Lookin' Ahead to 2008

[the-mick]

Now I know it might be a little bit early to start talking about next year, but I wanted to get a feel for what the rest of the Irish Nation thinks.

Next Season the schedule looks very favorable for the Irish.

What is the expectation for next year? Bcs bowl? NC? or just a winning season with a bowl win?

After looking at the schedule I believe we will have no less than 8 wins with a 10 win season being very attainable, heck now that mallet is gone possibly 11 wins.

I was just curious to see what other fans like me thought, let me know if i am being overly optimistic!

 

[Win4Gipper]

I dont think Mallet would be much of a factor in our win or loss totals.... I am not a big fan of his.... I do like your optimism... I would be happy with 8 wins

 

[the-mick]

Yeah I meant to change that, not mallet per say, but the loss of experience that michigan is going to suffer next year may give us an edge.

 

[jwhit1213]

after this year i would be happy with 7-5 with a bowl win on top of it. as for mich. i smell a season for them like what we saw this year.(record wise) no expierence, no seasoned qb, new coach with a style not compatible for the conference, and a system that he will have a short time installing.
back to us...we are going to be so deep at skill positions that there is no reason we shouldn't come away with 7 wins in the reg season next year, especially with the schedule. usc is really the only team on the schedule i think is gonna be really tough to beat. optimistically i dont think 11 wins is outta reach but lets just take it one step at time, right?

 

[jonesman]

I have reviewed this thoroughly on a couple threads and there is NO reason we should not win 8 games in 2008. We have any extremely favorable schedule. Most of our opponents lose huge amounts of talent vs ND where we return basically the whole O and most of the D. Further, we have a huge infusion of talent with the freshmand and sophmore classes. If CW cannot get this team to 8 wins in 2008, the temperature in the kitchen will be unbearable. Take a hard look at the schedule and you will find it hard to argue 8 wins.

 

[jonesman]

Here is the 2008 schedule to start thinking about how we can win 8 games or maybe more.
2008 Schedule:

Date Opponent/Record Comment
Sept. 6 San Diego State (4-8) Head coach Chuck Long’s defense was 115th overall (498.17) while yielding 34.4 points per game. There is no way ND loses. WIN
Sept. 13 Michigan (8-4) Since the series renewal in 1978, UM has never beaten Notre Dame three straight. Not a single offensive playmaker returns. Henne, Hart, Manningham, Arington, Long are all gone. ND should be favored in this game. Toss-up
Sept. 20 at Michigan State (7-5) Amazingly, the road team has won seven straight in this series since 2001. This game is always crazy. I will give MSU the nod. LOSS
Sept. 27 Purdue (7-5) Boilermakers lose practically everyone on offense in ’08 the way Irish did in ’07. Purdue at ND and without any offensive weapons. WIN
Oct. 4 Stanford (4-8) Cardinal has had six straight losing seasons while going 20-48 (.294). We beat them at Stanford and we will have more talent in 2008. WIN
Oct. 11 at North Carolina (4-8) Tar Heels needed OT to beat Duke in finale; offense 97th in scoring and 105th overall. Don't tell me that Davis has their rebuild ahead of CW. WIN
Oct. 25 at Washington (4-9) Tyrone Willingham put on notice by UW after three-year mark of 11-25. Lose to TY and CW will have no where to hide. WIN
Nov. 1 Pitt (5-7) Upset of WV salvaged the ’07 season, but Dave Wannstedt only 16-19 in three years. This one could be wild, Wanny is getting talent. Toss-Up
Nov. 8 at Boston College (10-3) Rebuilding year in Chestnut Hill with departure of 16 fifth-year seniors, including QB Matt Ryan. Enough said. WIN
Nov. 15 at Navy (8-4) Georgia Tech’s hiring of Paul Johnson could be an immense setback for Mids. Another 40 Years. WIN
Nov. 22 Syracuse (2-10) Three-year record of 7-28 (.200) puts Greg Robinson on one of the hottest seats. They are just plain ugly bad. WIN
Nov. 29 USC (10-2) Ensconced under Pete Carroll as one of nation’s top 5 programs. As the guy on my local radio show said, Pete gets 20 first round draft picks every year. LOSS

Tell me how anyone can arge their way down to ND losing 5 games. If you can, then we are in serious trouble in South Bend. This program is not that bad off.

 

[Mattmags]

jonesman - Solid "realistic" review of next season. I think that winning 8 games next year would be a success. However, which teams we lose to could be the rope. What happens if we lose to a team or two that we should easily beat on paper? I question two teams on this...Washington and Purdue. Just my opinion. We'll re-evaluate when the season gets closer i guess.

