Don't Believe in Notre Dame

Thursday, August 10, 2006
By Bob Donahue

In college football, it has become very chic to anoint the Fighting Irish as the heir apparent national champions. I am here to tell you that Charlie Weis's squad will be lucky to duplicate last year's 9-3 record.

One of the highlights to my season last year was using Ohio State minus the points against Notre Dame as my Colleg Bowl Game of the Year, and what a nice easy winner it was!!!! Much of the same reasoning that went into that forecast comes into play here.

Last year's expected strong teams were greatly overstated, as Pitt, Michigan, Purdue and Tennessee weren't nearly as good as they were expected to be, and the ONLY two contests against the premier teams, USC and Ohio State, were losses. From my vantage point Notre Dame had a nice season but did not really accomplish anything that outstanding.

Average personnel: I rate the corners as average or slightly above. There was only a limited pass rush from the front four last year, and thanks to Ty Willingham, there isn't a lot of developed depth anywhere meaning a huge dropoff is sure to come if injuries hit the skill positions. The secondary and the overall athleticism was exposed in the Fiesta Bowl by Ohio State, and while Weis is obviously a great recruiter and head coach, the talent level of Notre Dame is not quite there.

There's no number two quarterback to rely on, the backup running backs are average, there's no proven number three receiver, and there's no depth on the line with right tackle situation still needing to be settled.

Granted, three starters return to what should be a strong line if the right side comes together. Bob Morton is experienced enough to be solid at right guard but that is not his natural position, but the real question is at right tackle where Mark LeVoir has to be replaced. Paul Duncan and Brian Mattes didn't set the world on fire this spring meaning the door is open for one of the star freshmen to take over...to me, having one or two freshmen as potential starters on your offensive line does not instill in me the saying "National champs".

As always, Notre Dame is also faced with a challenging schedule. The opener at Georgia Tech is a potential stumbling block (just ask Auburn from last year), and while the schedule maker brings Penn State, Michigan, Purdue and UCLA to South Bend, these teams all possess talent equal to or superior to the Fighting Irish. The only road trip to worry about between September 2nd and the finale at USC is at Michigan State. Then, of course, there is the season finale at USC, a team that has beat Notre Dame each of the last four seasons.

Look for another nice season from Notre Dame, but all those Irish fans making flight reservations to Arizona for the BCS championship game are making their reservations about a year too soon!