2016 ND Season Prediction

[nd_fan]

Does this sound about right?

Preseason rankings will put us somewhere in the Top 15. Starting the season we will win games against the mediocre opponents, giving us a boost to top 10 rankings. By mid season we will have 1 loss to a top team and everyone calling ND overrated because we can't ever win the big bowl games anymore. Then once the CFP rankings come out, ND is will be somewhere around top 10 which will start the whole CFP debacle of homer fans saying "<insert conference> will cannibalize each other and if ND wins out we are in top 4". Only to realize that without the 13th game, ND has to be like undefeated to beat the odds of making the playoffs. So in the end we will make a bowl game where yet again we will show up flat and get blown out to make ND's bowl record to 17-19. Then move on to the 2017 season to repeat the cycle.

Something has to change because this is getting really frustrating and tiresome.

 

[KPENN]

This needed it's own thread?

 

[NDRock]

Hopefully this is the start of a consistent 10+ win a season program.

 

[NCND]

Cotton vs Houston.. Mark it down.

 

[Rocknes Ghost]

Natty.

 

[dang227]

2016 ND Season Prediction

Same shlt different year if BVG is back

 

[Irish YJ]

Date Opponent Time/TV
Saturday Sep. 3 Longhorns at Texas Longhorns
Win

Saturday Sep. 10 Wolf Pack Nevada Wolf Pack
Notre Dame Stadium, South Bend, IN Time TBA
Win

Saturday Sep. 17 Spartans Michigan State Spartans
Notre Dame Stadium, South Bend, IN Time TBA
Win

Saturday Sep. 24 Blue Devils Duke Blue Devils
Notre Dame Stadium, South Bend, IN Time TBA
Win

Saturday Oct. 1 Orangemen at Syracuse Orange
Win

Saturday Oct. 8 Wolfpack at NC State Wolfpack
Carter-Finley Stadium, Raleigh, NC TBA Buy
Win

Saturday Oct. 15 Cardinal Stanford Cardinal
Notre Dame Stadium, South Bend, IN Time TBA
Win

Saturday Oct. 22 --- Open Date --- ---

Saturday Oct. 29 Hurricanes Miami (FL) Hurricanes
Notre Dame Stadium, South Bend, IN Time TBA
Win

Saturday Nov. 5 Midshipmen Navy Midshipmen
EverBank Field, Jacksonville, FL TBA
Win

Saturday Nov. 12 Black Knights Army Black Knights (Shamrock Series)
Alamodome, San Antonio, TX 7:30 p.m. ET
Win

Saturday Nov. 19 Hokies Virginia Tech Hokies
Notre Dame Stadium, South Bend, IN Time TBA
Win

Saturday Nov. 26 Trojans at USC Trojans
L.A. Memorial Coliseum, Los Angeles, CA TBA
IDK right now... Win if BVG is gone

 

[Rudy89]

With all our defensive losses and jaylon declaing I see us going 8-4

 

[wizards8507]

We have a stupid easy schedule. USC should be the only close game. So we'll probably go 8-4.

Sent from my Galaxy Note4 using Tapatalk.

 

[arrowryan]

I need to see how spring ball goes first and see who is coming back before a prediction can be made. Jaylon will obviously be the toughest to replace; other than Jaylon, I think we have a solid replacement for everyone that is leaving.

Like the last two seasons, it'll come down to injuries

 

[irishfan]

Schedule looks like a joke. We'd be giving Bama crap if their 2016 schedule like like ours. 12-0.

 

[Irish YJ]

Our schedule set us nicely unless we shit the bed early against TX.

 

[NDWorld247]

Playoffs or bust. No excuses.

 

[texbender]

too early, seems like there are always surprise personnel losses. schedule appears favorable, but that's no guarantee. hope staff finishes strong with recruiting, and we get healthy and strong.

 

[fightingirish26]

QB- I trust whoever wins the competition between DK, MZ and BW

RB- What happens with Folston/Prosise? I love Adams, but I don't like the prospect of having to rely on just him, Dex, and the two incoming freshmen. Justin Brent?