 

[jonesman]

Matt,
Purdue losses both WR's, QB and RB. Plus they lose there best pass rushers on D. ND has way more talent than Purdue, we play them at ND. We had them on the ropes this year with an O that had no clue. As for Washington, are you telling me that you will accept a loss to TY after he has had 4 years and so has CW. Every recruiting class in our last 3 has outgunned them by wide margins. If Charlie cannot beat Ty after 4 seasons, there will not be a play on this planet to hide from the critics. This game is a must win and CW knows that whether he publicly says so or not. The players will know it is a must win. Other than a good QB, Washington is lacking in most areas. NO EXCUSES!!!!

 

[the-mick]

I agree UW is a must win.

I take that back, a must BLOW OUT.

anything close and we'll hear it from every willingham supporter in the world, nothing against the guy, very respectable man, just not a football coach.

 

[pwk1868]

I guess that I would like to see a 7-5 record with a bowl appearence and win. This would be a 4 game improvement from last year which is a good. Also it would be nice to finally a bowl win underneath the belt. Hopefully this would then be the building block for a great 2009 season, which I think that ND should put themselves in contention for a BCS birth and hopefully a NC game.

 

[Epitome]

Jonesman, I agree totally and think we are favored in those toss up games. Ten wins is not completely out of the question if we could get some breaks to go our way.

 

[jonesman]

PWK,
I want you to tell me who the 5 teams are that you would accept an ND loss in 2008. This is the freakin 4th season for CW. He returns the entire O. Most of the D. He will be starting a 4 or 5 star player at almost every position. I am telling you that ND will most likely be the favorite in 10 of our games. We will really only be a dog in the USC game. UM will be a toss up. Look at the roster for every team we play. We will be fielding better talent than all but one team on our schedule, USC. Even UM will not field as good a talent as ND. I am tired of people excepting mediocre results in SB. CW got his muligan in 2007. If you all remember, Charlie himself stated that if he could not win a national title in 5 years he should be fired. I am not asking for a NC in 2008, but 8 wins and bowl victory are reasonable. People, this is freakin ND, we are not Illinois, Stanford, Iowa or some other mid tier program where a bowl invite every few years is good enough. We have one purpose in football, WIN NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS!!!!!!!!!!!!! If you are accepting of mediocre, go root for some other team. I am here to see a program strive for excellence. Sorry, I got on my soap box a bit.

 

[Bubba]

I'd say 8 wins is a good prediction. I don't think we'll be favored in the Michigan game even with the HC change and the loss of key offensive players. Maybe if we had improved a little faster this year, we would be. It might depend on how well we show against SDSU. Honestly, I'm scared to be too optimistic....at least this soon.

 

[Bubba]

PWK,
I want you to tell me who the 5 teams are that you would accept an ND loss in 2008. This is the freakin 4th season for CW. He returns the entire O. Most of the D. He will be starting a 4 or 5 star player at almost every position. I am telling you that ND will most likely be the favorite in 10 of our games. We will really only be a dog in the USC game. UM will be a toss up. Look at the roster for every team we play. We will be fielding better talent than all but one team on our schedule, USC. Even UM will not field as good a talent as ND. I am tired of people excepting mediocre results in SB. CW got his muligan in 2007. If you all remember, Charlie himself stated that if he could not win a national title in 5 years he should be fired. I am not asking for a NC in 2008, but 8 wins and bowl victory are reasonable. People, this is freakin ND, we are not Illinois, Stanford, Iowa or some other mid tier program where a bowl invite every few years is good enough. We have one purpose in football, WIN NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS!!!!!!!!!!!!! If you are accepting of mediocre, go root for some other team. I am here to see a program strive for excellence. Sorry, I got on my soap box a bit.

I guess I didn't realize you were talking about what's acceptable. There's a difference between what's acceptable (mediocre is not acceptable) and what we expect will happen. I'm not trying to be negative, but saying that we are returning a lot of our offensive players is not something that raises my spirits. Did you see them this past year? I'm sure they'll improve, but until they prove they can hang with the big boys I've got to be realistic....or I'm gonna go nuts. With that said, I'd say 10 wins is acceptable considering the dramatic improvement that will be. In 2009, the only acceptable outcome is a NC title!!

 

[The Polish Irishman]

I think we win 7 games and finally win a bowl game....and I stayed at a Holiday Inn Express last night

 

[irish_fan_25]

I would say 8 wins is realistic for the 08 Irish. Maybe with an unexpected win somewhere during the season. But the main thing is staying competitive, ND must not get blown out in any games. I can sometimes understand a loss, but never a blowout. They must stay competitive in every game because thats what Nation Champion caliber teams do.

