Notre Dame Fighting Irish 2016 NCAA Football Preview
Notre Dame Fighting Irish
Independent
2015 Record – 10-3
ATS – 8-5
2016 MEGALOCKS Opening Power Rating Rank
Independent #1
2015 Recap
Notre Dame should get a lot of credit for last season’s performance. They finished 10-3 but the three losses were pretty much the “best” possible defeats you could imagine (Clemson, Stanford, Ohio St). And don’t forget, they outgained both Clemson and Stanford by over 100 yards, and both games were on the road.
OFFENSE
An embarrassment of riches at QB. DeShone Kizer stepped in once starter Malik Zaire got injured and did a very good job throwing for 21 TDs and rushing for another 10 scores. It will be interesting to see what HC Brian Kelly decides to do but either QB should be able to terrorize defenses and do a great job.
Even with the departure of last season’s leading rusher CJ Prosise the Irish look pretty deep at RB. Josh Adams had a fine freshman season rushing for over 800 yards at 7 yards a pop and they have a lot of highly-touted talent waiting in the wings. The offensive line is a bit of concern as they need to work in three new starters this season. The mobility of both QBs will certainly help things but it is something to keep an eye on in the first few weeks.
A primary concern are the losses in the WR corps including star Will Fuller who was a first round NFL draft choice. Notre Dame will also be without projected starting TE Alize Jones who did not qualify due to academics. Fortunately the Fighting Irish develop tight ends like pretty much nobody else. However, it is still a concern that only ONE player returns that had more than TEN receptions in 2015.
DEFENSE
Notre Dame finished the season ranked 45th in total defense but only 72nd against the run. Since the near magical 2012 season, the Irish have given up a lot of yards on the ground per game (176,171,168), while only managing 26 as their highest sack total. Only once in the Brian Kelly era have the Irish managed to yield less than 20 points per game.
This season only five starters return on defense and they lose their top three tacklers from the 2015 unit. Nobody on the roster had more than three sacks last season. Obviously there is a lot of talent on board but it takes a bit of a leap of faith to think that they will be lights-out.
SPECIAL TEAMS
Notre Dame should have an excellent special teams group. PK Justin Yoon is fantastic (15/17 last season) and P Tyler Newsome is solid as well. Return man CJ Sanders had a KR TD and a PR TD in 2015 and adds some spice to the return game.
MEGALOCKS ATS Value Rating (10) 3.5
MEGALOCKS says:
There are a lot of new faces on offense and on defense. We do know that Brian Kelly does a great job and has recorded 8+ wins in every season since he arrived in 2010. The three seasons prior to that the Irish only managed 3,7 and 6 victories.
Overall, we give the FIGHTING IRISH a 3.5 ATS Value Rating (Below Average) this season. Notre Dame has had three winning seasons ATS and three losing seasons vs the number under Brian Kelly’s tenure. Over that six-year time horizon his teams are a combined 38-37-3 ATS. That is pretty good considering they are very much a public team, but thinking about this season in particular, it feels as though they are going to be overvalued despite the extraordinary talent at QB. The schedule will not do them many favors. We would be very leery of backing the Irish ATS on a consistent basis unless a lot of the new faces develop very quickly.
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Website
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Forum
https://notredame.forums.rivals.com/forums/under-the-dome.8/
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http://www.uhnd.com/bb/forum/index.php?action=main&forumid=6
http://www.scout.com/college/notre-dame/forums/2594-the-new-ara
http://www.domerdomain.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?s=e97bcd88455928670ed58aa735471c15&f=6
http://notredame.247sports.com/Board/Notre-Dame-Fighting-Irish-Message-Board-Forum-87
News
http://bleacherreport.com/notre-dame-football
https://twitter.com/NDFootball @NDFootball
https://twitter.com/EHansenNDI @EHansenNDI Eric Hansen
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