Welcome to BP, we always value opposing team fan input and overall you will find it pretty hospitable to legit fans like you that provide the insight that you are providing. Plus there is a lot of interaction between our fanbases and others that come on here, we actually have numerous posters that regularly come here even after our game is over.
I have read through the posts in here and have watched a decent bit of ND's games in anticipation of the upcoming match. I am really impressed by Hartman tbh and think he is a massive improvement over your QBs last year. If he has some time, he can tear you apart. The WRs and TEs for ND from what I can tell are not lethal, but good enough to get the job done if Hartman gets protection. At least that is my take, obviously you have watched way more than I have.
Your running attack is what scares me the most. Estime is a stud and Alt, Correll and your RT all seem pretty dang good. We have struggled at times on stopping the interior run and that is against subpar opponents, so if we don't step it up inside it could be a long night for us. We have a very talented DL, but for some inexplicable reason we have issues stopping interior runs where we need to get off the field. That is really the concern I have is death by a million cuts, which ND is perfectly capable of doing to limit our possessions...ND has the blueprint for that after our first 3 games, our defense looks good on the stat sheet until you factor in time of possession.
To the point above, our back 7 on defense looks good. Our LBs are among the best unit in the country, Eichenberg and Chambers are absolute studs. Our secondary became a problem late last year against good competition, so not quite convinced how the stack up...but Western Kentucky has a really good passing attack and our secondary really did a great job against them. Our best CB is Denzel Burke and after a sophomore slump last year, he looks amazing and is in the hip-pocket of a WR every play. But overall, the secondary has looked really good and also deep.
On offense, we are frankly loaded and the OL has got better every week, albeit that your DL will be a huge step up in competition. Our LT is still a big question mark in my eyes and you guys will probably try to exploit him. Our interior OL is very good and I have confidence in our RT, but the OL as a whole only seemed to come into common language last week, so I don't think any OSU fans are completely sold on the OL until we see it get tested. Our RB position group is deep and talented if the OL can get them a crease...specifically, Henderson is looking electric and coming back into form, he is a guy that if he gets past the first level he is gone or at least gets a huge gain with his speed.
McCord at QB looks to be settling in and I think we just went vanilla the first 2 games on offense (and partially in the last game) to not give ND too much film. Our skilled positions are stacked beyond imagination, but this is the first big game under the lights on the road for McCord and the OL needs to prove itself against good competition. I have watched plenty enough football to know that can lead to a less than ideal performance. Your secondary looks pretty good, so it will be a test for sure but even if ND focuses on Harrison and Egbuka, there is still Fleming, Stover, Ballard, Tate, etc. that would be a premier WR/TE for most programs...so I would imagine the game plan would be to pressure McCord at all costs to not let him have time to get the ball out.
To your original question of are we confident in getting a win, I think collectively we are cautiously optimistic (or at least I am). On paper we are very talented and if we play to our talent level, then I would say we win by 10-20 points. If we don't play to our potential, then I see a loss. As @Jaxbuck said, this is the biggest opportunity to beat us given all the considerations above. Both sides may have been holding back a bit in showing too much before this game, so I think both sides are unsure of what is going to happen Saturday night.
That said, can't wait for this game and Go Bucks!
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