ESPN's 2012 pre-season rankings

[Irish YJ]

USC Trojans earn top spot in latest 2012 look - ESPN

Not that I agree with all the ratings, and it is way early, but taken at face value....
ND (#24) plays 1/2 the top 4, almost 1/3 of the top 10, and 1/3 top 15.
Anyway, fearless way early predictions as well... ready for the verbal beatings.

Sept. 1 - Navy (Dublin, Ireland) - W28-13
Sept. 8 - PURDUE - W45-13
Sept. 15 - at Michigan State #9 - W24-17
Sept. 22 - MICHIGAN #14 - W34-31
Sept. 29 - Open Date
Oct. 6 - MIAMI (Soldier Field, Chicago) - W17-10
Oct. 13 - STANFORD #13 - W24-20
Oct. 20 - BYU - W36-17
Oct. 27 - at Oklahoma #4 L31-27
Nov. 3 - PITTSBURGH - W24-10
Nov. 10 - at Boston College - W36-24
Nov. 17 - WAKE FOREST - W30-20
Nov. 24 - at USC #1 - L34-30

 

[4irishnation]

Good I like it!!!

 

[Irishnuke]

Not a bad season. Interesting that we score 36 twice.

 

[Irish YJ]

Not a bad season. Interesting that we score 36 twice.

counting on at least 2 endzone sacks by lynch

 

[PatsandBostonfan1975]

If we are undefeated by Oklahoma we will be ranked like in top five for sure.

 

[Grahambo]

If we go through that schedule with losing to USC and OU by a combined 8 points, I think anybody would sign up for that.

If USC stays healthy throughout the off-season, they will be the preseason #1 headed into the season.

By the time the USC game rolls around at the end of the season, the freshman are not "freshman" anymore. To me, if a rookie plays most or in all of a season, by the time the end of the season comes around, no more rookie excuses, same thing with freshman in my mind.

Could be a very good game at the end of the year.

 

[military_irish]

If we go through that schedule with losing to USC and OU by a combined 8 points, I think anybody would sign up for that.

If USC stays healthy throughout the off-season, they will be the preseason #1 headed into the season.

By the time the USC game rolls around at the end of the season, the freshman are not "freshman" anymore. To me, if a rookie plays most or in all of a season, by the time the end of the season comes around, no more rookie excuses, same thing with freshman in my mind.

Could be a very good game at the end of the year.

Hey, don't make excuses for this team before the season even starts. At least wait until summer camp. lol

 

[SoIll]

whatever hes on.... ill take what hes got....

 

[DSully1995]

This would be a magical season for BK. I can see a lose to either Stanford/MichSt, itll be interesting to see how they play without their old QB's

 

[IrishLax]

Here's the deal... our schedule could be a lot easier than anticipated but at the same time is absolutely killer in its current incarnation. Michigan should be "meh" next year unless their defense takes a big leap forward which I strongly doubt they do. Michigan State is replacing Cousins... so that's a total crapshoot in Week 3. Miami could be awesome or horrible. Stanford should be WAY worse than #13 replacing Luck... that team has no talent in the skill positions and that was masked by Luck's awesomeness and their incredible OL. Oklahoma is NEVER as good as they're supposed to be and was horrible to end this year without Broyles... Landry Jones is no better than Cousins or any other middle tier QB... and that team never has a defense.

BYU, Pitt, BC, Wake could all be very good teams... or pretty average to bad teams.

USC is the only opponent on our schedule where you can say surely "that team is better than us at every single position" except maybe DL and LB and very possibly OL.

I think 8-4 would be fantastic. I think if the breaks fall our way and all of the question marks on our opponent's teams don't pan out we could maybe go 10-2. I think 6-6 is far more probable than 10-2 though. Unless Tee Shephard is a total baller or Jalen Brown/Josh Atkinson steps up huge we're going to have serious issues stopping a couple of the teams on our schedule that like to air it out.

The weird thing is when you take the schedule a game at a time it doesn't look so bad. I think we start the year 4-0. We're going to be far more talented than the first 3 teams on our schedule and eventually the ball has to bounce our way against Michigan. And then head into an early off date... which should give us a very solid chance to beat Miami and then incredibly overrated Stanford. Then on paper we should beat BYU... so wtf? At that point we'd be 7-0? That's crazy. @OU should be a loss and then barring injuries we should be favored on paper against the next 3 teams. Makes you think 10-2 is possible. But it's probably an illusion.

