The last time we got together we witnessed a familiar end to a strange season, as the vaunted Crimson Tide beat up on an overmatched Irish quad in the postseason en route to another national title for Nick Saban. Was it 2012? No, 2020! Whee!

Every fan the next time Notre Dame draws Alabama in the postseason. The football part isn’t working, so…

Still, 2020 was an entertaining season, especially in light of our preseason uncertainty over whether there would be any season at all. Ian Book played his way into the fourth round of the NFL draft and a place in Notre Dame’s record books – in the top three all time in each of passer rating, passing yards, touchdowns, and quarterback rushing yards – that’s etched in Formica at the very least if not in stone. Kyren Williams and Michael Mayer burst onto the national scene as emerging stars. Kyle Hamilton did Kyle Hamilton things, including putting the fear of God into the Alabama offense. Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah won the Butkus Award and stole some souls along the way. The Irish recorded eight wins of at least two touchdowns. And, of course, logged their first win over a #1 team since Lou Holtz knocked off the late Bobby Bowden’s Florida State Seminoles in 1993.

The offseason was somewhat eventful too. Beloved defensive coordinator Clark Lea left to take the head coach position at Vanderbilt, his alma mater. Notre Dame got into a dogfight with LSU for by far the hottest name on the coordinator market, Cincinnati’s Marcus Freeman, and actually won. Safeties coach Terry Joseph left for the same job at Texas and was replaced by grad assistant Chris O’Leary. The NFL draft also featured Liam Eichenberg, Aaron Banks, and Robert Hainsey going in the first three rounds, which was the first time three linemen from the same school had all been selected that early in the same year. Notre Dame landed coveted grad transfers in quarterback Jack Coan from Wisconsin and Cain Madden from Marshall, where he was a second team All American; they also missed out on Tulsa cornerback Akayleb Evans, who chose to follow his position coach to Missouri.

There are two major storylines heading into the 2021 season:

  • How good is Marcus Freeman between the lines? He has blown everyone out of the water outside the lines, to the point where sotto voce whispers would have the Head-Coach-In-Waiting tag attached to him already. Now it’s time for the actual football piece of his job – he was excellent at Cincinnati and optimism runs high, but you never know until the kids actually take the field.
  • How easily will Notre Dame replace its lost production? Gone from last year are the program’s all-time winningest quarterback, the #3 runner (same guy), the top two wideouts, a bone-crushing blocker of a tight end, four offensive linemen who will probably all draw an NFL check this year, the Butkus Award winner, two of the top three in sacks, both starting defensive ends, half of the starting secondary… It’s a lot. There are causes for optimism on all those questions: Coan is a battle-hardened guy, the #1 and #2 runners are pretty damn good, those top two wideouts were only the top two because the guys who are now healthy weren’t last year, the offensive line needs to gel but personnel-wise is actually in pretty good shape, the defensive line is absurdly deep, etc. But they’re still major questions.

If the answers to those are “really good” and “pretty easily,” we could be looking at another special season. The potential is definitely there, and (stop me if you’ve heard this one) the early reports from fall camp are extremely interesting. Some might even say exciting. As they say, though, potential gets coaches fired; nothing that dire is truly on the table for Notre Dame in 2021, with apologies to the billboard market, but it’s an unavoidable fact that potential and reality are two different things. In the diminishing realm of sure things for 2021, we know (a) where we will be on most if not all fall Saturdays, and (b) that we’re likely to heavily self-medicate to varying degrees as a coping mechanism. It’s an Irish football tradition. Let’s get to the predictions on everything else, shall we?


“Age quod agis,” according to my classically trained pops, is essentially “Game on.” Picture this scene as ND as Doc vs. the rest of the CFB world as Johnny.
(Yes, I know this is a bit tortured. But it’s an awesome scene.)

One very minor administrative note: I’ve eschewed decimal places in the percentages for the first time this year. We’re not sequencing the human genome here, the precision is hardly necessary and I think it might actually distract from an easy overview of the viewing public’s temperature.

Big Picture Stuff

What will Notre Dame’s 2020 regular season record be?

