Part 6 of 12 part CANE 2012 opponent series

In part 6 of the series, we're going to preview the 2012 Notre Dame Fighting Irish. They are led by Brian Kelly, who will be entering his 3rd season in South Bend. They finished 8-5 in 2011, losing to Florida State in the Champs Sports Bowl.

Think about this fact for a second. Yes, Notre Dame went 8-5, and all those losses were by 14 points or less. If it weren't for killer turnovers, they could have easily been playing for the BCS title in New Orleans instead of LSU or Alabama.

In the 2011 season opener vs USF, they they dominated the Bulls by 254 yards, however, 3 killer red zone turnovers including a fumble returned 96 yards for a touchdown, would give the victory to the Bulls 23-20. The following week in Ann Arbor,  they had a 24-7 lead in the 3rd quarter, but once again, not protecting the ball in the red zone, would cost the Irish a 35-31 loss. When they hosted USC, Notre Dame was on a game-tying drive in the fourth quarter,, however, their inability to have good ball protection, and a killer pick 6 would once again do the Irish in as SC would go on to beat them 31-17. In Orlando (Champs Sports Bowl) vs. FSU, the Irish D would score a TD and held the 'Noles to 290 total yards. However, it would be, you got it, their inability to protect the football in key moments that would do the Irish in. They had two killer turnovers inside FSU’s 30 and the Seminoles went on to win 18-14.

As is the case with Notre Dame every year, their schedule is murder. They play 3 top 10 teams, 2 additional top 20 teams, and 8 teams that went to a bowl last year. (USC and the CANES also would have gone to a bowl if they were eligible, in the latter's case, the bowl ban was self-imposed.)

Now, let's take a look at the 2012 edition of the Irish:
Offensively,  if they don't have a solid QB behind C, they're not going very far. In 2011, there was a battle between Dayne Crist and Tommy Rees. Crist was named the starter for the opener against USF. However, when he struggled, he was benched in favor of Rees, who would be the starter for the rest of the year. Crist is now at Kansas, which is now coached by former Irish coach Charlie Weis. Rees was very inconsistent in 2011, completed 65.5% of his passes. He had 20 TDs, but also 14 picks and lost 5 fumbles. He was always shaky throughout the 2011 season. Another bonehead move by Rees,  May, he gets busted for slugging a cop, that's being stupid, ok. Kelly did the right thing by suspending Rees for the Irish's September 1st opener in Dublin, Ireland against Navy.

The starter for that Navy game hasn’t been determined but it will come down to junior Andrew Hendrix (6'2" 220), RS freshman Everett Golson (6' 185), or true freshman Gunner Kiel (6'4" 210). Hendrix was their back-up for most of last year, after Kelly demoted Crist to third string. He threw a TD, but also had 2 picks in limited action in 2011. Where he could hurt opponents is with his legs. In 2011, did you know, that he was their third leading rusher despite having just 25 carries. Golson was pretty good in their spring game. Kiel was the highest recruited quarterback last year, and had offers from USC, Oklahoma, LSU, Alabama and the rest of the big schools. He originally committed to his home state university of Indiana, but changed his mind and chose Notre Dame. With all that talent coming in, its going to be pretty tough for Rees to win back his job.

You don't replace a stud like Michael Floyd who was their all-time leader in receptions, and a high pick when he went to Arizona in April. In 2011, he had 100 receptions for 1,147 yards and 9 TDs, and had another on the ground.  They do get back Senior TE (Maxwell Award candidate) Tyler Eifert (6'6" 251), who is one of the best TEs in the country. Last year, he had 63 receptions for 803 yards, and 5 TDs. Their other top receivers that are back are Junior T.J. Jones (5'11" 190), Seniors Theo Riddick (now a running back, 5'11" 199), John Goodman (6'3" 207), and Robby Toma (5'9" 185). However, none of those three had more than 38 catches last year, or averaged more than 6 yards per catch. We'll see a lot of Freshmen DaVaris Daniels (6'2" 190) and Davonte Neal in 2012. This area has many questions that need to be answered and soon.

The same cannot be said about their running game. In 2011, Junior Cierre Wood (6' 215) was their leading rusher. He's a preseason candidate for the Maxwell award, especially after he had 217 carries for 1,107 yards, and 9 TDs. They do lose their top backup Jonas Gray to graduation. He had 12 TDs and 791 yards rushing in 2011. However, they do add a USC transfer in Amir Carlisle (5'10" 185), and should do nicely filling Gray's shoes. While at SC, he averaged more than 6 yards a carry. We'll see Riddick and Freshman George Atkinson III (6'1" 210) get the rock in 2012. Where Riddick will be able to help their offense is in the passing game. He had 38 catches last season. Atkinson is a guy that's a gamebreaker and can take one back to the house at any time. He's that good a player.

