2011 Notre Dame Football Predictions

Prediction #1 – Aaron Lynch will see the field.

           Freshman recruit Aaron Lynch looked dominant in the Army All Star game, as well as in Notre Dame’s spring practices and in the Blue and Gold game. As an early enrollee I suspect he will see the field over 5 star Freshman DE recruit Stephon Tuitt. It will likely be similar to Manti Teo’s freshman year where he saw most of his playing time in the second half of the season. Lynch will be a starter or the exclusive pass rusher his sophomore year.

Prediction #2 – Cam McDaniel will see the field.

           Some people project Freshman recruit Cam McDaniel as a slot receiver, but due to Notre Dame’s limited running back depth I suspect he will make the depth chart as a RB. McDaniel I believe is highly underrated, having come from the highest division in Texas and therefore playing against some of the toughest competition in the country he was still able to put up substantial numbers (1,956 rushing yards, 6.4 ypc, 35 TD, 39 rec, and 489 receiving yards in his senior season). McDaniel will likely be third in the depth chart and see limited, but efficient time in the backfield (think Theo Riddick his freshman year).

Prediction #3 – Michael Floyd will be back and a candidate for the Heisman.

           From the looks of it Floyd is doing everything he needs to do in order to come back from his suspension for driving under the influence. I suspect that along as he remains healthy (never a guarantee with Floyd) that he will put up some amazing numbers. With Woods abilities in the backfield, and a dominant rising receive in Theo Riddick, enough attention should be taken away from Floyd to allow him some room to make some plays. The biggest question—and only reason he may not put up big numbers— will be who will throw him the ball?

Prediction #4 – Manti Teo will win the Butkus award and still come back for his senior season.

           Manti Teo continues to get better every year. In 2010 he was fifth in tackles and of the people in front of him only one remains as competition (Luke Kuechly, BC). Teo was a second team All-American last year, and its hard to believe he doesn’t make the first team next year. Based on what I have read about Teo’s character and his family upbringing I would find it hard to believe that Teo leaves without getting a diploma. He will be back for his senior season and will be a top 15 pick after he graduates.

Prediction #5 – Notre Dame will go to a BCS game.

           Notre Dame’s schedule is certainly a difficult one, but there is only one preseason top 10 on the schedule (Stanford). There are the usual tough rivalry games against Michigan, Michigan St., USC and Navy (pathetic that I just said Navy I know, but they just can’t seem to defend against their option). Last year they went 8-5 but 3 of their 5 losses could have easily went the other way. They lost to Michigan only because Crist was knocked out of the game and Robinson threw together some last minute heroics. Michigan St. won on a fake field goal. Tulsa won due to knocking Crist out for the season and a bad play call and interception by true freshman Tommy Rees in the last seconds of the game. The only 2 loses where they were outplayed was against Navy (they couldn’t stop the option), and Stanford, the one game I went to last year, and probably one of their worst losses since playing LSU in their last BCS game.

           This year they return 17 starters from last year, and Kelly has had a full year to put in place his system. And Kelly has a history of his teams making huge strides in his second season as coach. His second full season at Central Michigan he took them from 6-5 to 9-4 to win the MAC. His second full season at Cincinnati he won the Big East and made a BCS game (his third year he went undefeated before leaving for Notre Dame). Kelly’s team also began to play their best football at the end of last season. In fact the defense allowed only three TD’s in the last 4 games of the season and one was a 1 yard drive by USC and the two others were late in the second half of their bowl game against Miami.

           I predict Notre Dame will go 10-2 with losses to Stanford and either Michigan St. or USC, and make a BCS game. Now it is still Notre Dame we are talking about, so they could easily lose four, but this year, that would be very surprising.