WR- Fuller? That is obviously key. I like how Hunter is coming on, Robinson has experience. Sanders, ESB should both become more involved. Any chance Boykin/Claypool/Brent/Holmes push for time? Maybe McKinley joins the fight as well

TE- I expect Alize to step up big time next year. Smyth is a solid second option, and Luatua/Weisher should both have roles to play in the offense as well.

OL- Hopefully Bars can become the next great Irish LT. Nelson, Elmer and McGlinchey should improve, and I expect Hoge to beat out Mustipher for the C spot. Sounds like a good line on paper at least.

DL- Having Jones back will be huge, and Rochelle has a chance to build off of a solid year at SDE. Tillery, Cage, and Trumbetti need to come ready to play as we need them to play very well if we want to take the next step. What will happen with Jay Hayes? Blankenship, Bonner, Elijah Taylor, MDT, Kareem will all be pushing for spots in the rotation.

LB- Jaylon? Most likely gone. Joe Schmidt is gone, which can only be a good thing. Onwualu played solid this year, and I expect him to do no less in 2016. Can Morgan emerge? I sure hope so. Martini, Coney, Bilal, Barajas will also try to crack the starting lineup. Still looking at some LB recruits as well (Ben Davis, Jeffrey McCulloch, Caleb Kelly, Jonathan Jones) that could step in and contribute day 1.

DB- KVR? I think it's 50/50 on whether he goes/stays. If he comes back any way we take a look at him at FS? I think Luke will have a huge senior year. I was impressed with Watkins today and I think he should be above Butler on the depth chart. We'll see if Coleman can make any noise this spring. It will also help if Crawford can come in and be a dominant force as the nickel, which I think he has the potential to be. With Shumate gone, who is SS? Sebastian? Tranquil? Do we put Redfield there? Do we finally look at Butler at S? Also a ton of recruits coming in. Studstill could look to earn some PT.

ST- Yoon, Newsome, should be fine. I guess Daly comes back as a 5Y. Can we iron some things out on ST? We may need to look somewhere other than Booker for that. I assume Sanders will remain as the KR and PR.

Overall, no position group looks to be in bad shape, except possibly safety. We will miss Jaylon, and a lot of next season may come down to who returns. If we get both Folston and Prosise back, RB will be absolutely loaded. If we get Fuller back, our offense SHOULD be borderline elite. The talent is there on defense, but I'm not sure I trust them to put it together, although I am hopeful.

 

[NDgradstudent]

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/XJlU_d186TU" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

[NDVirginia19]

Next year's season really comes down to how well Stanford, Michigan State, and USC replace their QBs. I have a bad feeling that an 8-3 USC team is going to give us our first loss and knock an 11-0 Irish team out of the playoffs

 

[stlnd01]

So hard to know without knowing who's back.

Our offense should be pretty stacked regardless, but it'd sure be nice to have Fuller (I assume Prosise returns). Also very much hoping there's no harmful QB controversy, though both Kizer and Zaire seem like they have the right kind of head on their shoulders that that won't be a problem.

On D, our line should be fine. Some new LBs will need to step up. The defensive backfield worries me as we could conceivably return just one starter. Then there are the scheme issues. That's a lot of question marks.

Still, with that schedule we ought win at least ten.

 

[OlympiaIrishFan]

A lot of issues on defense IMO. But, until we know who is back it is really hard. But, Romeo/Day are gone for sure. Who will replace? DE is a HUGE issue. We had little pass rush this year and our best 2 guys are gone. And the depth behind will get thinner if the rumors of Grant and Hayes are true.

I think the offense will take a hit too. I can't see Fuller coming back after watching Jaylon today. And Procise will be gone too for the same reason. So, a lot of issues. And a ACL issue with our top RB. Adams looks solid though. And we lose Brown.

Stanley and Martin are hard to replace. I think it can be a step back after losing to every top 15 team we played this year too.

 

[Rhode Irish]

People keep knocking the schedule and admittedly we probably won't play 2 top-5 teams during the regular season as we did this year. But the schedule also has 12 real football programs on it. As usual, there are no direction school shitbum teams, but there aren't even any UMass cupcakes there. Army is probably the worst team and I have no idea where Nevada's program is, but those teams are better than the worst team on just about everyone else's schedule. We are fortunate to play some important games at home (particularly Stanford and Michigan State, but I also expect Miami and VT to be better under their new coaches). My bold prediction is that the metrics will end up respecting our schedule much more than fans seem to right now.

