CAN SOMEONE MAKE THEIR PREDICTIONS FOR THE 2007 FIGHTING IRISH AT THIS PRESENT TIME. IF THE IRISH WIN A BOWL GAME In 2007

THEN KUDOS TO CHARLIE WEIS AND EVERYONE. DOES ANYONE THINK THE IRISH HAVE A CHANCE AT A 8-4 SEASON AGAIN OR COULD THIS BE A REBUILDING SEASON SINCE BRADY AND DARIUS ARE GONE. ANY PREDICTIONS PLEASE LETS HERE FROM ALL THE FANS...THANK YOU<

Well...Coach Dan you are back. I personally will go in wanting to win them all. I would call 8-4 a very good season for us, although frowning about the whole thing.

 

Unknown offense at this point, New unknown defense. If the Corwin Brown defense can keep us from blowouts I'd say victory.

I will lead the 'optimistic' band wagon here and say...11-2 with a bowl win. I feel that we will win one or the other between Michigan or USC. I am throwing logic out and going with a feel here.

 

Sept 1 Georgia Tech W

Sept 8 @ Penn St W

Sept 15 @ Michigan

Sept 22 Michigan St W

Sept 29 @ Purdue W

Oct 6 @UCLA W

Oct 13 Boston College W

Oct 20 USC

Nov 3 Navy W

Nov 10 Air Force W

Nov 17 Duke W

Nov 24 @ Stanford W

 

And of course...a BCS Bowl win!

I will lead the 'optimistic' band wagon here and say...11-2 with a bowl win. I feel that we will win one or the other between Michigan or USC. I am throwing logic out and going with a feel here.

 

Sept 1 Georgia Tech W

Sept 8 @ Penn St W

Sept 15 @ Michigan

Sept 22 Michigan St W

Sept 29 @ Purdue W

Oct 6 @UCLA W

Oct 13 Boston College W

Oct 20 USC

Nov 3 Navy W

Nov 10 Air Force W

Nov 17 Duke W

Nov 24 @ Stanford W

 

And of course...a BCS Bowl win!

 

wouldn't you be leading the OPTIMISTIC bandwagon? What's pessimistic about a BCS bowl win and 11-2? Is the optimistic take undefeated and a national title?

wouldn't you be leading the OPTIMISTIC bandwagon? What's pessimistic about a BCS bowl win and 11-2? Is the optimistic take undefeated and a national title?

 

Yes, yes indeed. Thank you heisman for the correction. I meant 'optimistic'...my fingers and brain did not make the connection is all? As for the undefeated with national title...that would be 'overly optimistic', yet would be greatly recieved.

OK, here are a couple of scenarios.

 

Logical view

Should win (4) - Navy, Air Force, Duke, @Stanford

Possible but not guarantees (6) - Georgia Tech, @PSU, MSU, @Purdue, @ UCLA, BC

Going to be tough (2) - @ Michigan, USC

If we split the "possible" games, that would make us 7-5.

 

Optimistic view

Should win (7) - MSU, @Purdue, BC, Navy, Air Force, Duke, @Stanford

Possible wins (4) - Georgia Tech, @PSU, @Michigan, @UCLA

Going to tough (1) - USC

Again, splitting the possilbe wins would put us at 9-3.

 

I will split the difference as I am concerned about our youth with the tough early schedule but I am confident our defense will be significantly improved and that should help.

 

Stank's Final Verdict 8-4 plus a bowl victory.

Prediction is tough this year... it really depends on how we start... strong starts bring confidence... i'm sure we can surprise. otherwise, we'll be rebuilding.

 

I think the D will be a positive force us... here are my optimistic picks.

 

Sept 1 Georgia Tech W

Sept 8 @ Penn St W

Sept 15 @ Michigan

Sept 22 Michigan St W

Sept 29 @ Purdue W

Oct 6 @UCLA

Oct 13 @ Boston College

Oct 20 USC W

Nov 3 Navy W

Nov 10 Air Force W

Nov 17 Duke W

Nov 24 @ Stanford W

 

I predict 9-3... No BCS. And a Bowl Win.

