Evidently, Charlie Weis spent his Friday night in Seattle scouting Skyline High School quarterback Jake Heaps. According to the Seattle Times, the Notre Dame coach was in attendance when Heaps passed for 271 yards and four touchdowns in a 42-6 win over Redmond. Weis can be excused for leaving early. Heaps didn’t play in the second half after completing 10 of 16 passes in the first.
I have gotten a lot of grief for picking Notre Dame to lose more often than win during the past two seasons. It’s not a lack of confidence in the Irish, although picking them to lose was the safe bet last season. Although I did pick the Irish to beat San Diego State, I wasn’t ready to assume they would defeat even average teams this season until they proved that last season was behind them But here’s the single-biggest reason why I have picked Notre Dame to lose on several occassions during the first half this season: If I expect the game to be close, how can I pick the Irish when their field goal unit is so unreliable?Don’t expect Brandon Walker’s lack of accuracy to be a major factor this week. Something tells me the Irish are going to be flat coming off the bye week. That said, my prediction: Notre Dame 24, Washington 13.
