Drink Discussion: Realistic expectations for Notre Dame football in 2010

• By Ted on Thursday, July 22, 2010
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The point of these articles is fairly simple: it's the summer, and right now, you mostly have baseball (EPL and other soccer leagues will return mid-August). Then, you'll have preseason NFL, and that will be kind of exciting; Brett Favre will likely return during this period, and some will feign surprise. Come September 4, college football will be back from 10am (Gameday) until midnight (Pac-10 finishes) and then, a scant eight days later, the NFL shall return as well (bummer in some respects that the best game of NFL Weekend 1 is likely to be the 8:15pm kickoff of Redskins vs. Cowboys; you need to pace).

It's time to start discussing the fall when you head to the bar for the remainder of the summer. To help you, we're gonna start looking at key NCAA and NFL programs, and what they can realistically accomplish in 2010. These are essentially "fodder for debate." Treat them as much. Hell, print them out and bring them to the bar.

Good jumping-off point: Notre Dame Fighting Irish. You could argue that the most relevant college football program of all-time is Michigan, Alabama, Miami, FSU, USC, or any number of other places. (Oklahoma? Texas? Etc.) You're all wrong. It's Notre Dame. There is basically one thing you associate with Notre Dame, and that's "football" or "Four Horsemen" (which is also football, unless you're talking about Ric Flair for some reason). Michigan at least has a hoops title. Texas excels at everything. Oklahoma has Toby Keith. Miami has Luther Campbell. You get the (ill-conceived) point.

So, for realz, what can ND do in 2010, their first year under Brian Kelly, and with Dayne Crist as the QB of record?

 

Here's the full schedule. Let's discuss.

They open with two at home: Purdue and then Michigan. These are both average, middle-of-the-pack Big Ten teams. Purdue's improving, though, and Rich Rod squarely needs these wins (especially big rivalry wins) to keep his job. However, both those games are in South Bend. Flip side: Crist has never started a major college football game. Michigan's defense is crappy; Purdue's is alright. Kelly knows he can't come out of the gate with a loss, especially at home. People will start screaming "Weis!"

Let's go ahead and start them off 2-0. Nice way to reverse the C-W era.

Next three get tougher: they go to Michigan State, host Stanford, and go to Boston College. I'd view MSU as a drop ("an L"). Here's why: Michigan State has a good defense (Greg Jones is ill na na) and they have possibly the most favorable schedule in the Big Ten to surprise people with; I think Mark Dantonio must know that if he grabs that win at home over a major program, he can keep the train rolling. MSU avoids Ohio State this year, which is sweet for them. They don't have a road game until early October. They'll be doing well, and drop ND.

Stanford in South Bend? This should be a good game. Andrew Luck is nasty. I'd give it to Stanford.

BC in Chestnut Hill? Roadies are tough. BC isn't especially great, but they'll rattle Crist and company. Good game, and close, but let's go BC.

We now have ND at 2-3 and on a three-game skid. The sharks will be circling Kelly, five games in.

Next three: Pittsburgh and Western Michigan at home, then Navy at the new Giants Stadium in northern Jerz.

Pittsburgh is a loss; that team is a sleeper national title contender. The game is in South Bend, yes -- it could be a statement win for ND, and that team will be through five games at that point. The O and D might have gelled enough to slam home a nice home victory over a likely top-15 squad. I think Dion Lewis runs circles around them, though, and Pitt wins.

 

Western Michigan's a W. Navy should be a W. Losing to service academies, even those that run nasty rushing-based attacks with all kinds of pitches and stuff, is not good.

We've got ND at 4-4 now, through eight.

Next up: Tulsa at home, Utah at home, Army at Yankee Stadium (game should be epic to watch on television).

Tulsa has a sweet offense and can hang some points on the board, but give that one to ND solely on being at home and being more familiar with Kelly's system on both sides of the ball. Utah? Even in South Bend, they're gonna win. Utah could be this year's TCU (or this year's 2008 Utah, to use another analogy). Army should be a win. Again, that game is more about the environs than the actual quality of the contest.

With one game to go, we have ND at 6-5.

Final game: USC, out in California. USC is reeling, Lane Kiffin has never really won anything big as a coach, and ultimately the game isn't a big deal for them except as a rivalry (they can't go to bowls). Still, USC always has crazy talent and the game is in Cali. I'm gonna go off gut and say ND wins a nice roadie to end their season and go to a pre-January 1 bowl.

That would bring us to 7-5 on the Irish for 2010.

Thoughts? Go forth and prosper in the comments.