The Anti-Preview: Notre Dame Fighting Irish VS Vanderbilt Commodores

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish are no strangers to a Tennessee version of football. Two of Notre Dame’s greatest players over the past couple of decades were from the 16th state of the union in safety Harrison Smith (Minnesota Vikings) and wide receiver Golden Tate (Detroit Lions). The Irish have a pretty strong history (albeit short) of playing the Tennessee Volunteers, and have even played the Vanderbilt Commodores a couple o times during the last years of Lou Holtz.

The wonderful @phillykelly

Notre Dame even has a bowl victory in Nashville when they beat the LSU Tigers in the Music City Bowl. YAY US!

Having said all of that, and with all due respect to our new pen pals at Anchor of Gold... This is not the game we were looking for. When Jack Swarbrick talked about adding SEC teams to the schedule, my first thought was “YES MORE GAMES AGAINST TENNESSEE.” There’s a history there, and call me crazy for wanting to expand that history a bit more.

I’ll just leave that there — ON TO THE ANTI-PREVIEW!

WHAT SHOULD YOU BE DRINKING?

There will be a theme here... it’s a 2:30 game (and yes, against the South).

THE BLOODY MOLLY

• 35ml of Jameson Original
• 5ml of dry sherry
• 150ml of tomato juice
• 2 dashes of Worcestershire Sauce
• ½ tsp of celery salt
• 1 twist of black pepper
• 2 dashes of tabasco
• ½ tsp of horseradish sauce
• ½ tsp of sugar
• Garnish with celery, tomato and prawn

Hand-blend 35ml Jameson Original, 5ml dry sherry, 150ml tomato juice, 2 dashes Worcestershire Sauce, ½ tsp of celery salt, 1 twist of black pepper, 2 dashes of tabasco, ½ tsp of horseradish sauce, ½ tsp of sugar in a jug or bowl. Serve in a tall glass over ice. Garnish with a piece of celery, a cooked prawn and a cherry tomato.

WHAT SHOULD YOU BE EATING?

Because of the early start... yep, 2:30 has its consequences.

BISCUITS AND GRAVY

Please enjoy this video of a poor man’s Ron Jeremy cooking up biscuits and gravy on a houseboat. For real... this shit is about as Tennessee as it gets.

WHAT SHOULD YOU BE WEARING?

One thing that the SEC does really, really well beside playing football is looking good in the stands (most of them). For many, it’s a chance to look classy AF y’all, and with a sunny 83 degrees being in store (full weather report later) for Saturday, you should have a wide variety of options.

Don’t fuck this up. Look good y’all.

KEY(S) TO THE GAME

Notre Dame has to stop playing this game of reacting to the defense. We also have to stop pretending that Brandon Wimbush is a blanced quarterback. He’s a dominant running quarterback, that if they game plan it right, can make enough good throws to help the offense put up a lot of points.

• Better offensive line play
• Throw less than 20 times
• Defense needs to be more aware on 3rd down (otherwise — you be you).

AT THE END OF THE DAY...

It would be foolish to just throw everything we saw in the Ball State game away as just some random hot garbage. This team has flaws, but it’s also the same team that beat the Michigan Wolverines. Vanderbilt won’t come into this game intimidated (much like Ball State not being scared. Notre Dame will have to jump out early to point the confidence arrow in their direction.

I think the Irish get back to doing what they do best and that’s running the football with Wimbush and his running backs. The defense gets inspired as Clark Lea takes on his alma mater and they bring the hammer (and possibly get a score themselves).

Notre Dame 31 Vanderbilt 13

Twitter @ndmspaint