With the 2007 nightmare season in the rear-view mirror, head coach Charlie Weis and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team look forward to a more promising 2008 season. While the Irish are not expected to challenge for a national title, they should find themselves in the bowl picture and even possibly competing for a spot in the polls.
Oddsmakers at online sportsbook SportsBetting.com have installed the Fighting Irish with 75-1 odds to win the BCS National Championship.
The Irish lacked experienced offensive players in 2007, and the final season statistics showed that as the ’07 offense qualified as the least productive in Weis’ three seasons.
Heading into spring practice this year, though, only 11 teams in the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision return more offensive starters than the Irish. Notre Dame features nine returning offensive regulars (only center and tight end are gone) and 16 players on the spring roster have logged at least one start at Notre Dame.
Two quarterbacks who combined to start 11 games in 2007 return, as do the top three rushers who totaled 1,105 yards on the ground. While the Irish lose their receptions and receiving yards leader from last year (tight end John Carlson), the entire wide receiver corps returns intact. Five offensive linemen who started at least five games in ’07 are back, including the quintet who started the final two contests last year. Notre Dame will have to replace senior captains Carlson, center John Sullivan and running back Travis Thomas, as well as reserve running back Junior Jabbie. But the Irish appear to be stocked with capable replacements as they attempt to leave the ’07 campaign far in the rearview mirror.
No Notre Dame freshman quarterback had ever started his first game for the Irish prior to the fourth week of the season until Jimmy Clausen opened under center in the second game of the 2007 season at Penn State.
Clausen (138-245, .563, 1,254 yards, 7 TDs, 6 INTs) started nine games for the Irish and etched his name throughout the Notre Dame record books. He equaled the school record for starts by an Irish freshman quarterback and finished second on the following freshman quarterback single-season lists: passing yards, completions and completion percentage.
Under first-year coordinator Corwin Brown, the Irish improved from 65th in total defense in 2006 to 39th in 2007. Brown implemented a 3-4 personnel defense that was able to switch seamlessly from three-man defensive fronts to four man fronts without changing the players on the field. This versatility proved to benefit the Irish, as the strength of the defense was the speed of the linebackers and secondary and allowed the Notre Dame to become proactive against many offenses as opposed to reactive.
The Irish returned seven defensive starters from the 2007 season including three linebackers and three defensive backs. The secondary was the teams strongest area last year as the Irish ranked second in the country in pass defense, allowing only 161.6 yards through the air per game. Still, the Irish must replace several key members of last year’s defense.
Prediction: Notre Dame gets into a bowl this year but finishing in the polls might be difficult. At Point-Spreads.com we predict a 7-5 season for the Irish.
9/6 San Diego State Home
9/13 Michigan Home
9/20 @Michigan State
9/27 Purdue Home
10/04 Stanford Home
10/11 @North Carolina
10/25 @ Washington
11/01 Pitt Home
11/08 @ Boston College
11/15 @Navy (Baltimore)
11/22 Syracuse Home
11/29 @ USC
