Notre Dame is simply trying to survive at the moment as they hold on to a No.8 ranking. Injuries have been running wild on the team and last week was no different. Last week Malik Zaire went down with a broken ankle that has ended his season early. Now the team will be relying on DeShone Kizer who will make his first start with the team traveling to face the No.14 Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets on Saturday.
Notre Dame is coming off a a win over Virginia that did not offer much confidence in the team. Outside of the quarterback injuries, the defense struggled and gave up 388 yards and 21 first downs after the first quarter. That is troubling considering they are preparing to face the second-leading rushing offense and top ranked scoring team as Georgia Tech averages 67 points a game. Georgia Tech has been putting up 457.5 yards per game in their first two matchups which could make for a long day for the Irish.
Georgia Tech will lean heavily on Justin Thomas who has been thriving this season. Last week the team had 13 players carry the ball as they run the triple offense. Coming off a successful 2014 season, Georgia Tech has all of the confidence against the highly-ranked Irish which could get them the big win.
Notre Dame has a lot of questions to answer. The defense looked poor against Virginia. Joe Schmidt, Jaylon Smith and Drue Tranquill simply did not play well and often looked confused while missing assignments. That lack of focus could destroy the Irish against the complicated triple option. The defense will be key heading into Saturday with questions surrounding the offense and the quarterback.
"If you're lost out there, you can be the greatest athlete in the world and if it doesn't make sense to you, you can be a liability trying to defend the triple option," Notre Dame defensive coordinator Brian VanGorder said, via ESPN.com.
Kizer did what he could last week. He came in and went 8-of-13 for two touchdowns which should give fans some confidence. Kizer will lean heavily on the team's playmakers to try and bail him out if things go wrong.