Going to be a strange season... that's for sure.

 

[sharksamardzija8345]

Here's the deal... our schedule could be a lot easier than anticipated but at the same time is absolutely killer in its current incarnation. Michigan should be "meh" next year unless their defense takes a big leap forward which I strongly doubt they do. Michigan State is replacing Cousins... so that's a total crapshoot in Week 3. Miami could be awesome or horrible. Stanford should be WAY worse than #13 replacing Luck... that team has no talent in the skill positions and that was masked by Luck's awesomeness and their incredible OL. Oklahoma is NEVER as good as they're supposed to be and was horrible to end this year without Broyles... Landry Jones is no better than Cousins or any other middle tier QB... and that team never has a defense.

BYU, Pitt, BC, Wake could all be very good teams... or pretty average to bad teams.

USC is the only opponent on our schedule where you can say surely "that team is better than us at every single position" except maybe DL and LB and very possibly OL.

I think 8-4 would be fantastic. I think if the breaks fall our way and all of the question marks on our opponent's teams don't pan out we could maybe go 10-2. I think 6-6 is far more probable than 10-2 though. Unless Tee Shephard is a total baller or Jalen Brown/Josh Atkinson steps up huge we're going to have serious issues stopping a couple of the teams on our schedule that like to air it out.

The weird thing is when you take the schedule a game at a time it doesn't look so bad. I think we start the year 4-0. We're going to be far more talented than the first 3 teams on our schedule and eventually the ball has to bounce our way against Michigan. And then head into an early off date... which should give us a very solid chance to beat Miami and then incredibly overrated Stanford. Then on paper we should beat BYU... so wtf? At that point we'd be 7-0? That's crazy. @OU should be a loss and then barring injuries we should be favored on paper against the next 3 teams. Makes you think 10-2 is possible. But it's probably an illusion.

Going to be a strange season... that's for sure.

I agree.. 6-6 is far more probably than 10-2.. I'm actually tempering my expectations and kind of feel a 6-6 or 7-5 year.. we are probably better than all but 2 of those teams on our schedule, but we always seem to play down to the level of our competition.. will be interesting for sure

 

[Who'saWildManNow]

Not bad predictions but you failed to pick which game we inexplicably lose.

 

[TerryTate]

We can only go up. We had to try to lose some of those games

 

[Irish YJ]

I agree.. 6-6 is far more probably than 10-2.. I'm actually tempering my expectations and kind of feel a 6-6 or 7-5 year.. we are probably better than all but 2 of those teams on our schedule, but we always seem to play down to the level of our competition.. will be interesting for sure

As always, going to be positive going into the new season... the reason why I'm always crushed when we lose a game we shouldn't,,,, but positive none the less. I think our DL will be amongst the best in the country, and will keep us from losing the games we should win. We should win the first two easily. Winning a Cousin-less MSU game is very likely. I don't think we lose to Michigan at home, and I think Denard's luck will run out. I think our CBs are beyond the deer-in-the-headlights by then. A win at Miami, in Chi-town is likely if we bring in confidence from a scUM victory. The same for an unLUCKy Stanford. BYU could be a let down game if we are undefeated at that time. Coming off 3 big wins, and looking ahead to OU. If we go into OU undefeated, anything can happen, but I think OU takes a close one at home. I think we rebound in a sloppy win over Pitt, crush BC, then struggle in a win over Wake. The USC game will be crazy if they are undefeated. Depending on our QB situation, and CB development, anything is possible. I'm going with 10-2 and a BCS rematch with FSU (Chris Brown takes it to the house 3 times against Darby).... again optimistic. If I'm gonna dream, I'll dream big every time!

 

[Cali_domer]

I agree.. 6-6 is far more probably than 10-2.. I'm actually tempering my expectations and kind of feel a 6-6 or 7-5 year.. we are probably better than all but 2 of those teams on our schedule, but we always seem to play down to the level of our competition.. will be interesting for sure

I am going to say 7-5 at best and 5-7 at worst. Anything better I will be surprised and very pleased at this point.

Then again it's still very early and I still have plenty of time to start sippin that Kool-aid. It has been been a loooooonnnng 15+ years

 

[Irish YJ]

Not bad predictions but you failed to pick which game we inexplicably lose.

NOT THIS YEAR WILD MAN

 

[Who'saWildManNow]

NOT THIS YEAR WILD MAN

Man I hope so!

 

[NDPhilly]

Guys we are 5 days into the offseason. Lol Hold off on your predictions or these 7 months will be unbearable.

