I think ND has the overall roster edge. However, Miami has the edge in 3 incredibly important areas, IMO. Their running game vs. Our D line, Their QB being as good as it gets in a clean pocket, again high chance of that with the o line, and the Miami crowd at hard rock. That 2017 Miami crowd was not the same as the Aggie crowd last year. This game will likely be a 4 quarter battle.
We know you keep saying this. And I actually think you believe it. Fine.
You give us 3 edges. Nobody disputes the part about Hard Rock.
I just think it is amusing to examine the other ones.
First, you give us the edge in "the UM running gave vs. the ND D-line". Second, you give us the edge at QB, but then say there is a high chance Beck has a clean pocket "with the O-line".
Which means that you are NOT giving us the edge for Miami's O-line, even though you expect us to have a good running game AND a clean pocket. I'm dazed just thinking about this.
Interestingly, you do not seem to give Miami any edges on defense. I know, I know, you have this amazing god-level OL that cannot be defeated. OK, believe what you must.
But let's just talk about the ND passing game for a minute. I've acknowledged that Carr may very well be good someday, though I doubt that day will be August 31st. But then I look at the ND receivers. Notre Dame has lost 2 of its top 3 pass-catchers from last year, a WR and a TE. Now, you've got a guy who had 42 catches for 592 yards last year. And you have Malachi Fields, who is **** good. After that, it's Jordan Faison who had 30 catches for 356 yards. Your #2, #4, #5, and #6 WRs are all gone.
And, yes, Miami lost its #1, #2, #3, and #4 WRs. But that's not the point here.
Miami went out and got 3 pretty good WRs. ND got 2 WRs.
CJ Daniels, when healthy, has been the most productive of these 5 transfer WRs (1,000 yard season at Liberty 2 years ago, decent season at LSU last year while playing with an injury). I'd put Malachi Fields up there too, he has not had the injury that CJ Daniels had. Pauling is OK, he was injured multiple times last year and seems relatively fragile given his size. Marion and Johnson are bigger and sturdier than Pauling and have comparable production.
And what this means is as follows. You are pairing a freshman QB in his FIRST START with a WR corps that is not as deep/experienced as one might like for such a big road game. And on the other side, Miami has seriously upgraded its defensive backfield. So if Miami is able to cover the ND WRs fairly well, and given Carr's pocket-passing tendencies, the ND OL is going to have to be super-human to avoid coverage sacks.
Anyhow, you can come back in a week to see how these predictions played out.