irish won that game at home by a score of 23-13. Notre Dame leads the all-time series 6-2.
The BYU Cougars are off to a fast 4-1 start with their only loss being 40-21 against Oregon on the road. BYU played Utah State at home last week and they were favored by 25.5 points in the contest, but they hardly looked the part of a huge favorite. Yes, BYU won the game, but by just 12 points and they outgained the Aggies by just seven yards. Perhaps the Cougars were looking ahead to this game. Still, this is a very dangerous team and they will look to make a statement with a huge win over a less than inspiring Notre Dame Team.
BYU was very average on offense against the Aggies as they put up just 400 yards of total offense in the contest, including just 120 yards on the ground. BYU is just 72nd in rushing, but they could get their ground game going against a Notre Dame team that has not been great against the run this year. The real bread and butter of the BYU offense is their passing game which ranks 24th in the na tion at 293.2 ypg. Against the Aggies, Jaren Hall threw for 274 yards with three TDs and no INTs and has now thrown for 1438 yards with 12 TDs and just one INT on the season. He will have a solid test against one of the better secondaries in the nation in this one, which makes it more imperative for the ground game to get rolling.
The Defense has been average overall as they are 72nd in points allowed, giving up 26.4 ppg on the year, but the Cougars are 41st in total yards allowed and 18th against the pass. They have struggled against the run (92nd) and the Aggies ran for 205 yards on them. That could be an issue here as the Irish are a better running team than a throwing team. If Notre Dame can get their ground game going, then their passing game could have against showing against this BYU secondary that has played very well so far.