  • 12-0 – 10%
  • 11-1 – 37%
  • 10-2 – 45%
  • 9-3 – 8%

The exclusion of 8-4 is not accidental – I double-checked the results spreadsheet and, yes, not one single solitary person picked 8-4. Last year, 4% picked 8 wins or fewer; in 2019 it was 1%; in 2018, 9%; in 2017, understandably, it was 33%. We all have some high expectations, which is especially interesting given that Vegas has set the O/U on Notre Dame’s win total at 8.5. I’m not telling you to bet the farm on the over, but I’m also not NOT telling you that. Capisce?

For what it’s worth, SP+ also pegs the line at 8.5, while FPI is moderately more bullish at 9.2. FEI projects 9.0 wins, with the Irish favored in 11 games and the twelfth game (Wisconsin) a toss-up. That means that 92% of you have a higher opinion of Notre Dame’s 2021 fortunes than do the professional odds makers and the advanced stats models. Are we all delusional? Or are we fairly adding fuzzy logic to our own mental algorithms?

The staff is equally as optimistic as you are, for what it’s worth; 92% also tabbed 10-2 or better (17% for 12-0, 8% for 11-1, and 67% for 10-2), with 8% opting for 9-3.

Win or lose, all roads lead to Rome.

What’s your biggest concern heading into the season?

  • Offensive line play – 43%
  • Cornerbacks – 25%
  • Offensive explosiveness – 13%
  • Receivers – 10%
  • Run game consistency – 4%
  • Quarterback play – 2%
  • Nothing (added specifically for the Rigneys) – 1%
  • Less than 1%:
    • Defensive consistency
    • Defensive ends
    • Traits
    • Having to watch that one game on Peacock

The lead concern last year was run game consistency, although it wasn’t as clear cut as this year’s leader. On the one hand I was a little surprised that votes weren’t spread out a bit more for a team that’s (hopefully) very much in reload mode; on the other hand, the offensive line lost four starters to the NFL. Whatever may be going on elsewhere, and however good Irish offensive line recruiting might be, that’s a major loss and concern about its remediation is very reasonable.

50% of the staff also picked offensive line play as their biggest concern, with 25% citing offensive explosiveness and another 8% tapping each of receivers, corners, and nothing. (What can I say? The Rigneys voted.)

Will Notre Dame be in the playoff discussion on Halloween?

  • Yes – 61%
  • No – 39%

Halloween falls the day after the North Carolina game, which concludes the midseason murderers row of four current top 15 teams in five games. Post Halloween, the Irish face an eminently manageable slate of likely bottom-half-of-FBS teams. It’s not that surprising that 47% of you think Notre Dame will finish 11-1 or 12-0 and 61% of you think they’ll still be in the playoff hunt after the seventh game.

Interestingly, the staff was substantially more bearish, with just 42% feeling rosy. Clearly I have more work to do behind the scenes.


How to handle Halloween zombie attacks.

Superlatives

Who will be Notre Dame’s offensive MVP?

  • Kyren Williams – 42%
  • Michael Mayer – 32%
  • Jack Coan – 15%
  • Kevin Austin – 11%
  • Offensive line – <1%

Not surprisingly, you overwhelmingly favored the two guys who have already proven themselves in an Irish uniform. Even with the 2020 season one game shorter than most Williams put up the second highest rushing total of any back in the Brian Kelly era, trailing only Josh Adams’s 2017 output (1,125 vs. 1,430). Mayer became the second tight end of the Kelly era to co-lead the team in receptions, a feat last accomplished by Tyler Eifert in 2012. Both are very solid bets to be high performers this season.

The staff again voted similarly but more definitively for the St. Louis Shimmier, with 75% taking Williams, 17% Mayer, and 8% Coan.

Who will be Notre Dame’s defensive MVP?

  • Kyle Hamilton – 77%
  • Drew White – 7%
  • Marist Liufau – 7% 🙁
  • Myron Tagovailoa-Amosa – 6%
  • Isaiah Foskey – 3%

As is so often the case for a third-party candidate, all those Liufau votes ended up being wasted. The defense and really all of Irish fandom took a gut punch last week when word leaked out that the beloved Hawaiian had suffered a serious injury; Brian Kelly announced on Monday that it was a broken and dislocated ankle, and that Marist was definitely done for the year. Brutal.

