They have a brutal schedule and lost their only deep threat in Michael Floyd to the NFL and their best pass rusher in Aaron Lynch to USF. Not to mention the fact that they have a question mark at QB and a rebuilt secondary. They return 6 on defense (2 dlinemen) and 8 on offense providing Tommy Rees is the QB come opening day (3 olinemen). If Rees isn’t the starter then they will be breaking in a first year starting QB in either Andrew Hendrix (Jr.) or Everett Golson (Soph.). I’m predicting 6 wins but i wouldn’t be surprised if they finished 5-7

Navy - W
Purdue - W
@ Michigan St. - L
Michigan - L
Miami - L
Stanford - W
BYU - L
@Oklahoma - L
Pitt - W
@ BC - W
Wake Forest - W
@ Southern Cal - L

I would be surprised if they win less than 7 regular season games. They are still a pretty good team even without Floyd and Lynch. They should be favored against BYU and Miami and I’m thinking they win those 2 games.

Garrett_TD23 - 16 July 2012 05:14 PM

I would be surprised if they win less than 7 regular season games. They are still a pretty good team even without Floyd and Lynch. They should be favored against BYU and Miami and I’m thinking they win those 2 games.

I don’t see them beating neither teams. Maybe Miami but i just think Miami’s defense will make enough play’s to help put them over the top. BYU has a beast of a receiver in Cody Hoffman and i think he has a beast of a day vs that Irish secondary.

I would be surprised if they won MORE than 7 games.

If Notre Dame is 5-7, Brian Kelly won’t survive.  In fact if he doesn’t hit the a win record in around the 8-9 range I think his job security is in grave danger.

CU_Tigers4life - 16 July 2012 06:31 PM

If Notre Dame is 5-7, Brian Kelly won’t survive.  In fact if he doesn’t hit the a win record in around the 8-9 range I think his job security is in grave danger.

Highly doubtful, especially after only 3 years. Davie lasted 5 years and was fired after his 2nd losing season, Willingham was given a another chance after he went 5-7 in his 2nd year and Weiss had a 3-9 season and was there for 2 more years.

The Irish need some coaching stability and stop with this revolving door of coaches. I would hope they know that by now and Brian Kelly is a pretty good coach. The problem with the Irish is that they almost always load up their schedule with good teams, they need few cupcakes to pad their win total like everyone else does.

Garrett_TD23 - 16 July 2012 07:08 PM

The Irish need some coaching stability and stop with this revolving door of coaches. I would hope they know that by now and Brian Kelly is a pretty good coach. The problem with the Irish is that they almost always load up their schedule with good teams, they need few cupcakes to pad their win total like everyone else does.

It took Nick Saban 20 games to take Alabama to the #1 spot.  Notre Dame has the money and facilities that makes their fans expect the same fast turnaround…..I agree with on your analysis….....I think joining a league would help….like the ACC

This!

If I was in Vegas… I’d probably take em in 6 of these games.

I’ll go 8-4, but 9-3 wouldn’t stun me. USC isn’t winnable, but the rest are, including Oklahoma. Sounds simple, but it’s all about QB play and turnovers with them. Defense will be above average, running game should be fantastic, but the QB remains a huge concern. Figure a loss to USC and 2-3 losses against the group of MSU, Michigan, Stanford, BYU, and Oklahoma. Other six games should be wins.

Not a make-or-break season for Kelly. They just need to win some close games after last year’s debacles and get some swagger going heading into 2013.

It the over/under is 7 I would take the over. 8 is about where I think they will finish. That is a tough schedule.

They just took another hit at the last place they could afford to take a hit at, the defensive backfield.

“Projected starter Lo Wood went down with a season-ending Achilles injury.”

http://irish.nbcsports.com/2012/08/20/lo-wood-suffers-season-ending-achilles-injury/