Week 1: ND vs South Florida Predictions

[rikkitikki08]

Plus their Oline lost 3 starters I believe. They are way overrated in my opinion. We need to roll in this game.

I don't remember if I made my prediction or not, but I am going with:

ND - 41
USF - 13

I hope your right, USF is indeed inexperienced and i fully hope we take advantage of that

 

[johnnyoooo]

Florida is way short on experienced offensive linemen how can they move our over 300 lb defensive line. You see what is coming Daniels constantly rolling out and forcing bad throws. Skip Holtz will be forced to grab bag from the get go. If they attempt to stuff our run it is touch football time for Floyd and our receivers taking off to the end zone. I look for Wood on screens, draws and pitch outs that suckered Miami. Simply stated Florida has too many weaknesses.

 

[GO IRISH!!!]

I hope your right, USF is indeed inexperienced and i fully hope we take advantage of that

I think our TE's are going to have a party across the middle. Their LB's aren't very tall and I think our TE's will be able to catch the ball and make plays. That will force them to either have DB's cheat up a bit or drop a lineman. Either way, that will open up huge gaps for our other weapons.

I think we will see lots of running plays and short to intermediate passes to the TE's early on. Then look for our WR's to go deep. Floyd will have a big day and I think our TE's will have a combined 100+ yards receiving.

On the other side of the ball, our Dline will be too much for their inexperienced Olinemen. I am hoping for lots of "Meet at the QB" parties in their backfield. I know their QB can run, but we have some very athletic defensive ends and linebackers so I don't think he is going to be as effective as everyone thinks.

 

[johnnyoooo]

Generally last season Notre Dame started off fast and scored. I suspect Kelly wants a score quick and force Florida to play catch up and then force turnovers. Sense by the fourth quarter it will be Tuitt, Lynch and other freshman bucks chasing Daniels in the backfield. If you remember one Florida State Game Bowden played grab bag from the opening series knowing his offense would not handle the Notre Dame defense. Skip Holtz knows the same thing and will grab bag from the opening series.

 

[STLcardz-NDirish]

Fellow irish fans help me out here! im going to have to miss the game on TV saturday unfortunantly. But even though ill know the outcome through text alerts i would still like to watch the game later. So does ANYONE know a website where I can watch the game in full?!?!

 

[Veer option]

18-14 ND

 

[GO IRISH!!!]

18-14 ND

You see us getting a lot of field goals. That would be bad for my liver. I don't think I can drink enough to numb that pain.

 

[Whiskeyjack]

Phil Steele says RELAX!

#16 NOTRE DAME VS USF

USF
Rushing: 108
Passing: 150
Points: 16
TO’s: 2.3

NOTRE DAME
Rushing: 137
Passing: 325
Points: 33
TO’s: 2.0

First Meeting
Skip Holtz was an ‘86 grad of ND (played on ST/WR) & later was on the coaching staff from 1990-’93 (OC L2Y) under his legendary father. USF is 5-9 in road openers incl 1-6 vs BCS schools (only win at #17 Auburn in ‘07). Prior to ND Kelly was the HC at Cincinnati going 3-0 vs USF with the avg win by 12 ppg but none of those matchups were vs Holtz. ND is 12-3 S/’96 in home openers including 3 straight wins by an avg score of 26-8. USF has just 11 ret st’rs while ND has 17 and both coaches will pilot much improved teams in their 2nd years. USF did pull road upsets of Miami, L’ville and Cincy LY but allowed 381 ypg on the road vs just 263 at home. While USF has the intangible edge with this game being so special to Holtz and ND has a big game vs Michigan on deck, I will call for the Irish by 10 as they have the better team on offense (#11 vs #62) and defense (#6 vs #35).

PHIL’S FORECAST : NOTRE DAME 30 USF 20

 

[cLaRk_JoNeS]

Lynch 3 sacks-1 causing a fumble returned for a td. ND victory

 

[Veer option]

You see us getting a lot of field goals. That would be bad for my liver. I don't think I can drink enough to numb that pain.

I have a cuban and will be stocking my fridge full of delicious alcohol to ease any potential suffering.

 

[GO IRISH!!!]

Is this the "Cuban" you have? If so, that will ease ANY pain!!!

 

[Veer option]

Unfortunately no

 

[calvegas04]

Skip just made me feel more comfortable about another Irish victory

<iframe width="560" height="345" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/B1kjkOq1810" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

[Whiskeyjack]

Riddick an outside receiver? Cierre a 1k+ rusher? Mantee Tee-oh?

