I've found that people here are pretty straight shooters even though we all bleed blue and gold. Just curious to know how many wins are realistic this comin season...

I think 7 or 8 is a realistic number for this season. Tough schedule, but there are only 2 teams who have more talent and are better teams (I think we know who they are) than ND.

I think eight is waaay too optimistic. Hope you prove me wrong. Like I said a while back, this coming season reminds me of how I felt going into 1993, and we all know how that turned out...rather well. Could have been much more...but still a great season with a bunch of overachievers...

One game at a time and who knows. If this team doesn't worry about who they are playing next they could win 8-9 games.

i think 8 is realistic; 10 is VERY optimistic...

 

if we use '05 as an example, we should overachieve and i do think we'll surprise at least one team who is favored against us. but i also worry that, as a young team, we'll lose to somebody we will be favored against.

IF Charlie turns the Horses loose we will get ten and maybe eleven, the only team that i feel that can beat us is Boston College and USC, Michigan will be tough but beatable. . If the QB improves we will get eleven . , thats a very good opinion and you watch this is going to be an achieving team from the get go, . say what you want but this is how it will be. go Irish.

This team to me is really scary - they are young and inexperienced and confidence is going to be a major factor. If we get beat by GT handily at home and have to go to UM and PSU and lose there, we could be in trouble. Once a teams confidence is shaken, especially a young team, it is hard to get back. So I think we will know what kind of team we have by the forth game. In this scenerio I could see a 7-5 or 8-4 kind of year.

With that said, I think we beat GT, play well at UM (coin toss) and go to PSU and win, If thats the case, I could see 9-3.

Alot depends on the GT game....

Realistic vs Unrealistic???

 

I dont know what that means... but this is whats gonna happen.

 

Losses 90% + sure

fUSC and scUM

 

Wins 90% + sure

Stanford, Navy, Purdue, MSU, Duke, Airforce.

 

Splits(meaning we will split these games 50/50)

G Tech, BC, Penn State, UCLA.

 

Ending Record will be 8 wins 4 losses Plus or minus 1.

 

Granted teams will sometimes beat teams they shouldn't and other teams loose when they should win.

Any Thoughts????

Over the weekend had a chance to browse a couple of the summer college projections, they have us rated 38th and losing the first three with a toss up for BC and one indicated we end with 6 wins the other 5........

 

Plus both indicated that ND has a brutal first half schedule...... with that said I hope we suprise a bunch of people and as a minimum go to PS who and kick some butt, smoke BC ,and win a bowl game.... any bowl just win one. I am so sick of hearing about our losing bowl record.

 

As always by the end of the season the talking heads will never give us any credit for the schedule.

 

Great line from the movie gladiator which I hope Charlie repeats to Corwin.......... At my Command Unleash Hell........Go Irish.

ya know, they ( the CFB pundit class) said the same thing about us in '05. hell, corso said we might start 0-6!!

 

and while we did have more returning starters, i think the "script" will be similar this year to '05, in that CW will be running some new formations and plays. stuff not seen the last couple of years.

 

i really think CW is the type of coach to play to his players strengths. hence with jeff and BW, we had a wide open passing attack. now, with what i think will be an improved line, great TE's and the deepest RB stable since holtz, a power running attack mixed in with a lot of play action and screens will give our early opponents fits, i think.

 

but let's not kid ourselves either. the qb position will be huge and will probably determine whether we win 6 or 9 this year...

 

if it's possible to be optimistic and scared shitless at the same time, well, that's me right now!

I think eight is waaay too optimistic. Hope you prove me wrong. Like I said a while back, this coming season reminds me of how I felt going into 1993, and we all know how that turned out...rather well. Could have been much more...but still a great season with a bunch of overachievers...

 

In my opinion, if this team does not win 8 games, it is a huge downer. We can not have so-called "Rebuilding years" and go 7-5 or 6-6 or even worse.

8-4 is my minimum expectation for this 2007 Irish team and I feel it will be 9-3 when all is said and done.

 

win 5 of the first 8 and the final four. losses to USC, UM and either PSU or UCLA.

 

Mark it down

It's all about the mistakes. How many mistakes does this team make during the learning curve games (the first 4 games)? The odds of making big mistakes is obviously higher and, therefore, so is the likely hood of disaster. These unknowns make it impossible to forecast accurately how the season will turn out.

 

One thing I predict will be an ironic turn of events this year is that I believe our defense will actually be holding us in games while the offense struggles mightily.

the one thing we should keep in mind here, however, is that sports nowadays ( for many reasons, including camps, travel teams, etc. ) is ruled almost more by TALENT and not experience. there are far too many examples to catalog here but just remember that this ND team will have FAR more 4 and 5 star players than any ND team of the last decade. now, does this mean they'll win 9 games? no, not necessarily. BUT they have the talent to surprise more than a few teams.