Their O-Line was one of the best units in the country in 2011. They do lose two starters to graduations, but they get back Senior OT Zach Martin (6'4" 304) and RS Senior C Braxton Cave (6'3" 304).

Now to their Defense,  they run a 3-4 system under co-DCs Bob Diaco and Kerry Cooks. They had the 15th ranked D in the nation in 2011. They were very good vs the run, but their Achilles heel was stopping the passing game of opponents, especially against the big plays.

They lost their stud DE Aaron Lynch who transferred to USF. That's not going to be an easy piece to replace, due to the fact, that he could rush the passer with rock solid consistency. They do get back  RS Sophomore NG Louis Nix III (6'3" 326) as well as RS Senior DE Kapron Lewis-Moore (6'4" 306) and Freshman Stephon Tuitt (6'6" 295). Their line shouldn’t take a step back if their pass rush gets better. It was nothing to write home about, even with Lynch there.

They return at LB all but one from 2011. The only one gone to graduation is Darrius Fleming. Make no mistake, its unquestionable leader there is Senior Manti Te’o (6'2" 255, and a Butkus candidate to be sure and will for sure go very high in next April's draft). They also have returning Sophomore Ishaq Williams (6'5" 255) who will make some noise in 2012. Also back are Junior Prince Shembo (6'2" 250), Senior Dan Fox (6'3" 240), Junior Danny Spond (6'2" 248), and Carlo Calabrese (6'1" 245). We'll see a lot of them in 2012. However, we won't see Calabrese in the first game, as he is also suspended for the Navy game.

The secondary took a big hit to graduation and must replace 3 starters from the 2011 team. They do have decent safeties in RS Senior Jamoris Slaughter (6' 200) and Senior Zeke Motta (6'2" 215). Their CBs, should be led by Juniors Bennett Jackson (6' 185), Lo Wood (5'10" 195), and RS Freshman Josh Atkinson (5'11" 185), however, those three will compete for just two starting spots in fall camp. They're going to have to step up and make plays because in 2011, the Irish only forced 8 fumbles and when you add the fact that their offense turned the ball over 29 times, that's a big deal when you're on the field playing Defense most of the time and giving opponents short fields to work with, you're not going to win a lot of games that way. Yes, ND was good on D, but until they can force more turnovers and give the O short fields to work with, not much change will happen in 2012.

Let's look at Special Teams:  RS Sophomore Kicker Kyle Brindza is back and he has a strong leg. In 2011, he dealt with the kickoffs, but in 2012, he will take over as the placekicker from David Ruffer (gone to graduation). They have a capable backup should Brindza struggle in Senior Nick Tausch. When he was a freshman, he was the kicker and hit 14 FGs in a row at one point. When he went down to an injury and lost his job to Ruffer, he never got it back. Keep an eye on this one throughout the season.

Senior Punter Ben Turk averaged over 40 yards a punt, and pinned 18 kicks inside the 20. However, when you look at their punt coverage, it was just terrible and his net yards suffered because of that.

As I said earlier about Atkinson III, this is a guy that can take one back to the house. In 2011, he made that point clear when he had two long touchdown returns. On the other hand, their punt return unit was awful, as they had only 48 punt return yards total in 13 yards, not going to win games with you have just 48 yards in punt returns for the season. To put that into perspective. Michael Floyd by himself, had a punt return of 41 yards. If you subtract that, they would have averaged 0.23 yards per punt return. New Mexico was last in the FBS at 1.33 yards a return.  Look for Riddick to handle punt returns in 2012. Hell, it can't get any worse.

Looking at ND's schedule, as usual, its murder. They have to go across the pond to play against a rival that has beaten them 3 of the last 5 years in Navy. On top of that, no BYE week after the Ireland trip as they host Purdue in their home opener the following week. They only played in a bowl game last year. Let's add a trip to East Lansing to take on Michigan St, just a top 15 team in the country. Then they have four games at home stand against Michigan, CANES (Soldier Field, Chicago), Stanford, and BYU. Then the big trip to Norman to take a team that just might win the whole thing this year in Oklahoma. This will be their first trip to Norman in 50 years. They do get to close their schedule with Pitt at home, then head to Chestnut Hill to face Boston College, then host Wake in their home finale before going to the Coliseum to face another team that might just win it all in 2012 in SC. Looking at that schedule, I can't see them winning 8-9 this year. Realistically, my prediction for the 2012 Notre Dame Fighting Irish is 7-5.

In Part 7 of the series, I will preview the 2012 North Carolina Tar Heels.