2021 Early Season Predictions

[calvegas04]

Wisconsin fans are one of the best traveling fanbases around. I would be shocked if the stands aren't 60% or more red.

 

[longliveautrydenson]

Wisconsin (2-0) vs. Notre Dame (3-0) @ Soldier Field

One the the most hyped games of the season arrives with the neutral site game in Chicago. Wisconsin will already have a win against Penn State on their resume and both of these teams will come in ranked in the top 15, if not top 10. Wisconsin, coming off a bye, will know Coan's strengths and weaknesses, but Coan will also have a lot of familiarity playing against the Badger D. Leonard is too good of a DC not to have some wrinkles, so the Badgers will slow the ND offense much of the day. On the other side of the ball, it is rough sledding for the Badgers also. ND fans, while excited about the game changing plays by the defense, will also see the tradeoff as they give up bigger plays than in the past three years. ND's offense will look for ways to get Meyer involved, but the Badgers will double him most of the game. Wisconsin leads fairly deep into the fourth quarter 17-14. Fortunately, Kevin Austin steps up and finally shows some of the promise that has been reported about him. Austin scores on a 63 yard beautiful teardrop pass by Coan down the left sideline to give ND a 21-17 lead with five minutes to go. Wisconsin drives to midfield before Bracy responds to the doubters by darting in front of a crossing route and returning it 64 yards for a TD. This gives ND a 28-17 win and a jump into the top 8 of the standings. ND nation celebrates!

It is written.

 

[dublinirish]

Lol CoachB Most people have a hard enough time guessing a W/L or O/U, you're out here calling critical parts of entire games.

i was waiting for a "perfectly executed punt by Bramlett dooms the Badgers to a 1st and 10 from their own 2"

 

[Irish du Nord]

The Wisconsin game is technically a home game for the Badgers, so do they get a majority of the tickets?

The Wisconsin State Journal reported that it would be 50/50 ticket allotment for both games. 3,000 student tickets each way won't hurt either. Seems like Alvarez and Swarbrick wanted two true neutral site games.

https://madison.com/wsj/sports/coll...cle_5e2dfe84-e399-5929-9cb3-3ca539c76a57.html

 

[zelezo vlk]

Dope. My gramps really wants to go to this game and this makes me think it'll be more likely.

 

[NorthDakota]

Wisconsin fans are one of the best traveling fanbases around. I would be shocked if the stands aren't 60% or more red.

You would travel well too if your state's idea of a vacation was the Wisconsin Dells.

 

[Trait Expectations]

The fact that people feel confident in making predictions is amazing to me. I could see anything from 8-4 - 12-0 but no one besides the coaches have seen actual practice. The BG game is but one data point. I'll make my prediction just before kickoff for FSU. Then our 1st/2nd rotation will be defined on both sides of the ball and I'll equipped to make a call.

I hope media get some viewing privileges this fall.

 

[ACamp1900]

The fact that people feel confident in making predictions is amazing to me. I could see anything from 8-4 - 12-0 but no one besides the coaches have seen actual practice. The BG game is but one data point. I'll make my prediction just before kickoff for FSU. Then our 1st/2nd rotation will be defined on both sides of the ball and I'll equipped to make a call.

I hope media get some viewing privileges this fall.

You see 8 wins somewhere?????

 

[GowerND11]

You see 8 wins somewhere?????

ACamp hasn't lost a step since his sabbatical.

 

[Luckylucci]

It feels impossible for me to go game by game as I don't know that much about our opponents to guess what they'll look like. However, I do feel like the floor in the program is better than what I thought and I think the ceiling is as well. My two biggest concerns before were DB and OL. I think those have been improved. I think Coan along with Tyree, Kyren, Mayer, Austin, Keys, and Davis give the offense a great base for production. I think the defense could actually be better than last year. So, I'm pretty optimistic. I'll go with 10 wins but don't make me pick which ones, yet.

 

[zelezo vlk]

Will Kyren break 1000 yards rushing again this year? If so, I think he'll be just the 5th to ever do it for the Irish.

 

[Riddickulous]

Will Kyren break 1000 yards rushing again this year? If so, I think he'll be just the 5th to ever do it for the Irish.

The running game will take a step back this year, but I still think he does if healthy. He'll get his touches.

 

[zelezo vlk]

So does the Marist injury make anyone want to revise their predictions?

 

[Some Irish Bloke]

So does the Marist injury make anyone want to revise their predictions?

Personally, I don't think so; I think he was going to be a big time player for us this year but we are deep across the board at LB. JD Bertrand has made a lot of noise this fall camp and he is likely to replace him. I think we lost one of our better defensive players, but I think the whole defense still remains strong.

 

[Whiskeyjack]

Personally, I don't think so; I think he was going to be a big time player for us this year but we are deep across the board at LB. JD Bertrand has made a lot of noise this fall camp and he is likely to replace him. I think we lost one of our better defensive players, but I think the whole defense still remains strong.

Assuming Marist was our best pass-rushing LB, I think his absence has to decrease our odds against USC and UNC somewhat. Is the delta significant enough that our projected W-L record is worse now? Probably not, thanks to our depth at LB.