 

[Irish YJ]

I did say "way early" LOL

 

[BeauBenken]

Now everyone knows I'm pretty optimistic, but ranking us 24th in the preseason may be a bit high. We have some pretty large question marks.

 

[stlnd01]

Right now, I'd guess 8-4, based largely on the strength of our lines, the way our schedule falls, and the fact that our QB play almost by definition must improve.

I think we lose on the road to OU and USC. I think we beat all the teams we're "supposed" to beat, Miami included (they'll be really young). I think our season is decided by the MSU, Michigan, Stanford and BYU games, and right now I think we split those.

I think, considering the strength of schedule and our losses in the skill positions, that 8-4 would be progress if the defeats are close. An ugly 8-4 would not necessarily be progress.

 

[Irish YJ]

Now everyone knows I'm pretty optimistic, but ranking us 24th in the preseason may be a bit high. We have some pretty large question marks.

I feel ya, but after thinking long and hard, probably just about right looking at where others are ranked. Even with Turnover Tommy, we throttled MSU, should have beat scUM, USF, and F$U. I have to believe we will be better this year, and have to think BK will figure out the QB situation. I think the O will be much closer to BK's past teams. If they are going to rank Stanford, scUM, and MSU up there, I see no reason why we can't be at least considered in the top 25.

 

[NDJimmy]

With this schedule, 8-4 might be #24, but 7-5 won't.

This thread is not too early! I've been looking at 2012 for a long time, imagining how it may play out. Besides, that's why we are on this board anyway, isn't it? Kickin' it around? Broad spectrum?

Every year we see some team come out of nowhere to surprise everyone and fly to the top. Auburn in 2010? It's magical when the right players, with the right chemistry, the right set of breaks (ND 1988), jumps out at us. Every year I see that possibility for ND, and so I remain an eternal optimist.

Go Irish!

 

[BeatSC]

All comes down to QB play

All comes down to QB play

Number one, BK needs to give up on his personal Rudy quest with Tommy Rees. IF is either Kiel or Golson or both. Much of the team will be even better next year. We will see the new corners exceed the play of last years. Nothing will compare to the 4th quarter year end meltdown at UM. Having a duel threat at QB is critical and Rees does not even factor into it. The Blue Gold game should be very revealing and we have alot to look forward to in 2 months. IF we had a good (not great) QB this year we are friggn 12-1 bottom line.

 

[BeauBenken]

Number one, BK needs to give up on his personal Rudy quest with Tommy Rees. IF is either Kiel or Golson or both. Much of the team will be even better next year. We will see the new corners exceed the play of last years. Nothing will compare to the 4th quarter year end meltdown at UM. Having a duel threat at QB is critical and Rees does not even factor into it. The Blue Gold game should be very revealing and we have alot to look forward to in 2 months. IF we had a good (not great) QB this year we are friggn 12-1 bottom line.

There's a lot more IFs next year than just QB.

 

[NDinFL]

There's a lot more IFs next year than just QB.

Such as:

Q. "just how many TD's will Heggie score per quarter next year"

A. "as many as he wants"

 

[NDJimmy]

I think Rees has been the best option available at the times he played.
Spring will show us 3 QBs with at least a year in the system, and a wild card freshman. Even if it ends up being Rees, he's the one with the most experience. If any of the others are better, they've had a year to prove it. I personally think it will end up being Golson. That incredible TD to turnover ratio in his high school career looked like a typo. An indication of excellent split-second judgment, in my estimation.

 

[NDJimmy]

Have they moved Heggie to RB? Alright! Can you imagine that mountain thundering at you with the football?

 

[BeauBenken]

Such as:

Q. "just how many TD's will Heggie score per quarter next year"

A. "as many as he wants"

lol There's not an "if" anywhere in that post.

I'm just saying, we have to think about the defensive backfield, some O-line spots, a Floyd-less receiving core, etc. Certainly too many IFs to be considered a BCS bowl contender and just a enough to push us right outside the top 25. Then again, 24 is sure as hell not 16. lol

 

[NDinFL]

lol There's not an "if" anywhere in that post.

I'm just saying, we have to think about the defensive backfield, some O-line spots, a Floyd-less receiving core, etc. Certainly too many IFs to be considered a BCS bowl contender and just a enough to push us right outside the top 25. Then again, 24 is sure as hell not 16. lol

You're damn right.

There are no "ifs" when it comes to Heggie dominating.