Notre Dame Fighting Irish – Poised for a Comeback

NCAA Football Futures Betting

Today we take a look at the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, a team that has won only ten games in the last two seasons.

2008 Record: 7-6 SU & ATS

Three-Year record (’06-’08): 20-18 SU, 16-21-1 ATS

BetOnline Sportsbook NCAA Football Odds

To Win National title +2200

Under 9 wins -135

Over 9 wins -105

Notre Dame is one of those programs where seven wins just won’t do, even if that seventh victory was a sensational 49-21 rout of the host Hawaii Rainbows in the Hawaii Bowl game. This is another pivotal year in Charlie Weis’ tenure, and so it is good news for him that he is getting ten of his starters back on offense.

The one who will have most of the spotlight on him, of course, is Jimmy Clausen, who came to South Bend with as much hype and circumstance as anyone is recent memory, and has been on a steady learning curve. This progress culminated in his 401 passing yards, with five touchdowns in that Hawaii Bowl game. On the season, Clausen had 25 touchdowns but also 17 interceptions, which came even though he went through one period where he had thrown 132 passes without a pickoff. With right tackle Sam Young headed toward a very high spot in next year’s NFL Draft, there is no excuse for the Irish not being able to run the football better. This was a team that was 100th in the nation on the ground. The top four rushers return, including Armando Allen, who was the only one to gain more than 500 yards. Maybe they’ll find something with freshman Cierre Wood, who was one of the top running backs available.

This year’s big play man, both for Clausen and on the special teams unit, will once again be Golden Tate, a wide receiver who averaged 18.6 yards a catch and evokes memories of people like Tim Brown and Rocket Ismail. He is one of the best in the country, and he has a very strong partner in speedy Michael Floyd, who had 719 yards as a freshman. This duo will cause nightmares for opposing defensive coordinators.

Speaking of defense, the story with Notre Dame is that it is rather inexperienced in the front seven and very experienced in the secondary. Up front, they have newcomers like redshirt freshman Kapron Lewis-Moore who will be playing in a system the returnees will have to adjust to, which is the new 4-3, a transition from last year’s 3-4 alignment. At linebacker, it appear Weis and defensive coordinator Jon Tenuta will looking for input from new blood, like prize freshman recruits Manti Te’o and Zeke Motta, both of whom were rated among the top 20 in their class.

In the defensive backfield, there are five different players who at one time or another have been starters. Kyle McCarthy and Harrison Smith are an outstanding pair of safeties, among the best duos in the country. Cornerback Darrin Wells started eleven games as a sophomore and redshirted last year. This is the strength of the team.

The over/under for wins is nine at BetOnline, but the schedule is not too back-breaking. Games that are very winnable include: Nevada, Purdue, Washington, Washington State, Navy, Connecticut and Stanford. Games that are probably winnable come against Michigan and Boston College. They won’t beat USC, but the home game against Michigan State and the visit to Pittsburgh could go either way. We could be looking at a push here, but I’ll give Notre Dame and Weis the benefit of the doubt and make a mild recommendation for the "over" at -105 in the BetOnline NCAA football futures betting odds.