Today at 3:30 p.m. ET, 14th ranked Oklahoma (3-0, 1-0 Big 12) and No. 22 Notre Dame (3-1) go head-to-head at Notre Dame Stadium in Indiana. The game can be live streamed here. Sooners fans can hear all the bone-crunching action on KRXO-FM 107.7 while Irish fans can do the same by turning their dials to KLAA 830 AM
Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly has shown plenty of confidence in quarterback Tommy Rees throwing the football this season into man-to-man coverage. Rees faced tight coverage all day against Michigan State last week, but still helped lead the Irish to a 17-13 victory by going 14-for-34 for 142 yards and a touchdown to improve his numbers on the year to 79-for-141 overall for 1,111 yards with eight touchdowns and two interceptions
Rees' 138.1 passer rating ranks him 53rd in the nation, and two big reasons for that are DeVaras Daniels and T.J. Jones who have combined for six of Rees' eight touchdown passes this season. Daniels has 20 receptions for 305 yards with four touchdowns while Jones caught his second touchdown pass of the season last week and has 21 receptions for 304 yards.
"If (opponents) think that they can prevent us from throwing the ball over their heads, then we may see (man-to-man defense) again. If they don't, they'll play more zone and give us an opportunity to run the football," Kelly said per ESPN. "Teams will have to decide how they want to play us. But they know what we're going to do if they play man-to-man."
Sooners coach Bob Stoops expects that Rees will air it out.
"They're going to put it up in every game a good number of times," Stoops told ESPN. "(Rees) throws an excellent ball, and they have confidence in their receivers going up and getting it. That's definitely something we're aware of and something we need to be able to defend."
One glowing deficiency for Notre Dame has been its running game as the team rushed for less than 100 yards for the third straight game last week when it reached a season-low 78 yards on the ground. That marked the first time since 2008 that the Irish have failed to carry the ball more than 100 yards in three consecutive games.
"I think in the run game, we need to continue to evolve," Kelly told ESPN. "We're getting so many different looks where at times we have to be able to identify different backers, who to work to."
The Sooners are hoping to ride the hot hand of quarterback Blake Bell, who went 27-for-37 for 413 yards and four touchdowns in his first career start on Sept. 14 which concluded in a 51-20 victory over Tulsa after he took over the starting role from Trevor Knight. Bell had 24 rushing touchdowns over his first two seasons while being used in short-yardage situations.
"He's a great competitor. He's been in a lot of critical, important situations, and he's handled them well," Stoops said per ESPN. "He's not like a true first-time guy out there playing, because for the last few years, he's been in a lot of big games in those kinds of situations where it matters."
Bell had Oklahoma's only touchdown against Notre Dame last season and the Sooners are visiting Notre Dame Stadium for the first time since a 1999 34-30 defeat.
Oklahoma is looking to keep Bell going and knock off the Irish while Notre Dame looks to keep airing the ball out and winning when these two teams lock horns this afternoon.
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