Of the guys who will be on the field on Sunday, you spoke quite clearly in favor of Kyle Hamilton. He’s a preseason All-American basically everywhere and widely expected to be a high first round draft pick, so no surprises here. The staff loves him too to the tune of 84% of their votes; MTA picked up 8% and Kurt Hinish picked up the last 8%.

Which unit will provide the play of the year?

  • Offense – 42%
  • Defense – 54%
  • Special Teams – 4%

This was almost exactly flipped last year, with 52% choosing the offense and 44% choosing the defense. (That other consistent 4% is very likely composed of former kickers and punters – you know we know who you are.)

The staff was even less convinced of potential displays of offensive prowess, with 67% tabbing the defense versus just 25% for the offense and 8% for special teams.

Who will lead the team in touchdowns from scrimmage?

  • Kyren Williams – 74%
  • Michael Mayer – 11%
  • Kevin Austin – 2%
  • The field – 13%

Kyren feels like a very safe bet here given that he led the team last year with 14, and that you would think the nine scored by the second place guy (Ian Book) will probably go mostly to running backs. But who knows! The composition of the receiving corps last year is so different from what it seems to be this year, plus of course we have all the offensive line upheaval to factor in. So it’s anyone’s guess, basically.

The staff felt similarly about the two main guys, with 66% picking Williams and 17% picking Mayer. The remaining 17% went to the field, though, so no love for KA4.

Who will lead the team in receiving yards?

  • Kevin Austin – 53%
  • Michael Mayer – 22%
  • The field – 25%

Who will lead the team in receptions?

  • Michael Mayer – 74%
  • Kevin Austin – 16%
  • The field – 10%

You overwhelmingly favor the super soph tight end to pace the team in catches, but the long-waiting-to-break-out senior freak receiver to pace the team in yards. I actually voted for Austin for both, because I think if he’s healthy all season he’s going to nail this down pretty easily. But the reader vote combo is a very reasonable position too.

67% of the staff took Austin to lead in yards with 17% taking Mayer; like you, it flipped with receptions, with 92% for Mayer and 8% for Austin.

Michael Mayer to opposing linebackers

Who will lead the team in sacks?

  • Isaiah Foskey – 31%
  • Myron Tagovailoa-Amosa – 25%
  • Marist Liufau – 19%
  • Jordan Botelho – 6%
  • Drew White – 2%
  • The field – 17%

Foskey is the leading returning sack producer, so a vote for him makes sense. He only had 4.5 though, and two of those came against Duke and South Florida when he was unblocked, so a vote for someone else makes sense too. MTA has some promise and has shifted out to defensive end, which should give him more opportunities. Liufau is… Sigh.

Botelho is arguably the most physically apt player on the roster for rushing the passer – he just needs to put it all together and stay in control. Drew White, man, don’t sleep on him. He had only three fewer tackles for loss in 2019-20 than Khalid Kareem did in 2018-19. He’s deceptively good  (lol) at getting through the line of scrimmage.

The staff broke out as 33% for Foskey, 25% for MTA, 8% for Botelho, 8% for Liufau, and 25% for the field.

Who will lead the team in interceptions?

  • Kyle Hamilton – 55%
  • Clarence Lewis – 16%
  • Houston Griffith – 15%
  • Cam Hart – 8%
  • The field – 6%

The main question here is probably how well other teams will be able to avoid Hamilton. If the answer is “not well,” I would expect him to run away with this. 50% of the staff took Hamilton, 33% took Lewis, 8% Griffith, and 8% the field.

Who will be the most impactful true freshman whose name does not rhyme with Snake Disher?

