Notre Dame Fighting Irish
The story for the Irish in 2007 is the complete lack of experience, along with having to face an early schedule that would be difficult for a veteran team. Notre Dame returns just nine starters in all, losing a laundry list of quality talent to graduation and the NFL. The schedule starts off with a home game against Georgia Tech, who will surely feel welcome to run all over the Irish’s new 3-4 defensive scheme employed by new defensive coordinator Corwin Brown. September 8th and 15th will feature a pair of Big Ten road games against Penn State then Michigan. October brings a trip to UCLA, as well as home games against Boston College and USC. An almost entirely new team will be lucky to win more than one of those five match ups.
With the loss of Brady Quinn to the NFL, Charlie Weis will have to decide which one of four young signal callers will run his offense. Big recruit freshman Jimmy Clausen and the athletic Demetrius Jones are the front runners, but the competition is still open. The biggest positive for the offense will be at running back, as Travis Thomas returns to that side of the ball after spending last season as a linebacker. Thomas is a talented bruiser that will take pressure off of the quarterback. Tight end John Carlson is one of the best in the country, but there is little experience on the outside. Only two starters return for the offensive line, which could prove to be a problem.
This season will showcase the new 3-4 scheme and six new starters.
Strong safety Tom Zbikowski returns, along with DE Trevor Laws, CB
Terrail Lambert, LB Joe Brockington, and last season’s leading
tackler Maurice Crum. Without a nose tackle more suited to play the
3-4 than 272 lb. junior Pat Kuntz, the team will have trouble against
the run even if the linebackers are decent. The secondary not allowing
big plays will be the key to the Irish not being blown out.
Senior punter Geoff Price has NFL ability and averaged 45.4 yards
per attempt last season. Nate Whitaker seems to be the favorite for
the kicking job, but he’s only a sophomore and will have to
establish himself over time.
If the team can survive through October and not get pounded too severely by USC, they’ll have an easier road through November’s schedule against Navy, Air Force, Duke and Stanford. The Irish will finish at about 4-8, obviously not making it to a bowl.
-AB
Read up on the other conferences that Ace has previewed!
|
|
