A lot depends on the health of our quarterback and the ability of the defense to stop the run early in the year.

What about the Stanford game on 9/25?

A tool to screen tools?

A lot depends on the defense to stop the run.

Here’s to a strong defense and a healthy Dayne Crist!

I’m treading lightly here. High hopes but 15 years of agony tend to obliterate confidence

You should indicate if the games are Home or Away and the dates (although both are easily seen on the main NDNation page will help remind if we have an off date, etc.)

Being a realist I’m concerned about the Conf. ref’s. Since the Big Ten will only have one shot, we will get their best and most biased for the Purdue game. Last years MSU and Mich. games are probably training films for all Conf. ref’s. For Pitt., assuming we stiil let Big East Ref’s in South Bend, we will probably get the 20 yard forward fumble crew. I assume some Physics Department proved Clausen could not fumble a ball that far without kicking it. I can only imagine who Stanford will bring from the PAC 10. None of those ref’s could have been admitted to either school, but they will play an important part. Winning 2 out of these 3 would be miraculous.

with our schedule this year 8-4 or 9-3 is a good chances. can’t wait to see what Kelly can do with this talent!

Look for Coach Kelly to have many players rotate in on defense. First two games are confidence builders for Crist. We will definitely be better than last year.

You know, I really think ND has the talent to beat every team on their schedule, now will they? more than likely no. I know it’s Kelly first year with the team, but if you remember back to when Charlie took over, that team was ready to go, I think the only thing this team lacks what the 05 team had was a experienced QB, which is huge, but maybe Crist can make it happen. 25 days away and I can not wait. GO IRISH!!!!

One of the things that we often forget and to me is pivitol to a team’s sucess is “chemistry”. The first time I saw Coach Kelly on TV was during a game when one of his players had commited an unneccessary personal foul penality. When the player came to the bench he came right to Kelly and I couldn’t hear what they had to say but by their facial expressions I could tell that Kelly had his emotions under control and in a matter of fact manner was explaining the mistake to his player. The player looked down and nodded after the conversation. That impressed me. That showed me that the player knew what he did wrong and had a great deal of respect for Kellly in that he felt badly that he disappointed the coach. Chemistry starts with respect for the coach. They want to win for him as much as themselves and the university. That will get you 100% out of each player on every play.

I’m with Jimbo. Just filled out the poll and had to fight the urge to be optimistic. If I see a progression towards physical dominance in the 4th quarter, an ability to hit, wrap and plant (read: tackle) and a massive reduction in “Notre Dame players should not be called for these penalties” (personal fouls, too many men on the field, delay of game), 7-5 will be welcome indeed and may push me back towards the Pollyanna side of the camp. Go Irish!

I tend to be a polly at this time of year, so I’m probably over-optimistic about our chances. The best case scenario is a complete turnaround with an Ara type reemergence of Irish football. I can’t even imagine another Weis crash and burn finish. We have the schedule to run the table. With that said, there are too many variables to expect a shot at a NC. Talent, injuries, attitude, mental toughness, officiating and so many more things play into the equation; both for the players and the staff. I’d like to revisit this poll as a mid-term to see how we’re doing and if expectations have changed appreciably.

Kelly worked miracles with team players that most people would agree were below the rating of those at nd. based on that I believe nd has 100% probability fo beating each opponnet.

Defense and Crist’s health will be the keys to a good record (10 wins or more).

Keep posting stuff like this i really like it

Excuse me. WMU should also be a 80%+ game. If the rest are a toss up (50% +/-) that’s a 7-5 or 8-4 season.

Very few games that we shouldn’t be the favorites in. However, many of those games I expect we’d only be a slight favorite. With 4 or 5 cupcakes on there, even splitting the rest leads to an 8 win season. I think I’ve just decided that anything less than 8 is inexcusable, and 8 would be a disappointment. Of course expectations can and likely will change as the season is played out, but that’s now my preseason bar.

I’d say 8-4 or 9-3 is realistic. I think they’ll have some offensive growing pains with the new system but would like to think they’ll be more intense and fundamentally improved. For all we know Kelly could turn into Rich Rod II and struggle mightily but hopefully that won’t happen.

ND fans have been burned so many times over the years with new coaches that I won’t get too excited if they demolish Purdue. If you recall, Weis trounced Pitt 42-21 and the offense and play calling looked Norm Chowesque during USC’s halcyon days. Things began to unravel towards the end of the 2005 season and it was pretty much a bumpy ride thereafter. Even Willingham got lucky in year 1 so we really won’t know what we have until well into Kelley’s second year.

If Kelly goes 10-2 or 11-1 chances are half the coaching staff will be offered HC jobs elsewhere.

While I would generally agree with the previous post, that ND fans (and I am a big one) are too optimistic and corrupt the results; I agree the results of the “average” numbers of 8.5 wins. Personally, I’m thinking Kelly should win 8 games this year and anything above that is grace. Maybe the last few years of Charlie have made the sampling more realistic or pessimistic.

Only other comments:
+ I would probably put Utah in the “Coin Toss” category.
+ And “Fans had the most disagreement about USC” surprises me. The USC talent is so deep that the change in coaches & probation will make little difference this year. I expect them to be almost as strong as every other year.
+ And as a general unrelated comment – why do people who follow other teams flock to ND sites (not just this one, but all sites) just to bash the Irish? Their insecurity over their team leads them to immature rants. It’s just embarrassing!

I am so excited and hopeful for the Irish. BK has all the charateristics and coaching skills, in my opinion, of NDs Rockne,Leahy, Parseshgian, Devine and Holtz, Nds 5 greatest coach’s. Theses 5 men establised the saying ” The Luck of the Irish” which meaning is a well coached group of young men who will not give up, and who will fight to the end will Win….Can’t wait until September 4 2010 and so we can add # 6. Go Irish.

I would love to see the results of previous years polls compared to reality. I agree that the last 3 years should have tempered expectations a bit. So much in college football has to do with momentum and belief which is why both Weis and Willingham had great success their first year’s despite the program not being on solid ground. For that reason I think it entirely feasible that we could win anywhere from 6 to all games and USC could do the same. When the house of cards gets rocked good teams play poorly, see the Irish these past 3 years.