  • WR/PR Lorenzo Styles – 60%
  • OG Rocco Spindler – 12%
  • RB Logan Diggs – 8%
  • WR Deion Colzie – 7%
  • K Josh Bryan – 3%
  • QB Tyler Buchner – 2%
  • The field – 8%

If starting LT Blake Fisher was an option, no doubt 100% of votes would’ve been cast for him. Too easy. Forget this season – if he stays healthy he could be the most impactful true freshman the Irish have had in a very, very long time. Styles feels like a good roll of the dice given his electric ability in the open field and his apparent closeness to actually being on that field – in the season’s first official depth chart he was listed second behind Braden Lenzy at one outside receiver spot.

Spindler also made that depth chart, so good work by all of you. Diggs and Colzie have wowed in practice and could make a dent or at least an appearance or two. Bryan did pretty well in camp and provides some insurance for veteran Jon Doerer. Tyler Buchner… should really redshirt this year. Let’s hope.

The staff again voted similarly, with 67% choosing Styles, 25% Spindler, and 8% the field.

Over/Under

4.5 wins in first 6 games (@ Florida State, Toledo, Purdue, Wisconsin [neutral site], Cincinnati, @ Virginia Tech)

  • Readers: 92% over, 8% under
  • Staff: 100% over

5.5 wins in final 6 games (USC, North Carolina, Navy, @ Virginia, Georgia Tech, @ Stanford)

  • Readers: 36% over, 64% under
  • Staff: 25% over, 75% under

Love the confidence early. Less in love with how dramatically it faded… When I was putting this survey together, I had a feeling 10-2 was going to be a very popular season prediction. So how do we get to those 10 wins? Clearly the overwhelming consensus is that the Irish will at least split with Wisconsin and Cincinnati in the first half of the season – which is interesting to me, because I think those are the two toughest teams on our schedule.

By the same token, there’s likely a strong belief that the Irish will at best split with USC and North Carolina. I see both of them as somewhat overhyped (USC more so than North Carolina, but still), so that surprises me a little. Here’s a novel concept: Let’s play some games and see what happens!

Please, please, please let the Stanford game resemble this scene. I would mention other opponents, but I don’t want to tempt fate too much.

+190 point differential (post-2016 average: +187)

  • Readers: 54% over, 46% under
  • Staff: 33% over, 67% under

Cautious optimism from the readers and decided pessimism from the staff. About half of the schedule features defenses that one might reasonably assume will give the Irish a chance to run it up. Achieving this line will rest heavily on how well the team fares against the other half.

32.5 30+ yard scrimmage plays (post 2016 average: 32.3)

  • Readers: 65% over, 35% under
  • Staff: 46% over, 55% under

This number would be roughly in the top half nationally in any given year since 2016. So hitting it isn’t necessarily remarkable in a national context, but it would say something about how explosive Notre Dame’s offense is compared to its own recent history. The Irish had 44 such plays in the 2017 season, which ranked 6th nationally; they don’t have to repeat that to be good this year, but if they can get to 35+ it would say very good things about where Toonces has taken the offense.

Braden Lenzy vs. Kevin Stepherson’s pro-rated 2017 production (39 touches, 707 yards)

  • Readers: 36% over, 64% under
  • Staff: 42% over, 58% under

KJ played 8 games in 2017; he missed the first four on double secret probation for definitely not toking up, sparkled in the next eight, then missed the bowl game after the shoplifting incident. He still logged 19 catches for 359 yards and led the team in receiving touchdowns – in a receiving corps that included Equanimeous St. Brown, Chase Claypool, and Miles Boykin. He would’ve led in receiving yards by a comfortable margin had he played a full season. Dammit, Kevin…

Anyway, where were we? Right. In addition to his receiving production, Stepherson also had 5 carries for 76 yards. When he was on the field, he was a legitimate game-wrecking talent for defensive coordinators to contend with. The 2021 Irish don’t need Lenzy to be that good, but if he’s “we can’t focus on Austin and Mayer and Kyren too much or this guy will kill us” good, watch out. KJ’s what-if 2017 production would be a good benchmark for that type of impact.

For me, the formation of this answer really requires two questions: Do you think Lenzy will stay healthy all season? Do you think he’s good enough to get to the mark? Fun fact: If you take his own 2019 production and pro-rate it for the number of touches KJ would’ve had in a full 2017, you get 738 yards. Hmm.