I'm glad Kelly doesn't try to get that specific when describing upcoming opponents.

 

[JughedJones]

Skip just made me feel more comfortable about another Irish victory




Wow, me too.

We should use part of that for our primer video!

 

[military_irish]

Riddick an outside receiver? Cierre a 1k+ rusher? Mantee Tee-oh?

I'm glad Kelly doesn't try to get that specific when describing upcoming opponents.

Well to give him some credit he did say Cierre was a 1k+ All-Purpose back, not just rushing.

 

[Chicago Irish Fan]

Fellow irish fans help me out here! im going to have to miss the game on TV saturday unfortunantly. But even though ill know the outcome through text alerts i would still like to watch the game later. So does ANYONE know a website where I can watch the game in full?!?!

I believe hulu has an ND page and puts up the games.

 

[General Colon Bowel]

ISD article about some season's predictions. These guys are incredibly optimistic. I'd be ecstatic if we have any of these seasons

ISD Game/Season Predictions

 

[johnnyoooo]

One thing that concerns me is out of the spread the quarterback runs more so I hope Crist's knees hold up. Also starting to get concerned reading Florida has a lot of speed. but still believe the Notre Dame defensive line will be the key. If the Notre Dame offense executes believe they will go down the field often. I look for Floyd to get double coverage and Riddick and Eifert to have big games. Also look for shorts passes and pitch outs to Wood out in open field where he will quickly fake out tacklers with his great moves. Also sense Daniel's under pressure will turn the ball over often. But who knows this time of year I am always over optimistic about Notre Dame.

 

[tankjeep]

I just want the season to friggin start already.

^this. i'm so impatient and anxious....time to take an xbomb.

 

[ND_HAS_RISEN]

^this. i'm so impatient and anxious....time to take an xbomb.

I'm about to force my self to sleep just to pass the damn time!!

I have never been so optimistic about ANY season. The 05/06 teams were really the only other teams I was halfway optimistic about, but after seeing how badly speed killed us in the BCS game, I still felt scared. This year really, REALLY could be something special. Regardless, I feel that no matter the way the season ends up (no worse than 9-3 imo) the tide is turning. The buzz is back and bigger than ever! Tomorrow is the start of what we have all waited for....

ND_WILL_RETURN

 

[koonja]

I'm about to force my self to sleep just to pass the damn time!!

I have never been so optimistic about ANY season. The 05/06 teams were really the only other teams I was halfway optimistic about, but after seeing how badly speed killed us in the BCS game, I still felt scared. This year really, REALLY could be something special. Regardless, I feel that no matter the way the season ends up (no worse than 9-3 imo) the tide is turning. The buzz is back and bigger than ever! Tomorrow is the start of what we have all waited for....

ND_WILL_RETURN

Only halfway optimistic about the 2006 season? We returned Darius Walker, Brady Quinn, the Shark and Rhema Mcknight. Plus almost the whole defense was back. Oh, and by the way, we started the pre-season at #4 in the AP. I think that team had more hype than this one. Hence the pre-season rankings. I think that BK can have THIS team finish better than that team did, however. That team was pretty solid, though.

 

[ND_HAS_RISEN]

Only halfway optimistic about the 2006 season? We returned Darius Walker, Brady Quinn, the Shark and Rhema Mcknight. Plus almost the whole defense was back. Oh, and by the way, we started the pre-season at #4 in the AP. I think that team had more hype than this one. Hence the pre-season rankings. I think that BK can have THIS team finish better than that team did, however. That team was pretty solid, though.

Yeah I was definately optimistic, but I just wasn't as optimistic as I am now. I just saw the glaring weakness in team speed on that squad. The glaring weakness in this squad is the depth. IF the injuries mount up, then obviously the optimism decreases, but for now, I am feeling pretty positive.

 

[Rhode Irish]

Some garbage college football preview show on NESN (I think it was a syndicated national show, so maybe it was on different channels elsewhere) just had all three "experts" pick USF. I think there is a little bit of a bounceback here, where it became trendy to like Notre Dame over the summer, and so now it has become trendy to pick against them. I do want ND to win for my own personal satisfaction, but almost equally I want them to win to see it go up so many peoples asses sideways.

 

[AvesEvo]

Exactly one day away!!!

 

[Irish52]

ND 28 USF 3

 

[Irish Legend]

ND 31
USF 13