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 Coming off a difficult overtime home loss to Michigan State last weekend, Notre Dame (2-1) travels to the Pacific Northwest to battle the Washington Huskies led by former Irish head coach Tyrone Willingham. Willingham was relieved of his coaching duties after a mediocre three year tenure in South Bend featuring a 21-16 overall record and a sub .500 home record, more than enough reason for the Irish alumni to demand his dismissal.The Huskies have struggled early under Willingham dropping their first two games including a 56-17 blowout at home to No.16 California which saw the Huskies defense allow 557 total yards (286 rushing/271 passing) before bouncing back 34-6 over Idaho this past weekend. Look for the Irish, led by sensational sophomore (and Willingham recruit) Darius Walker (107 ypg), to dominate on the ground opening airspace for junior QB Brady Quinn (854 yds/ 9 TD's/ 59.8%) coming off his most productive game in his three years including 487 yards and 5 TD's in the loss to the Spartans. Despite the loss head coach Charlie Wies has the Irish seemingly on the right track offensively leading the offense into the endzone 13 times over the first three games, the exact total that the team managed over the first 3 games in 2003 and 2004 combined. The Huskies are led by junior QB Isaiah Stanback (688 yds/4 TD's/ 61%) who managed 180 yards of total offense and two TD's against Idaho this weekend, and sophomore running back Louis Rankin (4.8 yards per carry), both who lead a balanced running attack against a stingy Irish defense trying to recant last week's poor performance against the Spartans which saw them allow 488 yards at home. Key Match-Up Stanback vs. Notre Dame Defense The Irish were exposed, and have been over recent years, by quarterbacks who look to run first but can put the ball in the air. Stanback is certainly pass first but makes decent decisions on the ground, something the Irish will have to keep in check. Key Player Maurice Stovall, Jr. WR Notre Dame Coming off his best overall game in 3 seasons, Stovall is proving the go to receiver Brady Quinn needs in order to make Charlie Wies' offense that much more dynamic. If Quinn can continue to set up Stovall in the middle of the field the Quinn can continue to utilize Freshman WR Jeff Samardzija in the red zone (5 TD's) Quotable "The fact that you have players that I recruited, that I spent time in their home,s that does make it just a little bit different the relationship. This is a big game - it will be highlighted and hyped to a great extent by a lot people around the country. So that means a lot of attention will be on it, a lot of eyes on it and you get excited when you have those kinds of venues to perform on." - Ty Willingham, on whether this is a different game. Prediction
Notre Dame 35
Washington 17
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