Notre Dame Players Are Ready For The Challenge Cincinnati Presents

Notre Dame players know Cincinnati will be prepared to battle, and the Irish players are ready for it

Coming off of the team’s best win of the season, a 41-13 domination of Wisconsin at Soldier Field, No. 9 Notre Dame returns home to take on No. 7 Cincinnati in a battle of Top 10 teams. It is Notre Dame's biggest game of the season, and the Irish players know it.

The win over Wisconsin quickly went to the rearview and the Irish players are now focused on the battle that is in store for them against the Bearcats.

“It's the next team up," defensive tackle Jayson Ademilola said of the Bearcats. "We talked about the next game; new life, next game up, so we have to prepare like we prepared last week.

“It's a big challenge, Cincinnati is a good team, they're well coached, and it's a big opportunity but we're ready for it."

According to Ademilola, even though Cincinnati comes into this contest scoring 43 points per game, finding success against the Bearcats won’t be overcomplicated.

“You just have to execute the game plan," Ademilola explained. "The coaches work so hard to come up with this game plan and we really start installing the game plan on Sunday, Monday and you get everybody to buy into the game plan, become super confident in in their abilities and you execute the game plan with full trust in your teammates and your coaching staff.”

Notre Dame's defense enters this contest trending in a strong direction. The same is not true for the Irish offense.

Notre Dame has given up 21 sacks so far this season, and sixth-year guard Cain Madden knows the offensive line will have to be prepared for a strong Cincinnati defense.

“Cincy’s front seven is good," Madden stated. "They’re ranked pretty high, when you break them down on film they’re all really good players so we’ll all have to be on top of our stuff and our assignments to block these dudes.

"They’re going to be a very fast, physical defense so we have to be on our cues there.”

Arguably the greatest strength for the Cincinnati defense is its secondary, and the Notre Dame receivers have taken notice.

“I think this is going to be the best defensive backs we’ve seen this year,” said senior wideout Braden Lenzy. “They force a lot of turnovers, so we have to be very aware of the ball, and it’s a high-powered offense so we have to be aware that we have to be able to put a lot of points up. 

“I’m pretty confident in our game plan thus far and I think we’re doing all the right things.”

Notre Dame is seeking its 27th straight win inside Notre Dame Stadium on Saturday. One thing is for sure, nothing will come easy for Notre Dame against a talented and experienced Cincinnati team as both teams seek to take a major step towards making a College Football Playoff appearance a reality.

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