For most of this century, Notre Dame football has had many competitive advantages over the rest of the college football landscape. Modern times, however, have seen other programs, and conferences, catch up to the Fighting Irish in regards to national media exposure and on-field success.
As we enter the midst of opening kickoff weekend 2016, it’s really a handful of teams from the SEC and ACC that are being talked about as possible national title front-runners. On the other hand, creditย the Fighting Irish football leadership for putting the infrastructure in place to regain those advantages. Notre Dame football knows what needs to be done in 2016 to be top dog again and they are doing it.
(Related: be sure to check out our Notre Dame-Texas game preview over at this link)
Both their facility upgrades (take a look at the photo below of the stadium upgrade project in progress) and online/social media partnerships (the Bleacher Report deal with pay dividends almost immediately) will put the Irish back up there with the Alabamas, Ohio States, Florida States etc in the college gridiron arms race.
Make no mistake about it, college football in 2016 is nothing but an arms race, in every sense of the word.
That said, let’s look ahead to the 2016 Notre Dame football season with some of the major story lines and talking points. Click where highlighted for more on a given topic.ย
-The four players who got arrested/on going legal process and that whole situation ย
If left up to Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly, four of the six Notre Dame players arrested in separate incidents the weekend of Aug. 19 will be available to play Sunday in theย season opener at Texas.Linebacker Teโvon Coney, running back Dexter Williams, cornerback Ashton White and receiver Kevin Stepherson were formally charged with misdemeanor possession of marijuana Monday in Fulton County. Coney and Stepherson pleaded not guilty to the charges Tuesday.
Instead of enacting any discipline himself, Kelly will defer to the school’s Office of Community Standards when it comes to any disciplinary action being taken here. There might not be any action taken at all, and he said there is no timetable. Which, if we draw a straight line on this one, means that they won’t be punished.
I get it, it is just a marijuana offense, which is really not a big deal and legal now in other states, I don’t have a major issue with it. However, it certainly makes some columnists look really stupid right now. The columnists who said Kelly was becoming a strict, hard-liner disciplinarian, because he kicked Max Redfield off the team, their shoddy narrative is blown to bits now.
When Notre Dame ย opens the season at Texas (where FNL was set by the way) September 4th, there will be no true QB1. Both quarterbacks, DeShone Kizer and Malik Zaire will play in the opener. Here’s more on that.
Joe Tessitore, who will call the game Sunday night on ND going with two QBs.
“It’s funny, Todd (Blackledge) another network analyst and I got on a conference call last week, and one of the things we started discussing was Brian Kelly’s success at Cincinnati, and we really started focusing in on that, where Coach was very comfortable in having two talented guys and guys that in the circumstances created that, but still, they did have success at times when they were using a two-quarterback system. It can be done. The reason why it’s being done may not be the same, but obviously they’re blessed with the talent that’s there.”
“But I don’t know, I think one of the great curiosities of this game and opening weekend is to see how this will play out. But there have been spots of success, and Brian is a coach who has been one of those guys in recent years of college football who’s actually done it.”
-Top tier talent, NFL bound players.ย
As of now, and it’s very VERY early, there are two Notre Dame football players who look they could be first round NFL Draft picks come April- OL Mike McGlinchey and DL Isaac Rochelle. Here’s a link to more on them.
-Nyles Morgan might be the most key player on defense.ย
He’s not the guy replacing Jaylon Smith, he’s the guy replacing Joe Schmidt. However, he is the guy who has the talent and the potential to be as somewhere close to as good as Smith, and that’s what is important. If he can be in that realm, ND could be pretty good on defense, solidify their mediocre run D and have a nice year.ย
Potentially.
Bottom Line:
Last year was the season to make the run, as they had all the recruiting classes of really talented guys coming together. Unfortunately, they had a catastrophic run of horrible luck with injuries. Notre Dame football finished 10-3 and ranked #11 in the nation. On paper, they’re a step down talent, and experience wise from last season. Looking at the schedule, the ACC has more depth and talent overall this season.
Around 9-3, ranked #17-#19 sounds about right.
Paul M. Banks runsย The Sports Bank.net, partnered withย FOX Sports Engage Network.ย andย News Now.ย Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, currently contributes regularly to the Chicago Tribune’s RedEyeย publication and Bold Global.
He also consistently appears on numerous radio and television talk shows all across the country.ย Follow him onย Twitterย andย Instagramย and Sound Cloud.
