Yep, it's that time!  Irish Shu is ready to rock on fall Saturdays with the arrival of college football and I now offer my annual preview of my beloved Notre Dame Fighting Irish...but first, a brief digression:

Those who know me best know that I couldn't care less about baseball...but if it involves a team of 12- and 13-year-old boys from my home state of Montana kicking ass in the Little League World Series, you bet I'm gonna give a shit!  With that in mind, I offer a belated CONGRATULATIONS to the boys from Billings for giving us the greatest-ever showing for any team from the Big Sky state!  They not only qualified for the LLWS, they beat the teams from South Dakota, Louisiana and then the eventual series champ from California before the Cali team came back in the losers bracket to win a revenge game against them in the National Championship.  Way to go, boys!!!  You may not have won it all, but you sure done us proud!  Thank you.

…Onto the business at hand now.

Notre Dame Coach Brian Kelly now enters his 2^nd year at the helm of the Irish.  Last year certainly had it’s trials for him:  new team, new schedule, and a new system.  Season-ending Injuries to key personnel such as quarterback Dayne Crist, running back Armando Allen Jr. and tight end Kyle Rudolph didn’t help, nor did the death of student videographer Declan Sullivan in a scissor lift accident during practice…but Kelly managed to right the ship after the tragedy and guide the team to a 4-win finish to the season, including a Sun Bowl win against Miami – a team which, as we know, is having some pretty severe problems of it’s own these days.  I think Kelly has the team going the right way for a great year.  They’ve had a year to get acclimated to his system and his staff and there was an upswing of momentum after the Tulsa loss which followed the Sullivan tragedy.  The biggest factor in that upswing was the defense – the unit really came into it’s own and held the last 4 opponents to just 39 points (just under 10 points per game), including only 3 to a Utah team that averaged 33 points per game and finished its season with 10 wins and that was no fluke...speaking of which:

Defense:  Loaded.  8 starters return on the unit that, as I said, really improved as last season evolved.  The one you hear about most is linebacker Manti Te’o who had 133 tackles last year….but you cannot overlook 5^th year senior safety Harrison Smith who was a particularly solid player, as well.  Smith is a hard hitter, a sure tackler, and he saved the Irish at USC last year with a game winning interception and then picked off 3 more passes against Miami in the Sun Bowl.  The Irish are lucky he came back and was granted one more year, because they’ll need him back there.  His fellow secondary starters are good and have experience, but there is not much depth behind them which is what the critics are picking-on.  The remaining linebackers and the D-line are a plus, as well…it would take some space for me to list all the good players in those areas (and my pal, the Beeze already named a bunch of them in his preview) but suffice it to say there are a bunch of them.  They are good, big, strong, fast, and they have depth.

Offense:  Pretty loaded, as well.  They return 9 starters including the quarterback and pretty-much all of the receivers.  It’s very encouraging to me that the Irish have 2 quarterbacks with a good amount of starting experience returning…and as I’ve said in a previous blog, I don’t remember the last time the Irish had THAT going for them.  Dayne Crist won-out as the starter ahead of Tommy Rees despite cries from the public that Rees was 4-0 as the starter and Crist was 4-5 before he got injured…but those numbers are deceiving.  Not that Rees wasn’t good, but it was the improving Irish D that was the difference in his wins.  Statistically, Rees did have the slightly-higher completion percentage of 61% to Crist’s 59% but Crist threw fewer interceptions in 9 games (7) than Rees threw in 4 (8).  Also, Crist is overall more athletic and, as the more experienced senior, is a better leader.  The receivers are one of the best groups in the nation.  Michael Floyd is the leader and will finish his senior year as the BEST receiver Notre Dame has ever had…provided he stays healthy and avoids the booze.  Despite a somewhat injury-plagued career, Floyd has 171 catches for 2,539 yards and 28 touchdowns.  He needs only 9 more catches to break Jeff Samardzija’s record for most career catches and only 169 more yards to break Golden Tate’s record for career yards.  Playing along with him will be speedy T.J. Jones and Tight End Tyler Eifert, who was a pleasant surprise after Rudolph went down with his hamstring injury.  The Irish did lose a couple O-Linemen to graduation, but the ones they have coming back got a good amount of playing time last year and are seasoned.  The weak spot?  Running back.  Gone from last year are Allen and power back Robert Hughes.  Back this year are Cierre Wood and Jonas Gray.  Both Wood and Gray got in a few snaps last year but don’t have a ton of experience.  There are only a couple underclassmen behind them, though return specialist Theo Riddick, a converted receiver, is an option to go back to the backfield if injuries warrant it.  My feeling is that IF Wood can stay healthy; the moment is his to seize.  Behind that O-line he could break out and do surprisingly well.