 

My Pessimistic Prediction

 

Sept 1 Georgia Tech W

Sept 8 @ Penn St

Sept 15 @ Michigan

Sept 22 Michigan St W

Sept 29 @ Purdue W

Oct 6 @UCLA

Oct 13 Boston College

Oct 20 USC

Nov 3 Navy W (close)

Nov 10 Air Force W

Nov 17 Duke W

Nov 24 @ Stanford W

 

7 and 6 ... bowl win.

A lot of these games are going to be spot feels. BC has a new head coach. PSU might have players sitting out if the charges hold up for the two remaining trouble makers. GT and MSU - both teams which gave the Irish trouble last year - have new QBs. And Michigan is typically a hard game to predict. So in earnest, I'm going to hold off on concrete projections of the future.

 

But as of today, my fuzzy guesstimate (with a little flavor) is something like this:

 

Georgia Tech W 24-7

@ Penn St W 27-23

@ Michigan L 38-13

Michigan St W 35-21

@ Purdue L 30-20

@UCLA L 34-14

Boston College W 20-3

USC L 33-21

Navy W 38-6

Air Force W 26-9

Duke W 45-0

Nov 24 @ Stanford W 34-0

 

8-4, with a close bowl victory, and a much improved defense as the season progresses.

Why is everybody predicting a bowl win when we don't even know who we'd be playing

Why is everybody predicting a bowl win when we don't even know who we'd be playing

 

A) We need to have hope - its been over a decade since we won a bowl game, so its the only way to dull the repeated pain .

 

B) We probably won't be faced with another overmatched BCS bowl game scenario. If that holds true, and our opponent is relatively equal from a talent standpoint, I'm very confident that Weis comes away with a "W".

 

C) Weis will probably blow a mega-gasket if we don't get a win in a bowl game. I really think that no matter what, he'll find a way, because its personal at this point.

Sept 1 Georgia Tech W

Sept 8 @ Penn St could go either way I think we win this one or the Michigan game, but not both

Sept 15 @ Michigan

Sept 22 Michigan St W

Sept 29 @ Purdue W

Oct 6 @UCLA L going to be tough playing there and they will be a very good team next year

Oct 13 @ Boston College possible loss because we are looking forward to SC

Oct 20 USC W

Nov 3 Navy W

Nov 10 Air Force W

Nov 17 Duke W

Nov 24 @ Stanford W

Why is everybody predicting a bowl win when we don't even know who we'd be playing

 

Florida Sate...and we should be running on all cylinders by then. It's really a positive way to bide our time until kick off Sept 1st. No harm really in doing so.

I will lead the 'optimistic' band wagon here and say...11-2 with a bowl win. I feel that we will win one or the other between Michigan or USC. I am throwing logic out and going with a feel here.

 

Sept 1 Georgia Tech W

Sept 8 @ Penn St W

Sept 15 @ Michigan

Sept 22 Michigan St W

Sept 29 @ Purdue W

Oct 6 @UCLA W

Oct 13 Boston College W

Oct 20 USC

Nov 3 Navy W

Nov 10 Air Force W

Nov 17 Duke W

Nov 24 @ Stanford W

 

And of course...a BCS Bowl win!

Right on, man!!!!!

A lot of these games are going to be spot feels. BC has a new head coach. PSU might have players sitting out if the charges hold up for the two remaining trouble makers. GT and MSU - both teams which gave the Irish trouble last year - have new QBs. And Michigan is typically a hard game to predict. So in earnest, I'm going to hold off on concrete projections of the future.

