The Anti-Preview: Notre Dame Fighting Irish VS California Golden Bears

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish are in a world of hurt right now as they welcome the California Golden Bears to South Bend. Notre Dame’s 0-2 start is particularly ugly this year because of our expectations, and the entire vibe that was created during the offseason. There is no path to the playoffs, and it will feel like a miracle if Notre Dame wins 9 games this year.

So this is a really big weekend for the Irish. We should plan accordingly.

What should you be drinking?

Seeing Marshall fans celebrating inside Notre Dame Stadium was pretty awful. For whatever reason, it made me think of an Old Style commercial — and now you can too.

What should you be eating?

In truth — whatever won’t kill you if something happens to make you puke. Having said that... Taco VS Burrito is always something fun, and a topic I keep bringing up over and over again. Whatever.

What should you be wearing?

It’s a green out. Break out the green shoes. (BTW... I’ll be out and about Friday night in Ft. Wayne so the same message applies).

The Odds

According to Draftkings Sportsbook, Notre Dame is an 11 point favorite over Cal with an OVER/UNDER of 40.5. The moneyline is sitting at -450 for an Irish win.

Odds/lines subject to change. T&Cs apply. See draftkings.com/sportsbook for details.

Haiku

Yep... we HAVE to bring it back. I’ll drop one and then you can drop one (or more) in the comments below. Limericks are more than welcome too.

The Irish might suck,
What are they even good at?
Names are on jerseys

(JFC that was dark).

3 reasons to hate Cal

• Notre Dame has lost a number of weird recruiting battles to Cal over the last 15+ years.
• This weird program gets to claim Marshawn Lynch.
• They’re really good against the spread with Justin Wilcox as the head coach.

Helmet Stickers

• Drew Pyne. This is Drew Pyne’s offense now. If Notre Dame is going to do anything at all for the remainder of the season, it all starts with the offensive line Drew Pyne has to start surprising people.
• TaRiq Bracy. Until further notice, Bracy is the best Irish defensive player on the roster.

At the end of the day...

I honestly feel like any prediction is valid here. We really have no idea what we’re about to witness. Let me cozy up to the side of optimism, and say the Irish win the day, Notre Dame 32, Cal 17.