 

[NDdomer2]

https://www.espn.com/college-footba...bowl-projections-every-game-including-playoff

Predicted to play in the Peach bowl with a rematch against either Cincy or Wiscy....womp womp

 

[Irish2155]

https://www.espn.com/college-footba...bowl-projections-every-game-including-playoff

Predicted to play in the Peach bowl with a rematch against either Cincy or Wiscy....womp womp

Saw on another site this morning (think CBS) that they predicted us in the Peach as well, but with a rematch against UNC…womp womp womp

 

[Some Irish Bloke]

https://www.cbssports.com/college-f...rt-picks-most-overrated-and-underrated-teams/

Most Overrated:

• Iowa State - David CObb, Tom Fornelli, Chip Patterson
• Texas - Dennis Dodd
• Clemson - Barrett Sallee
  • Sites that they're still very talented, but their ceiling is lower than what we've grown accustomed to. I would agree.
• Notre Dame - Ben Kercheval
  • Sites the same tired, "reloading" reasoning we've seen so much of this past month, without really looking into how much experience our OL has, WR room is actually expected to be improved, etc.
  • He did say that he doesn't subscribe to the "tired, somewhat outdated idea that NOtre Dame is perpetually overrated" and compliments the job BK has done.
  • He did point out something about our schedule I was previously unaware of: We have six teams that will play ND coming off of an open week: Wisconsin, Cincy, VT, USC, UNC, and UVA. The first five are our toughest five games. IIRC, we had a similar issue with one of our recent schedules and navigated it well, so I'm not too concerned.
• Michigan - Jerry Palm
  • Love this bit here: "In his first season, his (Harbaugh's) team started unranked in the preseason but finished 10-3 and won the Citrus Bowl. The Wolverines were ranked 12th in the final AP Top 25. That was the last time Michigan's season ended with a bowl victory and the last time its postseason ranking was better than its preseason ranking. That is pretty much the definition of overrated.
  • Someone buy this man a beer! Fuck Michigan.

Most Underrated:

• Penn State - Fornelli and Patterson
• Oregon - Dodd
• LSU - Sallee
• Boston College - Kercheval
• USC - Cobb
• Utah - Palm

Unrelated to the CBS article above, Herbie did give some love to ND on GameDay on Saturday morning, saying that they're a CFP sleeper this year. He basically countered the national narrative that we are going to take a step back and expects us to reload and complete for a top 4 spot.

 

[BrownerandFry]

ND will be favored in every game (until they lose or get to the playoffs) and Kelly hasn't lost to a dog since Stanford '17.

EVERY team that has a chance to beat ND has a bye the week before.

If '22's FSU team was the team they face week-1, I might pick em but I don't think Norvell's had enough time to get them up to ND level.

Wiscy is gonna turn their home game at ND's home away from home into a UGA '17 looking crowd. They bring back a lot. This is ND's biggest challenge and I'm 50-50 on the outcome.

Poor Cincy. They are gonna come in sky high after beating IU on the road and having an extra week to prepare but if BK has ND ready for ANY game in his career it will be this one and Freeman's copy of the playbook dooms Cincy to a signature loss.

SC has its usual punchers chance but the OL talent is not there yet to mess with ND's D and we'll see if the new hoard of WR's are as good as the last. And predicted, Drake London is the next Chase Claypool. Can't wait for Kedon to get out of LA, can't stand rooting for him.

Can UNC be better than last year? Lost both star RB's, All American WR Dyami Brown and Chaz Surratt but return its OL intact and just about everyone else including Howell at QB. I say they can't just plug in that much new talent to cover what they lost and ND's roster is too much at home.

So...

I guess the smart bet is Kelly loses to a dog for the first time in 4 seasons. As good as Chicago usually is to the Irish, I'll pick that one... but no more... and say they go 11-1 and of course get the best team possible for a bowl opponent and have to play them in their backyard.

11-1

I demur on your judgement about the crowd tilt at Soldier Field.

Since Richard Daley's hegemony, nothing in chicago is as it appears.

ND country. and that will be evident on gameday.

I'm making a call here.


thank me later.

 

[Whiskeyjack]

With IrishLax, I'd put our O/U on wins at 9.5 this season.

And with BobbyMac, I think Wisconsin is our most likely loss. But even then, their offensive style and team identity is very similar to ours. We're more talented and better coached, and it's especially difficult to beat a team that's just like you, but better across the board. So out of curiously, I went back and looked up how ND and UW finished each season in FEI during the Kelly era:

Year	ND	UW
2020	10	26
2019	13	5
2018	14	34
2017	9	7
2016	42	8
2015	11	25
2014	36	14
2013	32	13
2012	7	15
2011	15	3

We've definitely been the better team recently, but the difference is smaller than I expected it to be. Just thought I'd share.

 

[Some Irish Bloke]

With IrishLax, I'd put our O/U on wins at 9.5 this season.

And with BobbyMac, I think Wisconsin is our most likely loss. But even then, their offensive style and team identity is very similar to ours. We're more talented and better coached, and it's especially difficult to beat a team that's just like you, but better across the board. So out of curiously, I went back and looked up how ND and UW finished each season in FEI during the Kelly era:


We've definitely been the better team recently, but the difference is smaller than I expected it to be. Just thought I'd share.

That's an interesting comparison, thanks for sharing.

ND/Wisconsin is going to be a war in the trenches. I cannot wait for that game.