 

[IrishGrizz]

PWK,
I want you to tell me who the 5 teams are that you would accept an ND loss in 2008. This is the freakin 4th season for CW. He returns the entire O. Most of the D. He will be starting a 4 or 5 star player at almost every position. I am telling you that ND will most likely be the favorite in 10 of our games. We will really only be a dog in the USC game. UM will be a toss up. Look at the roster for every team we play. We will be fielding better talent than all but one team on our schedule, USC. Even UM will not field as good a talent as ND. I am tired of people excepting mediocre results in SB. CW got his muligan in 2007. If you all remember, Charlie himself stated that if he could not win a national title in 5 years he should be fired. I am not asking for a NC in 2008, but 8 wins and bowl victory are reasonable. People, this is freakin ND, we are not Illinois, Stanford, Iowa or some other mid tier program where a bowl invite every few years is good enough. We have one purpose in football, WIN NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS!!!!!!!!!!!!! If you are accepting of mediocre, go root for some other team. I am here to see a program strive for excellence. Sorry, I got on my soap box a bit.

Jonesman, switch to decaf, man.
This is a thread asking what we think we will win, not what we want to will the team to win or how many we want to win. Just because someone is trying to be realistic in their guesses, doesn't mean they aren't still hoping and pulling for 12-0.

 

[Epitome]

I think we will win 10 and I don't drink coffee

 

[notredomer23]

I have flip flopped so much on this subject but here is my final line on this.
10 regular season wins.
SDSU- W(atleast by 28)
UM-W(atleast by 10)
MSU-W(road team doesnt lose)
Purdue-W(they got nothing going for them)
Stanford-W(its stanford)
UNC-W(Like jonesman said, they needed OT to beat Duke)
UW-W(Ty fired after game, lose 45 to 3)
Pitt-L(Jon Baldwin makes us pay for him not having the grades :/, lose in OT)
BC-(W, pure blowout)
Navy-(W, the 43 game streak restarts)
Cuse(W, the once mighty program is in shambles)
USC-L(with BCS implications on the line for both teams, Each team really plays great but USC's maturity provails in a one TD victory.)

 

[IrishRamMan10]

I have flip flopped so much on this subject but here is my final line on this.
10 regular season wins.
SDSU- W(atleast by 28)
UM-W(atleast by 10)
MSU-W(road team doesnt lose)
Purdue-W(they got nothing going for them)
Stanford-W(its stanford)
UNC-W(Like jonesman said, they needed OT to beat Duke)
UW-W(Ty fired after game, lose 45 to 3)
Pitt-L(Jon Baldwin makes us pay for him not having the grades :/, lose in OT)
BC-(W, pure blowout)
Navy-(W, the 43 game streak restarts)
Cuse(W, the once mighty program is in shambles)
USC-L(with BCS implications on the line for both teams, Each team really plays great but USC's maturity provails in a one TD victory.)

I hope your right but im jstu hopeing to start off with a bowl bid to start haha... but with this years schedule i dont think im stretching too far to say 8-4.... but i also said 8-4 for last years team...

 

[Ultimate Penn St. Hater]

I'd be very happy with 8 wins and a bowl win and another #1 recruiting class to go with it. I think we can all pretty much agree that 2009 should be the year we seriously challenge for a NC. Go Irish!

 

[notredomer23]

Ugh i just dont care as long its nothing less than 8 regular season wins, a bowl win, and a top 5 recruiting class. eff my last prediction.
Im flip flopping more than Hilary

 

[IrishRamMan10]

haha its all good but im not makin my predictions until i get the rumors coming out of fall camp haha... also by then I guess i might be at ND or HC so i can ask people and be there first hand... just thought of that.... stoked

 

[jonesman]

Guys,
I was one of the first people this past year to predict 7-5 and stating the 6-6 was a real possibility with a few bad breaks. So, I was not expecting miracles from last season. With that said, I was suprised that we lost 9. Now, when you look back, we were not far from getting to 6-6 last season. The Navy game could have easily been a win. We had BC on the ropes especially when Evan threw the TD that got called back. At Purdue, we would have had a chance at victory with just a decent start. There were some really ugly losses, but there was also some bright spots that bring hope for the future.
In 2008, I really believe you are going to see an O that can score with regularity. The OL will have an entire season under their belt. Further, the big guys up front know that they have talent galore in the backfield which gives an OL confidence. You will see defenses struggling more against us because we will have balance in pass and run. This means our D will have time to breath on the sidelines. Our D played well in 2007, but they just got damn tired. With our O taking more time of possession, the D will perform better. All this spells major improvement.

 

[Moostache]

No way ND wins LESS than 9 next year....and if they do, 8 wins is not good enough in year 4....the coaching search would be underway with a 4th loss in 2008 unless all 4 turn out to be OT games and ND gets the Stanford Ref treatment in at least 2 of them....