33% third down conversion defense (last year: 31.4%, 11th in FBS)

  • Readers: 56% over, 44% under
  • Staff: 67% over, 33% under

Wow, does everyone have faith in Marcus Freeman. Notre Dame lost the Butkus Award winner, both starting defensive ends, a greybeard safety, and their most experienced corner… AND their defensive coordinator. And the majority of the audience expects them to improve on this elite number, which was less than a quarter point behind Clemson. Alright folks. Let’s do it.

3,000 passing yards by Jack Coan (Ian Book last season: 2,830 in 12 games)

  • Readers: 63% over, 37% under
  • Staff: 42% over, 58% under

Presumably those who took the under here believe the Irish will feature a very conservative, run-heavy attack with “game manager” Jack Coan under center. That’s a reasonable position; in his last full season as a starter at Wisconsin, one of the most run-heavy teams in college football, he threw for 2,727 yards in 14 games. See, the thing is though, they’re one of the most run-heavy teams in college football, and I suspect Tommy Rees will have a run-favored but more balanced attack this year.

If the Wake Forest game hadn’t been canceled last year, Book almost certainly would’ve hit this mark. He did hit it in 2019 (3,034 yards), and he would’ve in 2018 too if he had been the starter for the full season (2,628 yards in 9 starts). I feel pretty good about the over here.

2.5 consensus All-Americans for Notre Dame (first or second team)

  • Readers: 49% over, 51% under
  • Staff: 42% over, 58% under

So, point of order here first: officially, there is no consensus or unanimous status for anything other than first team. [Stephen A voice] HOWEVER… We’re all able to use our eyes, right? If any of Notre Dame’s players make at least three of the recognized selectors’ second teams, we’ll unofficially consider them consensus second team All Americans. Because we can, that’s why.

Clearly I couldn’t set the line at 1.5 or you would’ve all taken the over, as Kyle Hamilton is an absolute gimme here. There’s a decent chance that Kyren Williams will work his way into the picture too; in fact he made the AP preseason first team as an all-purpose player. The big question here is who else might crash his way into the national consciousness.

Will Cain Madden, a second team All American last year, garner similar accolades on a bigger stage this year? Will Jarrett Patterson, who has also received some preseason All America attention, be there at the end of the year? Will another defender emerge? What about Kevin Austin? If he’s healthy all year and has the impact everyone who has ever seen him practice thinks he can, could he get some votes? Fascinating stuff.

4.5 announcer chuckles over Kyren Williams undressing someone in the open field

  • Readers: 62% over, 38% under
  • Staff: 83% over, 17% under

If Tony Dungy was still in the booth this line would be at least two points higher.


Yes, Doc. Yes it is.

14.5 mentions of Jack Coan’s lacrosse background

  • Readers: 74% over, 26% under
  • Staff: 83% over, 17% under

“You know Mike, Coan is more athletic than people give him credit for – he was a highly regarded youth lacrosse player.” “Is that so Drew? Wow.”

You know it’s coming.

19.5 mentions of how Coan always wanted to go to Notre Dame

  • Readers: 69% over (nice), 31% under
  • Staff: 67% over, 33% under

Hey, did you know that Pitt quarterback Kenny Pickett always wanted to go to Notre Dame? How about Northwestern’s current coach and former linebacker Pat Fitzgerald? Or former Boston College linebacker Luke Kuechly? Remember that? You know who else wanted to go to Notre Dame, but then he didn’t, but then he did?

10.5 in-game camera shots of an exasperated Brian Kelly

  • Readers: 67% over, 33% under
  • Staff: 42% over, 58% under

Yoga-Loving BK is a much more chill dude than Purple-Faced BK was, but in a season that will thrust many new faces into prominent roles… Hey, who knows?

BK accepting the media’s challenge on whether he can get purpler

Prop Bets

We’ll see the first Power 5 coach canned in…

  • September: Readers 12%, Staff 33%
  • October: Readers 55%, Staff 58%
  • November: Readers 30%, Staff 8%
  • December: Readers 3%, Staff 0%

After Nebraska’s very bad showing against Illinois in the opener, followed by fourth-year head coach Scott Frost saying this:

…do any of the 88% of you who took something after September want to re-cast your votes?

