Don't Believe in Notre Dame
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!
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