 

couple that with what we all believe will be good coaching and i think you have to be optimistic that they will have more than 6 wins!

the one thing we should keep in mind here, however, is that sports nowadays ( for many reasons, including camps, travel teams, etc. ) is ruled almost more by TALENT and not experience. there are far too many examples to catalog here but just remember that this ND team will have FAR more 4 and 5 star players than any ND team of the last decade. now, does this mean they'll win 9 games? no, not necessarily. BUT they have the talent to surprise more than a few teams.

 

couple that with what we all believe will be good coaching and i think you have to be optimistic that they will have more than 6 wins!

 

Seems to be a logical correlation BI, but I don't see many examples of that in recent NOTRE DAME history. Off hand, i can think of 4 star talent here that didn't do very well on the following occasions. 1994, the entire Bob Davie era, Ty's last two years. We overachieved in Ty's first year but quite a bit of it was luck and we were more than exposed at seasons end. I understand that we are recruiting better now than we have in the past 15 years, but those players aren't necessarily hitting the field yet. I would find it a small miracle if we won 9 games. I'm hedging my bet closer to 6-7 wins...depending on how the first two games turn out. And Rick, absolutely no way do we win 11 this year. I like the optimism, but there is a fine line between optimism and reality.

domeanddomer, OK that your opinion , I just feel that when we beat Michigan in the Big house we could go all the way , as one sports caster is famous for saying, i think that 10 or 11 is very possible, we now have some horses and smart big guys to run the range, count on it . we will be a great team . so ive put yea down in the book. you must read Black Irish 42, comments. we have some talent this year. go irish

8 or 9 wins would be impressive w/ the schedule. I still think we see a surprising win (Mich?) and a surprising loss (BC, UCLA, MSU-I hope not, new coach could make it hard to gameplan) I see a 8-4 or 9-3 team taking it to the Cotton to break the bowl streak.

Next year I'm w/ Rick and higher expectations!

A lot of people refer to how this season will mirror the 2005 season, but I can't see that happening. In a sense, we kinda got lucky in 2005. Here is who we played against in 05.

 

Pittsburgh- Over rated team in 05.

Michigan - Ended season 7-6. Wasn't as good as hyped.

Michigan State - Choked like a John L. Smith team chokes. Still managed to beat ND

Washington - PAC-10 bottomfeeder.

Purdue - Average team at best.

USC - ND overachieved to come close to the upset

BYU - Not the BYU team of 06. This was a rebuilding year for them, and it showed.

Tennessee - The biggest surprise in 05. Went 5-6 and missed out on a bowl game in 05

Navy - Another game against Navy, another W for ND.

Syracuse - Cupcake.

Stanford - Good team, couldn't finish games. ND barely won by a TD.

 

Our 05 slate was a joke, and got lucky that our BIG games against Michigan and Tennessee were against those team on down years.

 

Now our 07 slate.

 

Georgia Tech - Offense should be better than last year thanks to the leaving of Reggie Ball. 8 starters return on a tenacious defense of last year. A favorite to win the ACC.

Penn St. - If the win against a good Tennessee during this past bowl season is any indication, this team is ready to explode.

Michigan - IN MY OPINION, over rated team this year, likely to be ranked #2 behind USC. We should know just because a team returns a star QB, star RB, and star WR doesn't necessarily make for a championship season.

Michigan St. - Question mark this season. They lost a lot of veterans last year. Don't know what to say about this team.

Purdue - Will be more dangerous than last year with QB Curtis Painter coming in with more experience, and all his dangerous targets returning. Defense should still be porous.

UCLA - A team I see a lot of people not giving the credit they deserve. 10 starters on offense and 10 starters on defense returns. This team doesn't need to gel, and should be good from the get go. Don't forget we almost lost to them last year, and they are going to be MUCH better this year.

Boston College - I don't see much of a threat in this team. They lose coach O'Brien to NC State, so we'll see how this BC team accepts a new coach.

USC - Best team in nation. To show you how much experience they are bringing back as a team, 79 lettermen return. 79!!! And you thought their defense was good last year? They return 10 starters back. YIKES!!!

Navy - Navy might give us a scare with the amount of experience returning, but I don't see much to worry about.

Airforce - New coach, new attack, ND win.

Duke - 0-12 last year. Enough said.

Stanford - PAC 10 bottom feeder.

 

Our 07 schedule is far worse than 05. Realistically, I see ourselves having an 05 Michigan season. Going 7-5 with a trip to a bowl game. I don't think there is anything wrong with a rebuilding season, where our young talents can get their feet wet, and explode in 08!

Our 07 schedule is far worse than 05

 

 

Thats a great thing to be able to say with hindsight. I see 7/8 wins. The key is winning the bowl game, thats is vital. And beating BC, USC are a class apart for now.

Scotty88, i tell you were going to be pretty good this year, with wins over tech penn and michigan (a much weaker team this year} we will be in pretty good shape and we will see jc and dd take over the reins for the irish . this is the year. go irish

I think 8-9 It all depends on the defense. If they stop people Charlies playing calling can be the difference. Remember he might be the best play caller in college football

 

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