With Brian Kelly on the hot seat following a 4-8 season in 2016, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish bounced last year, going 10-3 to get things moving in the right direction. After an early-season loss to Georgia, the Irish rattled off seven wins in a row, including victories over Michigan State, USC, and N.C. State. However, Notre Dame lost two of three down the stretch, getting blown out by Miami and losing to Stanford. Alas, Kelly rallied the troops and the Irish beat LSU in the Citrus Bowl to finish 10-3.
Of course, Notre Dame is all about winning national championships. The Irish got to the title game in 2012 but haven’t come all that close since. But that doesn’t stop Irish fans from always thinking that this is their year to make a championship run.
Oddsmakers aren’t giving Notre Dame a ton of respect this year. The Irish are +5000 to win a national championship. Those odds indicate that a title isn’t impossible, but a lot of things will have to fall into place to make it happen. The Irish are also projected to win 9.5 games, which would require one more win than last season. Reaching 10 wins is possible for the Irish but not necessarily the safest bet.
While quarterback Brandon Winbush returns, that doesn’t mean the position is settled. Winbush completed less than 50% of his passes last season. He needs to do better than that this year if he wants to keep his job, especially with Ian Book leading the Irish to victory in the Citrus Bowl. The Irish will also need some of their younger receivers to fill more prominent roles this year, which won’t make the job any easier for Winbush.
Of course, Notre Dame may need Winbush’s skills as a runner after the departure of Josh Adams, who ran for over 1,400 yards last season. The loss of monstrous offensive linemen Quenton Nelson and Mike McGlinchey could also hurt the Irish ground game. They still return three starters up front, but it’ll be hard to replace guys like Nelson and McGlinchey without missing a beat.
Fortunately for the Fighting Irish, their defense is in much better shape with the return of nine starters. The front-7 has plenty of depth and experience, so the Irish shouldn’t have a problem holding their own in the trenches. Cornerbacks Julian Love and Shaun Crawford also set up Notre Dame well against the pass. The lone question is whether the Notre Dame defense will be able to create turnovers, something they didn’t also do last year. However, they may need to create takeaways this year with so many questions on the offensive side of the ball.
With no conference championship game, the Irish probably can’t afford to lose more than one game if they want to stay in the College Football Playoff conversation. With a number of questions about the offense, starting with the quarterback position, this team may not be capable of that. The fact that the Irish foundered in November last year doesn’t exactly create a lot of optimism.
| Date | Opponent | Time |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 1 | Michigan Wolverines | 7:30 PM |
| Sep 8 | Ball State Cardinals | 3:30 PM |
| Sep 15 | Vanderbilt Commodores | 2:30 PM |
| Sep 22 | @ Wake Forest Demon Deacons | 12:00 PM |
| Sep 29 | Stanford Cardinal | 7:30 PM |
| Oct 6 | @ Virginia Tech Hokies | 12:00 PM |
| Oct 13 | Pittsburgh Panthers | 3:30 PM |
| Oct 27 | @ Navy Midshipmen | 8:00 PM |
| Nov 3 | @ Northwestern Wildcats | 1:00 PM |
| Nov 10 | Florida State Seminoles | 7:30 PM |
| Nov 17 | Syracuse Orange | 2:30 PM |
| Nov 24 | @ Southern California Trojans | 3:00 PM |
As usual, Notre Dame has a tough schedule with several marquee opponents. It starts with Michigan coming to South Bend the first week of the season. Stanford and Florida State also represent Notre Dame’s most challenging home games this year. The Irish also have road trips to Wake Forest, Virginia Tech, Northwestern, and USC that are all potential stumbling blocks.
All things considered, Notre Dame’s schedule is not as difficult as it was a year ago. Michigan, Stanford, Virginia Tech, Florida State, and USC are the best teams on the schedule, and all have enough questions entering the season to give the Irish a fair shot at beating all of them. If the Irish can limit themselves to one loss, they’ll be in the CFP discussion, and this schedule makes that possible. However, Notre Dame’s team may not be good enough to take advantage of a schedule that makes a title run possible.