Notre Dame Fighting Irish 2010 Season Preview/Prediction
The College Football season may be 5-6 weeks away but our man James Hayes has been deep in study and will provide his take and 2010 College Football Predictions on as many NCAA teams as he can before the 2010/11 season kicks off.
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2010 NCAA Football Predictions – Teams | Analysis | Previews Online
Independant Schools 2010-2011 Football Previews: Notre Dame Fighting Irish
Coach: Brian Kelly
2009 Record: 6-6
Notre Dame Gambling Odds from Sportsbook.com to win BCS: +5000
The Charlie Weis experiment in South Bend was yet another failure to restore glory to the historically beaming Irish football program. A run-of-the-mill 35-27 record in five seasons was not enough to inspire confidence in Weis from Notre Dame top brass.
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However, there is new optimism with Brian Kelly, a good Irish-Catholic boy with a penchant for developing quarterbacks and turning slumping teams around (Re: Central Michigan, Cincinnati).
The Irish have their usual quota of talent and rich recruiting – it’s what Kelly can do with what’s currently in the cupboards that will make the difference. Prolific QB Jimmy Clausen moved on to the first round of the NFL Draft, but Kelly has an intriguing lump of clay to mold in 6”4, 235 lb sophomore Dayne Crist.
The Irish lost a wad of close games last season, and if Kelly can even turn a few of those around, Notre Dame fans will brighten up – at least a tad – in 2010.
Team Strengths:
Notre Dame has a stable of running backs that can get the job done, led by senior Armando Allen. The returning starter only registered 697 yards in ’09, but without Clausen slinging the ball everywhere, expect that to rise. Beefy (5”11, 245 lbs) senior Robert Hughes and hype redshirt freshman Cierre Wood add depth.
Tight end Kyle Rudolph is probably the best at his position in the country, so he’ll be an intrinsic safety valve for the developing Crist.
The linebacker corps inspires fear in opponents, as three of four starters return, including senior Brian Smith and rapidly developing sophomore Manti Te’o (ranked the best high school ’backer in America in 2008).
Team Weaknesses:
As strong as Kelly’s tutelage will be, there will still be some hiccups for Crist in his first year starting. The offense also loses electric wideout Golden Tate to the NFL. The offensive line loses experience to the pros (especially tackle Sam Young, drafted by the Dallas Cowboys) and must learn new schemes under Kelly.
The starters return in the defensive secondary, although they were piss-poor last season. Improvement is a must.
2010-2011 Notre Dame Football Prediction: 9-3
The Irish got gouged in the passing game last year, but they also rolled out a high-octane attack. Crist is not Clausen, but he’s still very talented and has the right direction with Brian Kelly.
The head coach is in a good spot because Notre Dame has underperformed for so long. In a sense, there’s nowhere to go but up, and the roster certainly has the ability to make some noise in the bowl picture.
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James has been naming every player on the EA Sports NCAA video game rosters for half a decade now, he’s finally putting his knowledge to better use writing for us here at CappersPicks.com. As always you’re comments are welcome below…Give Us Your Take!
