ESPN Makes Its Camping World Bowl Prediction
We've spent the last month providing you with bowl projections, but now we know where Notre Dame will be playing to conclude the 2019 season, and we know who the Irish will be playing.
Now it is time to start analyzing that opponent, the Iowa State Cyclones. Irish Maven will have its final prediction much closer to the actual game, but ESPN already has made its prediction for the game, and it's good news for Notre Dame fans.
ESPN senior college football writer Adam Rittenberg predicts that Notre Dame will beat Iowa State by a 31-23 score. Here is what Rittenberg wrote about the game:
The coaching matchups here are fascinating, as Brian Kelly leads Notre Dame against Iowa State and Matt Campbell, who would be on the short list to succeed Kelly in South Bend. Defensive coordinators Jon Heacock (Iowa State) and Clark Lea (Notre Dame) are both excellent tacticians. Notre Dame's offense is a little more reliable, though, and gets the win behind the Ian Book-Chase Claypool passing connection.
Rittenberg's analysis was interesting. The score makes sense, but his comments on the defense vs. offense were intriguing. Rittenberg noted that Notre Dame's offense is more reliable. I'll have more stats in the coming days, but while Notre Dame averaged more points (37.1 to 34.1), but Iowa State averaged more yards (458.7 to 429.2) and yards per play (6.58 to 6.25).
Iowa State's offense also averaged more points, yards and yards per play against Power 5 opponents. Iowa State's averages against ten Power 5 opponents were 30.1 offensive points per game, 432.7 yards per game and 6.3 yards per play. Notre Dame's averaged 29.0 offensive points, 397.3 yards and 5.54 yards per play against its nine Power 5 opponents.
The two defenses are similar, but the Irish hold the advantage. Against nine Power 5 opponents, the Irish defense allowed 21.1 points per game, 326.7 yards per game and 4.81 yards per play. Against ten Power 5 opponents, Iowa State gave up 23.7 points per game, 365.9 yards per game and 5.39 yards per play.
Follow me on Twitter: @CoachD178
Visit our Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/IrishMaven/