Let's get expectations back in line with what Notre Dame football traditionally stood for - competing for the national championship every year!!! (yes, I DID just see "Rudy" last night on HDNet Movies....lol) and never accepting things like 7-5 records as "good enough"...

In fact, I say the only two teams with straight up comparable talent would be Michigan and USC (sure, if Weis is not the coach I am hoping he is, then we may get outcoached by a few teams, but we won't be at a talent disadvantage and the team brings back loads of experience, even if it is still considered 'young' experience) - USC may end up with sanctions and Poodle MAY hit the road very soon (like next week?) and scUM loses almost their entire set of skill players, a lot of defense and tries to break in a new QB and a new offense and by the way the first road test happens to be at (what better be) a very pissed off ND team looking for its pound of flesh!!!!!!!!

I say shock the college football world....UNDEFEATED! 12-0 baby!!!!

Crazy? Sure, probably very insane....
Likely? Of course not....
Possible? YES! Haven't lost ANY yet, so by definition it is still POSSIBLE!!!

Remember, no one believed the 1988 team was anything but a year away...much like people look at ND in 2008 and say "just wait for 2009..." I say hell no...Coach Weis is not entering the season looking at the schedule and counting up "should wins" and "will loses"...beat them all and let God sort them out!!!

 

[notredomer23]

Reps stache

 

[Ultimate Penn St. Hater]

I like it, but I just see us as an 8 win team. I hope I'm wrong and we win more.

 

[jonesman]

Guys,
Here is something to look at referencing our 2008 opponents and their 4 year Rivals recruiting.

Team Average Rivals 4 year rank Senior class rank
San Diego St. 74 57
UM 11 6
MSU 38 35
Purdue 47 29
Stanford 52 57
UNC 34 44
UW 29 19
Pitt 26 38
BC 40 49
Navy 100 100
Syracuse 51 56
USC 3 1

NOTRE DAME 14 40

I got the average by taking 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008 recruiting classes and averaged them. I also listed the seniors class since most teams are upper class dominant. I also realize that some of our opponents supliment with JC transfers. I also will say that some of our opponents lose kids early to the NFL. UM is losing Manningham, Arington early. MSU is losing a WR and now RB Ringer is talking NFL. So, if these rankings are worth anything, ND's senior class is ranked behind 4 opponents. If you look at the 4 year averages, ND is outdone by only USC and UM. Of the opponents we out rank, UW is closest and yet they are 12 slots behind us. We have 8 of our opponents out ranked by 20 or more places. This means that in 8 of our games on paper, we will be lining up superior talent by a wide margin. In 2 games we will have talent advantage by approximately 10 places which I would say makes it almost a toss-up. Then in 2 games, we are outmanned, USC and UM. Although, UM is losing two of there top talents from their senior class in Manningham and Arrington. This should demonstrate that the talent picture is SB is vastly improved and we should be able to compete with everyone.

 

[pwk1868]

PWK,
I want you to tell me who the 5 teams are that you would accept an ND loss in 2008. This is the freakin 4th season for CW. He returns the entire O. Most of the D. He will be starting a 4 or 5 star player at almost every position. I am telling you that ND will most likely be the favorite in 10 of our games. We will really only be a dog in the USC game. UM will be a toss up. Look at the roster for every team we play. We will be fielding better talent than all but one team on our schedule, USC. Even UM will not field as good a talent as ND. I am tired of people excepting mediocre results in SB. CW got his muligan in 2007. If you all remember, Charlie himself stated that if he could not win a national title in 5 years he should be fired. I am not asking for a NC in 2008, but 8 wins and bowl victory are reasonable. People, this is freakin ND, we are not Illinois, Stanford, Iowa or some other mid tier program where a bowl invite every few years is good enough. We have one purpose in football, WIN NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS!!!!!!!!!!!!! If you are accepting of mediocre, go root for some other team. I am here to see a program strive for excellence. Sorry, I got on my soap box a bit.

There are not 5 teams that I would accept a loss to on the schedule next year, hell there is not one team that I would accept a loss to next year. But just because I dont accept a loss does not mean that the team will no lose. Yes ND has a lot of talent, and yes they will be favored over a lot of the opposing teams, but that does not mean they will win. Ask USC or UM all of the talent on those teams did not matter when they got upset. The same can be said for a lot of other schools. I was looking at it from the prospective that ND went 3-9 this year. So in my eyes 7-5 with a bowl win would show signs of improvment. I just dont think this team will be ready for 8,9, or 10 wins, I still think they need one more year of learning, maturing and game expirence before they reach that level. That is why I chose the record I did. Now maybe they will prove me wrong and win 8+ games which would be great and I hope they do but I just dont see it happening.

 

[The Polish Irishman]

mmmmmmmm...Ian Williams is getting a lot of love..even from me...I wonder who is up to this?