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Notre Dame Fighting Irish

Desmond Howard puts ranked team on upset alert ahead of huge road game

Keith Farner

By Keith Farner

Published:

Desmond Howard is calling his shot early.

Howard and the College GameDay crew will be at Duke Saturday morning ahead of the Notre Dame-Duke game. Howard is concerned about the Fighting Irish coming off an emotional loss, and now on the road.

That’s why Howard has Notre Dame on upset alert.

“Ohio State just gutted Notre Dame with that last-second touchdown victory,” Howard said. “I would say they should be on upset alert, because when you lose, weaknesses get exposed. Maybe something in the defensive line that Duke saw that they can take advantage of.”

Howard said dual-threat quarterbacks like Riley Leonard put a lot of pressure on defenses.

Howard also sees a confident Duke team with plenty of skill on the perimeter.

“This Duke team, they’re out to make a statement Saturday night against Notre Dame,” Howard said.

The competing streaks in this one are the Blue Devils are searching for their first 5-0 start since 1994, and Notre Dame has a 29-game winning streak in regular-season matchups against ACC opponents.

Keith Farner

A former newspaper veteran, Keith Farner is a news manager for Saturday Down South.

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