If you want to look for some early signs of how the day might go:
A). both the FSU defensive line [their strength] and the ND offensive line [in my opinion our strength] have been talking to reporters about one another, saying that this mano-a-mano match-up is what they play for. These guys have been very respectful about their opponents, but you can see the gleam in their eyes. Watch what happens there. Can Golic stand up?? Can Dever stand up?? Can ND get Wood some openings and will he hit them hard?? Will the #2 back have any production?? Stopping watching the ball every play might give you some inside sense of how this is going early.
B). Rees gets rid of the ball quickly; and Hendrix can, and must, too. This should mitigate the FSU rush somewhat. All of the FSU D-Line said that Rees is hard to sack because the ball's usually gone. If Tommy and Andrew can run the Kelly dart-thrower offense with proper reads, the strength of FSU will be marginalized. Perhaps easier said than done, but in theory the Kelly offense is built to negate effectiveness of pass-rushers.
C). Defensively for us, FSU has stunk in many areas on offense, and we need to keep our fingers crossed that this is not a better EJManuel game. If he is "ordinary" or less, they won't score much unless we give them short fields. Our D-Line should win the line of scrimmage. If Diaco has a good plan for the linebackers, then our DBs should be plenty good enough to do their part. If the D-Line wins, we probably win (with no turnovers).
D). FSU is a decent team, but this game is about how Notre Dame functions. If we get proper reads and no turnovers, we move the ball. They are scared of Eifert and Floyd. They have said so. I seriously doubt that they believe they can defend them with "island corners", which means we will have a numbers advantage somewhere each play.
E). The game is somewhat about EJManuel as well. Does he have his head right? Can Diaco confuse him? Can Lynch et al rough him up? Can the linebackers guard somebody close enough that he's not confident in pulling the trigger?
There are all sorts of ways we can win this game and all sorts of ways we can lose it. Who's "burning without" and "ice cool" within --- as Harbaugh said: playing with confidence and cruelty --- will win.
