Chris Murray

cmurray@rgj.com

The Wolf Pack got its first glimpse of Notre Dame on Sunday night when the Fighting Irish played at Texas and they certainly lived up to expectations.

“They’re kind of what you thought they were going to be,” Wolf Pack defensive coordinator Scott Boone said. “They’re big and physical and athletic. They do a lot of things offensively. It’s going to be a great challenge for us.”

Notre Dame is not only big, physical and athletic but it also should be plenty angry entering its contest against Nevada on Saturday after dropping a thrilling 50-47 double-overtime decision against Texas. The Irish offense was as explosive as expected while a young defense predictably struggled in the loss.

Next up for the Irish is a Nevada team that is a 27-point underdog, the Wolf Pack’s largest underdog spread since playing at Texas A&M last season. Nevada was a 34-point underdog in that game but was competitive in a 44-27 loss before 102,591 fans. When Nevada takes the field against Notre Dame, the goal won't be to simply stay competitive.

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“We’re not trying to keep it close,” said Nevada coach Brian Polian, a former Notre Dame assistant. “I want to win. I would never get up in front of our team or say publicly, ‘Boy, we’re just trying to keep it close.’ I want to win. But the only way we have a chance to win is through significant improvement. I am focused on significant improvement from week one to week two. Obviously there were a lot of things that weren’t great from the film on Friday night.”

The Wolf Pack opened the season Friday with a 30-27 overtime victory over Cal Poly, a team from the FCS. The jump up to face Notre Dame, which opened the year ranked 10th in the nation, just one week later is obviously tremendous, especially on offense.

Notre Dame quarterback DeShone Kizer, who split series with Malik Zaire early in the game, was outstanding. He clearly established himself as the Irish’s starting quarterback by completing 15-of-24 passes for 215 yards and five touchdowns. He also ran 13 times for 77 yards and a touchdown.

“Explosive on offense,” Polian said. “DeShone Kizer really, really played well. It doesn’t take a genius to figure that one out. The two big backs (Tarean Folston and Josh Adams) are both really good players. For a re-tooled offensive line, they protected pretty well and ran the ball pretty well. They have a bunch of new starters on defense and they’re no difference than us: they’ll probably get significantly better between week one and week two.”

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The Notre Dame offensive scheme shouldn't be too foreign to Nevada. The Irish’s offensive coordinator, Mike Sanford, was Boise State’s coordinator when the Broncos played at Nevada in 2014 (a 51-46 Broncos win). Armed with even more talent in South Bend, Sanford’s group will be a handful for the Wolf Pack.

“They’re physical,” Boone said. “They’re not trying to fool you a lot. They line up and say, ‘Here we are. Can you handle it?’ The biggest challenge we really have to understand is that we have to tackle big people. The quarterback is 6-4, 240, the running back is 235 or 240 pounds. They have a lot of big people. We have to get a lot of hats to the ball and do what we can to get them to the ground.”

Where Notre Dame could be vulnerable is on defense, especially in the secondary, which is the youngest part of the defense. The Irish allowed 517 yards to Texas (280 passing, 237 rushing) and largely struggled on that side of the ball.

“We’re a young group of guys and we had three true freshmen out there at one time in the back end of our defense,” Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly said during his Monday teleconference. “It’s going to take some time, but they’re athletic kids that will continue to develop. We’ll get better each and every week.”

While this will be the biggest stage the Wolf Pack plays on this season – Notre Dame Stadium, which has sold out every game this year, seats 80,795 – the Wolf Pack’s older players have experience in these kinds of atmospheres. In addition to playing at Texas A&M last year, the Wolf Pack played at Florida State and UCLA in 2013. Starting quarterback Tyler Stewart played in the Florida State and Texas A&M games.

“The most exciting part about these kinds of games is being able to compete at a talent level that people see as higher than us,” said Stewart, who was 16-of-29 for 206 yards with two touchdowns and one interception while under constant duress (he was sacked five times) at Texas A&M last season. “To be able to display that we can play with whatever talent level is out on the field, that’s the exciting part.”

This will be Nevada’s second visit to Notre Dame after a 35-0 loss in the season opener in 2009. The Wolf Pack clearly wants a more competitive game this time around, but that’s not the end goal.

“My focus is on significant improvement in all three phases with the goal being if we improve enough we give ourselves a chance to win,” Polian said. “We’re not going there to keep it close.”

Wolf Pack notes: LBs Alex Bertrando, Lucas Weber and L.J. Jackson all missed Monday’s practice but are expected to play against Notre Dame. CB Elijah Mitchell and RB Blake Wright, who didn’t play against Cal Poly, both returned to practice and are in line to play against the Irish. Notre Dame’s starting WR, Torii Hunter Jr., suffered a concussion against Texas. His status against Nevada is uncertain.

WOLF PACK FOOTBALL

Who: Nevada (1-0) at Notre Dame (0-1)

When: Saturday, 12:30 p.m. Pacific time

Where: Notre Dame Stadium (80,795 capacity)

TV/Radio: NBC/94.5 FM

Betting line: Notre Dame by 27