That first hot seat ejection will be…

  • Scott Frost: Readers 21%, Staff 33%
  • Justin Fuente: Readers 18%, Staff 8%
  • Herm Edwards: Readers 17%, Staff 8%
  • Dino Babers: Readers 12%, Staff 25%
  • Clay Helton: Readers 5%, Staff 0%
  • Jim Harbaugh: Readers 4%, Staff 8%
  • Jeff Brohm: Readers 3%, Staff 0%
  • The field: Readers 20%, Staff 17%

To the 79% of you who voted for someone other than Scott Frost: See above.

The first Power 5 COVID-related forefeit will occur in the…

  • SEC: Readers 38%, Staff 17%
  • Pac 12: Readers 25%, Staff 25%
  • Big Ten: Readers 17%, Staff 8%
  • Big 12: Readers 12%, Staff 33%
  • ACC: Readers 8%, Staff 17%

Y’all are sleeping on the Big 12 biiiiiiig time, and severely underestimating how much value SEC country puts on football. The Big 12 is a train wreck in all kinds of ways, and lest we forget, they had multiple COVID cancellations last year before the season even started. The Pac 12 is right there with them administratively.

I mean it just has to be the Big 12 in this position the way the last month has gone for them.

In what week?

  • Week 0: Readers <1%, Staff 0%
  • Week 1: Readers 10%, Staff 17%
  • Week 2: Readers 40%, Staff 42%
  • Week 3: Readers 32%, Staff 8%
  • Week 4: Readers 3%, Staff 0%
  • Later: Readers 14%, Staff 33%

Roll the die, I guess, although I strongly suspect (as do most of the voters, clearly) that we won’t have to wait too long.

Any Notre Dame player will finish higher in the Heisman voting than Ian Book did last year…

  • True: Readers 36%, Staff 36%
  • False: Readers 64%, Staff 64%

STOP THE PRESSES! WE ARE PERFECTLY IN SYNC! Ahem… The Heisman futures board at VegasInsider, which does a consensus calculation for the major Vegas books, has  Oklahoma quarterback Spencer Rattler as the current Heisman favorite at +650. The first non-quarterback is Texas running back Bijan Robinson at +3000. The first Notre Dame player is Jack Coan at +10000, which is the same as LSU cornerback Derek Stingley, and the only other Notre Dame player is Kyren Williams at +15000, which is the same as Maryland quarterback Taulia Tagovailoa.

Soooo… Probably a decent move to bet against this one. Maybe if Kyle Hamilton plays out of his mind all season, or maybe if Kyren goes wild for a 12-0 Irish team. But it’ll be an uphill climb.

More scrimmage yards for…

  • Kyren Williams and Braden Lenzy: Readers 51%, Staff 42%
  • Kevin Austin and Michael Mayer: Readers 34%, Staff 42%
  • Chris Tyree and Kevin Austin: Readers 15%, Staff 16%

Like the Lenzy vs. Stepherson question above, much of this boils down to a mix of health and talent. If Lenzy is healthy all year, he and Kyren seem like a pretty solid bet. Post-2016, the top runner and third receiver have combined for around 1,800 yards on average. Meanwhile, whether you take the top two receivers or the top receiver and second runner, the result is pretty much the same – each combo has averaged around 1,500 yards.

Jon Doerer will overtake Allen Pinkett as Notre Dame’s second all-time leading scorer (needs 111 points, had 93 last year and 108 in 2019).

  • Readers: 35% true, 65% false
  • Staff: 17% true, 83% false

If you look at Doerer’s 2019 you might think this line is reasonably ambitious. If you consider that his 2019 was a Notre Dame single-season record and that he struggled mightily in the second half of last season (11/14 in the first  seven games, 4/9 in the next five), it might feel extremely ambitious. His leg has never been a question; the unknown is whether he will settle back into the consistency that served him so well through the first Clemson game.

I think it’s possible. I also think if Doerer hits this it will likely mean very good things for the season.