 

But as of today, my fuzzy guesstimate (with a little flavor) is something like this:

 

Georgia Tech W 24-7

@ Penn St W 27-23

@ Michigan L 38-13

Michigan St W 35-21

@ Purdue L 30-20

@UCLA L 34-14

Boston College W 20-3

USC L 33-21

Navy W 38-6

Air Force W 26-9

Duke W 45-0

Nov 24 @ Stanford W 34-0

 

8-4, with a close bowl victory, and a much improved defense as the season progresses.

 

Calves...you seem to be pretty optimistic about our offense. That's a lot of points for us. I agree with the 8-4 though and who the heck knows if we win a bowl game.

Calves...you seem to be pretty optimistic about our offense. That's a lot of points for us. I agree with the 8-4 though and who the heck knows if we win a bowl game.

 

Part of the points thing is I have this weird feeling that we're going to score points on defense/special teams like we did when Willingham was in his first year. Zibby has proven he can do it as a PR, AA could be that missing link on KR... and I dunno, the defensive scoring hunch may be the Corwin Brown effect that's making my head dizzy, I dunno...

 

But I think the offense will be good. Not as explosive as last year's group - not expecting the same Quinn to Samardzija heroics which became so familiar these last two years - but a consistent, ball control offense with plenty of tall red zone threats to chose from.

 

But like I said, nothing is set in stone. A lot of things, both good and bad, can happen to change perspectives. I just threw out a little something to chew on for the guy that started this thread, and to bide the time 'til the next recruit commits, or 'til real football starts again.

Georgia Tech W 27-16

@ Penn St W 31-23

@ Michigan L 13-34

Michigan St W 33-19

@ Purdue W 27-9

@UCLA W 26-24

Boston College W 17-10

USC L 13-37

Navy W 31-20

Air Force W 27-13

Duke W 41-3

Nov 24 @ Stanford W 27-6

 

10-2 but overmatched against Michigan and USC. We go to another BCS Bowl and lose a game similar to the Ohio State game two years ago. We suffer threw hearing about a weak schedule and getting too much respect than win the NC from 2008-2010. Heard it here first. Three-peat.

13-0

 

No really, with losses to psu, um, uSUKc, i see a good season, with hopefully a bowl win against a team that we actually have a chance against! 10-3

Aren't we underestimating our first game against Georgia Tech? With the offense we had last year, we were only able to score 14 points against their defense...and GT returns 10 starters back! Granted they melt down at times (Clemson and West Virginia come to mind), I am sure they are foaming at the mouth to give us our first loss of the season, as we did to them last year. Any thoughts?

Good points Mikey,

 

I just think that we hope we get by GT at home! Trust me i am concerned about GT, But i really hope we get by BC! man i really F'ing hate bc!

Aren't we underestimating our first game against Georgia Tech? With the offense we had last year, we were only able to score 14 points against their defense...and GT returns 10 starters back! Granted they melt down at times (Clemson and West Virginia come to mind), I am sure they are foaming at the mouth to give us our first loss of the season, as we did to them last year. Any thoughts?

 

I'm pretty sure they lost more than just 1 starter... when I compare the old depth chart listed on rivals - last updated the day before the ND/GT game - and the new one from GT's official website, it looks like they've lost 4 starters to graduation, including both their corners. Still, most of their D is intact, and should be a handful.

 

With regards to our odds/confidence this year, two things stand out to me personally.

 

- With a new QB, some new faces at OL, and a guaranteed more physical featured RB - not to bash here, but no more duck 'n cover from D Walker - the offense should be more ground oriented. Its something ND got away from a lot of the time last year, and caused the attack to become too 1-dimensional. Its only projections at this point, but the offense looks less explosive, but more balanced and "healthy".

- Home field advantage. For all we know, the home opener could be 42 degrees with a little bit of freezing rain - something the boys from Georgia wouldn't be prepped for. But weather aside, I feel pretty confident if we handled our business on the road last year, that we can hold our own at a home opener.

You're right Calves. 9 starters are returning on the GT D, not 10. My bad. I wasn't able to gather two that left, but I hope they were vital losses.