2014-15 Season Previews – (Independant) – Fighting Irish
Few college football programs are as well positioned for the rapidly changing landscape of the sport as the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.
There aren’t many programs that can generate the kind of money that Notre Dame can, and if some sort of pay-for-play system were to be put into place, the Irish would be sitting pretty.
With the autonomy structure passing and the Power Five conferences taking even more control from the NCAA, which is on its last breaths, a day when college football players are paid to play the game could be coming sooner rather than later.
Notre Dame
2014 Preview: Notre Dame Fighting Irish
Coach: Brian Kelly
2013 Record: 9-4
Notre Dame Gambling Odds to win National Championship: +6600
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The program is just one season removed from a 12-0 regular season and a trip to the BCS National Championship Game. The team’s defense was light’s out against a soft slate of games, but the team got a rude awakening in the title game when they were beaten up by the Alabama Crimson Tide.
Why the Irish entered that game confident, and very high on head coach Brian Kelly, that contest showed just how much work Kelly and his staff have to do to put the team in a position to hang with the country’s elite programs.
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With rumors attached to Kelly that he is keeping one eye on the NFL, it could be difficult for the Irish to attract talent to South Bend in the coming years, not to mention the academic limitations which have hampered the program’s recruiting ability.
Already short on talent, the program has to deal with the likely loss of standout wide receiver DaVaris Daniels and top cornerback KeiVarae Russell, two key players for this year’s squad. The return of quarterback Everett Golson was supposed to settle things and give the team a boost in talent, but instead, the roster takes a step back this season.
The team already faced a major adjustment with the loss of a pair of bears on the defensive line in Louis Nix and Stephon Tuitt, each of whom will apply their trade in the pro ranks this season. The defense will now be relying upon defensive linemen Sheldon Day and Jarron Jones to establish themselves up front.
On offense, the key for the Irish will be establishing a strong run game. During Coach Kelly’s tenure with the program, Notre Dame is 22-3 when rushing for 150 yards or more, failing to hit the 100-yard mark in eight of their other 12 losses under Kelly.
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Everett Golson’s return will help the team’s rushing efforts. He won’t put up an elite rushing total on his own, but he’ll help, and the presence of a mobile quarterback is always an asset in the running game, forcing defenses to spread out if they respect the quarterback’s ability to take off with the football.
Behind Golson is a deep group of talented rushers, including Tarean Folston, Greg Bryant, and Cam McDaniel. The team focused more on the passing game with Tommy Rees at the helm a year ago, but a renewed focus on the ground game should lead to a more consistent offensive output week in and week out.
2014 Notre Dame football gambling prediction: 8-4
The Irish ran the gambit in 2012 with what would have to be called a soft schedule, then stumbled on an easier slate of games in 2013. This year’s schedule isn’t short on difficult matchups, even if it is littered with neutral site games, which are effectively home contests for the Irish.
The team could have done some damage this season, even with an outside chance of getting into a marquee bowl game if the ACC winner were to make the College Football Playoff, but the academic scandal at the university cost the football team some top-flight players, and that’s not something they’ll easily overcome.
2014 Notre Dame schedule:
- 8/30 Rice
- 9/6 Michigan
- 9/13 Purdue*
- 9/27 Syracuse*
- 10/4 Stanford
- 10/11 North Carolina
- 10/18 at Florida State
- 11/1 Navy*
- 11/8 at Arizona State
- 11/15 Northwestern
- 11/22 Louisville
- 11/29 at USC
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