1. Brian Kelly's best coaching job
Kelly's Fighting Irish suffered a little bit of bad turnover luck, lost their starting running back in the first week of the season, lost their quarterback in the second week and dealt with a secondary that was banged up all year. They were adapting on the fly, from fall camp through November.
But in the regular season, they lost only in the final minute, on the road, to the teams that finished second and third in the final AP poll.
2016 projected wins: 8.6
Projected S&P+ ranking: 11
5-year recruiting ranking: 8
Biggest strength: Whoever wins the QB job should be one of the nation's best.
Biggest question mark: The run defense was disappointing and must now replace the three best play-makers in the front seven.
Biggest 2016 game: Michigan State (Sept. 17). Beat last year's CFP semifinalist, and the hype goes into overdrive. Well, unless you've already lost to Texas.
Summary: Notre Dame survived injury and returns a load of play-makers. Can defense improve enough to take some pressure off of the offense and spur an 11-1 or 12-0 run?
That Clemson's Dabo Swinney won the AP's coach of the year award made sense -- he did, after all, lead the Tigers to the national title game. That Iowa's Kirk Ferentz, Michigan State's Mark Dantonio, Houston's Tom Herman, and Oklahoma's Bob Stoops got more votes than Kelly was fine. They did great jobs.
Kelly deserved more votes than the one of 60 he received. His squad took on more adversity than almost any other and handled it with aplomb.
With a redshirt freshman at quarterback and a wide receiver at running back, Notre Dame ranked seventh in Off. S&P+. And while the defense ranked only 35th in Def. S&P+ -- even with injuries in the secondary, a unit with this recruiting should produce better results -- it still held nine opponents under 30 points, typically good enough when you've got a top-10 offense. And even with iffy defense, Notre Dame had one of the most consistent teams in the country, which is remarkable considering the youth at quarterback.
This was Kelly's best coaching job; this might have been Kelly's best team, even better than the one that made the 2012 BCS Championship. (S&P+ says 2012 was slightly better, but only slightly.)
So how does he follow up? Notre Dame returns just enough talent to talk yourself into the Fighting Irish but has just enough "ifs" to give you pause.
visits here down stretch (even tho losses). It shows our reach to NEXT years class too which is already looking good and now appears to have room for a good amount of bodies.