Special teams:  The Irish were very good last year and could do even better this year.  Lou Groza Award semifinalist David Ruffer is back after going 18 for 19 in field goals last year.  Frosh Kyle Brindza will lend another strong leg for punting and kickoff duties, and the return specialist, Riddick, is the fastest man on the team and is poised for a breakout year.

With that, let us now get to my game-by-game predictions in the traditional poetic form.

Ahem:

9/3 vs. South Florida:

Lou’s son Skip is back in town.  In the Big East, Bulls contend.  BJ Daniels is a good QB, but won’t win in South Bend.

Irish win…but it may be close.  This is a tough team to have to open against.

9/10 at Michigan:

The first night game in the Big House.  Retro unis, too.  Denard Robinson is prepped to run, but coach Brady Hoke’s too new.

Irish win.

9/17 vs. Michigan State:

Kirk Cousins is back once more.  He’s made it tough, indeed!  The problem is, he’s all Sparty now has….and he’s NOT all they need.

Irish win.

9/24 at Pitt:

Wannstedt, Baldwin, and Lewis are gone, but they still have Tino Sunseri.  Todd Graham takes over a rebuilding program…of the Irish, I’d be leery (or “Larry”, depending on how you pronounce the kid’s name.  I can’t tell).

Anyway, Irish win.

10/1 at Purdue:

Purdue just ain’t been the same since Joe Tiller left the place.  Danny Hope sure ain’t no Joe….but he’s got to save some face.

He won’t – Irish win.

10/8 vs. Air Force:

The reigning Commander-in-chief winner is awesome with the run.  ND is due for a snakebite, hate to say it, but this is the one.

Falcons win…hope I’m wrong, though.

10/22 vs. USC:

The Irish will have had a bye, and time to heal from the Air Force loss.  SC is not what they once were, and ND will be the boss.

Irish win.

10/29 vs. Navy:

Like Air Force, Navy loves to run.  The Middies have owned us of late.  But Irish will learn from the AF loss, and thus clean the Navy plate.

Irish win.

11/5 at Wake Forest:

The Deacons are table-scrap-feeders in the not-powerful ACC.  They’ve already lost game 1 to Syracuse…do you REALLY think they’ll beat ND?

Me neither.  Irish Win.  This one won’t even be close.

11/12 vs. Maryland @ FedEx Field in Landover, MD

The Terps are good and are near home, but the ACC won’t have prepared ‘em.  ND will have jelled and want the win more than Randy Edsall will have repaired ‘em.

Irish win.

11/19 vs. Boston College:

Montel Harris, the ‘Eags bright spot, is already on injured reserve.  ND was once BC’s lil bitch, but now the Irish do have the nerve.

Irish win.

11/26 at Stanford:

The Season finale’ at Palo Alto will see the Irish vie for a BCS bid.  They’ll face Heisman Finalist Andrew Luck, and he’s one helluva kid.

Cardinal win…again, would LOVE it if I’m wrong.

And then…

The Irish snag a BCS Bowl – and board a flight to battle.  They’ll save their best for their last game, and the opponent, they will rattle.

Irish win.

So, overall I have them winning about 10 (11 if they win the bowl game) and will get a BCS bowl ONLY if they win the 10…they could get bit by one other team such as Michigan State or USC, but I don’t think they’ll lose to both.  I say 9 wins at worst despite this year’s schedule being a bit tougher than last years’.

Other predictions:

Montana Grizzlies:  Nate Montana’s with the Griz…alas, he’s the 3^rd string..  The starting QB’s looking pretty good.  Big Sky?  They might win the thing.

Nebraska:  New year, new league for the Huskers - who are now in the Big 10.  They won 10 games last year in the Big 12; they may win 10 again.

Colorado State: the now's not good, beloved Rams, 2 players arrested to start.  Boise State is now a Mountain West foe – for much wins, you’ll need more than heart.

WELCOME BACK COLLEGE FOOTBALL!!!  It’s about damn time!  WOO-HOO!!!