 

[House16]

Offense should chug right along with Kizer or Zaire. With the talent levels we have across the board it shouldn't be an issue. Defense will change drastically depending on if we replace BVG. I'll guess that Kelly doesn't have the balls to fire him and we endure another year of underperformance on D.

Overall, the team should be really good next year even without a top notch D. I expect 10 regular season wins, winning 1/3 vs Michigan State, Stanford, and USC and 9-0 vs the rest. Going to the NY6 back to back years would be great.

 

[ThePiombino]

Until proven otherwise, I see this as a team that wins the games they should and loses the games that are 50/50 or worse (which is actually a market improvement over recent history). I'm thinking 11-1 with a loss to SC on the road.

 

[Crazy Balki]

A lot of issues on defense IMO. But, until we know who is back it is really hard. But, Romeo/Day are gone for sure. Who will replace? DE is a HUGE issue. We had little pass rush this year and our best 2 guys are gone. And the depth behind will get thinner if the rumors of Grant and Hayes are true.

I think the offense will take a hit too. I can't see Fuller coming back after watching Jaylon today. And Procise will be gone too for the same reason. So, a lot of issues. And a ACL issue with our top RB. Adams looks solid though. And we lose Brown.

Stanley and Martin are hard to replace. I think it can be a step back after losing to every top 15 team we played this year too.

Not having Jones this year on the DL hurt BIG TIME. Even in this game, his impact was minimal. I don't think Cage played, and if he did, he didn't play much. So it was mainly Rochell at the 1, where his impact was severally decreased. Trumbetti played fairly solid today and I think he'll be able to replace Okwara. Tillery needs to apply himself and make the necessary improvements, to shore up our DL. Rochell is stout, Jarron is stout, Trumbetti and Tillery are the only missing links. They need to continue to develop. The depth at WDE scares me.

Martin won't be hard to replace. I'm confident Mustipher or Hoge will be upgrades. Like the dude and a good leader, but wasn't very physical. Stanley will be hard to replace, but if Bars returns, I can see him being a major force at LT. Glinch is also set up to have a monster year in 2016. I really hope Elmer makes the jump, because if he doesn't, I can see Mustipher replacing him.

I don't see Fuller leaving this year for that reason. Jaylon is a top 10 pick right now, Fuller isn't. Fuller is probably somewhere in between 2nd and 4th. He still has to make necessary improvements, especially when it comes to catching the ball. Also I believe Jaylon has made the necessary measures to graduate early, but don't quote me on that.

 

[Sherm Sticky]

The real question is over under on the number of season ending injuries and suspensions to the two deep. I'm setting the line at 12


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[GATTACA!]

Our schedule set us nicely unless we shit the bed early against TX.

Oklahoma proved this year that even doing that isn't that bad.

 

[ThePiombino]

Oklahoma proved this year that even doing that isn't that bad.

Yup. If we're going to drop one, that's the one to drop.

 

[irish4ever]

Our schedule set us nicely unless we shit the bed early against TX.

Though at home, Stanford and Michigan St. games could be a challenge as they both always play ND close. Plus, I'm certain the annual injury bug will play havoc with the roster as the year goes on.

 

[IrishLax]

If we get everyone back AND everyone stays healthy then 10-2 is the floor, IMO. The offense will be truly elite if Fuller comes back... as long as we get the QB situation settled early.

Defense is going to likely be worse next year than it was this year. Let that sink in. The secondary is a mess, and at LB it's not much better. And we lose Sheldon Day. So that's fun.

 

[kmoose]

We have a stupid easy schedule. USC should be the only close game. So we'll probably go 8-4.

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I wouldn't call it "stupid easy". Although ND should probably be favored in almost every game, 9 of the 12 opponents went to bowl games this year and 5 of those 9 teams won their bowl game. I'm not saying that the schedule is HARD, necessarily, but it certainly AIN'T "Stupid Easy".

 

[OlympiaIrishFan]

Crazy, good post. Jones will be huge for us next year. I guess I am very concerned about the lack of pass rush we have and the two best are gone. So, we will have to really rely on the offense.

I think Aliz Jones can really help next year too. But, we will win or lose by the offense next year. We gotta score a ton to win. IMO