Uh-oh.

As of 10/3/05, the Fighting Irish had accumulated seven takeaways in the red zone.

The Volunteers have lost their last two games primarily due to two fumbles in the red zone (actually, three, but we “got lucky” on one and recovered it ourselves). Come to think of it, we also threw an interception into the end zone on another loss just before that.

We have a tendency to turn it over in the red zone. Notre Dame has a knack for taking it away in the red zone.

As I said, uh-oh.

Scout.com’s Jeffrey Stewart draws Notre Dame in the site’s weekly Devil’s Advocate feature. For those unfamiliar with the column, Stewart and Randy Moore, both excellent sports writers, take sides, each making the case for a win by the team they draw. For his part, Stewart starts out with a bang:

Making a case for Notre Dame beating Tennessee in South Bend on Saturday is a little like vouching for Bill Gates’ credit. In other words, the only real obstacle to overcome is — where to begin?

These are two teams headed in opposite directions at the speed of light. The Fighting Irish are reborn under first year head coach Charlie Weis, the mastermind behind a potent offensive attack that is putting points on the scoreboard in bunches. With a 5-2 record that includes victories over Pittsburgh, Michigan, Washington, Purdue and Brigham Young, Notre Dame is best known for its instant classic cliffhanger last month against defending national champion and undefeated USC. That near victory propelled the Irish back into the top ten where they remain today at No. 9.

Conversely, Tennessee is in the depths of a spiraling free fall from a preseason ranking of No. 3 through a 3-4 start, until it was finally spit out of the bottom of national polls last week, following a 16-15 defeat to that other USC. The one with the roosters on its helmet and no national championships under its belt.

The Vols dramatic demise is the result of an offense that rarely has a pulse and produces points at the pace of the Tunisian national ice hockey team. If you say it’s not fair to compare Tennessee’s offense to a team that doesn’t exist. Well, I rest my case.

Pretty much nails it, doesn’t it?

On the other side, Moore is hanging his hat on this week’s offensive shake-up.

Moore does an admirable job, but you’ve got to go with Stewart and Notre Dame this week.

Notre Dame blogger Blue Gray Sky wonders whether this Saturday’s game against the Tennessee Volunteers might be a “trap game” for the Irish. He (or she) links to a transcript of Head Coach Charlie Weis’ press conference and quotes Weis’ comments on the subject:

Q. How would you define a trap game?

COACH WEIS: This certainly isn’t one. All you have to do is watch the tape. When I sit there and give these facts and figures right there, it isn’t just trying to make myself look good to make it look like we know what we’re doing here. This is the scariest 3 4 team that you’re ever going to go against because they’re capable of beating everybody every week and they know it. Our guys know it, too.

All you got to do is put on the tape. They see it. They see these things that I just talked about because I’ve shown them these same things I’m telling you about. They’ve seen it. There’s no trap. You don’t have to worry about a trap in a Tennessee game.

Still, says Blue Gray Sky, it must be tough to maintain perspective. BGS’ concluding thought:

“I’ll be disappointed if we give up more than a couple of touchdowns. Final score: ND 24, Tennessee 9.

John Pennington tosses out some names of candidates for the Tennessee Volunteer Offensive Coordinator position.

He’s betting on David Cutcliffe, former Ole Miss head coach and former Vol offensive coordinator, who’s now living in Knoxville.

Dave Hooker’s podcast preview of the Tennessee-Notre Dame game this Saturday is up.

Instructions and URL here.