The final season stats will include more…

  • Pass attempts by Drew Pyne: Readers 47%, Staff 50%
  • Rush attempts by Tyler Buchner: Readers 53%, Staff 50%

Post-2016 pass attempts by non-starting QBs by year: 25, 6, 17, 6. With Coan all but certain to leave after this season, Kelly and Rees really, really need to get that number up this season. I do think Buchner will play in at least four games this year, and when he gets in they’ll probably run him. Whether Pyne will outpace those opportunities with his arm, I don’t know.

Notre Dame will have a top 20 SP+ offense and defense (last year: 19th offense, 20th defense).

  • True: 56% Readers, 58% Staff
  • False: 44% Readers, 42% Staff

A decent majority of us expect the quality of play to more or less hold serve versus last year, despite losing a lot of production on both sides of the ball, the defensive coordinator moving on to a head coaching position, and facing a tougher schedule than last year’s quasi-ACC-member slate. Hmm.

I promise you, I really am the resident optimist here.

Notre Dame’s highest ranked end-of-season opponent per the playoff committee will be…

  • #12 Wisconsin: Readers 32%, Staff 25%
  • #8 Cincinnati: Readers 28%, Staff 25%
  • #10 North Carolina: Readers 24%, Staff 25%
  • #15 USC: Readers 17%, Staff 25%

Those are current AP rankings… Interesting that the readers have more faith in Cincinnati than they do in North Carolina, if only marginally. For what it’s worth I do too, but I’ll admit I don’t have a great feel for it. For those of you who voted for USC, I kind of wonder if you’re aware that Clay Helton is still there. No backsies though (for you, or for USC for the Helton hire).

Notre Dame’s highest ranked end-of-season win (not counting a potential bowl game) will be…

  • Wisconsin: Readers 29%, Staff 25%
  • The field: Readers 71%, Staff 75%

One way to read this is that the 90% of you (and 83% of us) who predict at least one loss overwhelmingly slant towards believing that Wisconsin will be on the wrong side of the Irish ledger this year. Another way to read this is that since 68% of you (and 75% of us) don’t think Wisconsin will be 2021’s highest ranked opponent when all the dust settles, there’s no bright line between this and the season projections.

Anyway, Go Irish, Beat Badgers, is what I say.

Oh, Wisconsin. I don’t think you’re getting the opponent you think you are.

Wrapping Up

Last year, despite losing a game to COVID, Notre Dame logged a fourth consecutive season with 10 wins for the first time in school history. Yes, they didn’t regularly play 12 games a year until the 1990’s, but still, that’s a remarkable run. We’re sports fans, and the nature of sports fandom is that there’s always something wrong. As Lou said, first people complain you’re not winning enough, then that you’re not winning all of them, then that you’re winning all of them but not the right way. We’re a perpetually unsatisfied bunch. And that’s fine, that’s part of being invested in the team’s fortunes and part of the entertainment value to us. Still…

43-8 over the last four seasons – only Alabama, Clemson, Ohio State, and Oklahoma, in that order, have posted higher win percentages over the last four seasons. Two playoff appearances, joining those same four teams as the only programs ever to make multiple playoff appearances. Big Q and Glinch, Love and Pride, Coney and Tranquill, Book and Wimbush all buddy cop movie casting candidates. Mapletron. Adams. Mayer. Gilman. Wuuuuuuuu. Tyree. BOYKIN IS GOING IN! Tremble, Destroyer of Wills. Avery Davis, the consummate team player. It’s been a really fun ride with a really fun bunch of kids to pull for, and I hope we all can take a step back from the routine lamentations of a sports fan to just appreciate how enjoyable it has been on the vast majority of fall Saturdays to follow this program.

There are a lot of questions for this team, probably as many as I can remember heading into a season for quite some time. On the other hand, there also seems to be a plethora of really fun answers, such that the questions give way more to excitement for what might become than to concern over what might befall. Will I feel the same way in November? Who knows! But for now the sun rises on another college football season, and it is warm and bright and glorious, and it brings with it all the hope and elation of a fresh new day.

GAME. ON.