{"id":18611,"date":"2021-08-25T00:58:02","date_gmt":"2021-08-25T00:58:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/?p=18611"},"modified":"2021-08-25T00:58:03","modified_gmt":"2021-08-25T00:58:03","slug":"no-13-notre-dame-fighting-irish-season-preview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/ncaaf\/no-13-notre-dame-fighting-irish-season-preview\/","title":{"rendered":"No. 13 \u2013 Notre Dame Fighting Irish Season Preview"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This will be Brian Kelly\u2019s toughest task at Notre Dame since the 2016 season. The Fighting Irish have won at least 10 games for each of the last four years, but they lost almost all of their starters on offense and will have to rebuild their defense in 2021. That has the oddsmakers skeptical about their chances<\/a> of a fifth-straight double-digit win season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still, Kelly is one of the best coaches in America. He led Notre Dame to the College Football Playoff in 2018 and 2020, so you can\u2019t dismiss this team\u2019s chances of a surprising 2021 campaign.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Notre Dame Regular Season Win Total<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over 8.5 Wins -115<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Under 8.5 Wins -115<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

OFFENSE<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ian Book is now in the NFL after lighting it up during his time in South Bend. That led to Kelly bringing in grad transfer Jack Coan from Wisconsin to lead the offense. Coan didn\u2019t play last season due to injury, but he shined for the Badgers during the 2019 season. He completed 69.6% of his passes for 2,727 yards with 18 touchdowns and five interceptions. Coan isn\u2019t as skilled of a runner as Book was though, so this offense will have to adapt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ground game is in good hands with Kyren Williams leading the way. Williams ran for 1,125 yards and 13 touchdowns in 2020, and he averaged 5.3 YPC as the top back in this offense. He was a second team All-ACC selection, but he might see a downturn in production since only one starter along the offensive line returns from last season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Guard is the most proven position as Jarrett Patterson was an all-ACC selection in 2020, and grad transfer Cain Madden started 31 games during his four years at Marshall. However, the situation is more concerning at center and both tackle spots.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tight end Michael Mayer is expected to be the primary target in the passing game. Mayer had 42 receptions for 450 yards and two touchdowns last season. Avery Davis is the only other receiver on the roster that had more than 10 receptions last year, so this position group is very raw.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DEFENSE<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It won\u2019t be easy to replace Clark Lea, but former Cincinnati defensive coordinator Marcus Freeman is a dynamite hire. Freeman was in charge of the best defense in the AAC, so Notre Dame shouldn\u2019t expect to see a complete collapse on this side of the ball. A slight downturn might be in store due to roster turnover though.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First Team All-ACC safety Kyle Hamilton does return to South Bend. Hamilton led the Irish with 63 tackles last season, and his six pass break-ups were the third-most on the team. Cornerback Clarence Lewis thrived as a freshman, but these defensive backs are very inexperienced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is more depth at linebacker. Shayne Simon and Drew White both have experience, and Isaiah Pryor is one of the most talented back-up linebackers you will find in the sport.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The defensive line has two all-conference selections in Myron Tagovailoa-Amosa and Kurt Hinish. Hinish can clog the middle of the line, while Tagovailoa-Amosa did a great job in pass defense and run defense. There are some very talented youngsters for Freeman to bring along as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SCHEDULE<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Notre Dame does not have an easy schedule. The Irish don\u2019t have a game they will definitely lose, but there are only a couple games that are guaranteed wins. They play 10 Power Five opponents, and their slate from late September to mid-November is very perilous.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Irish will face Wisconsin, Cincinnati, Virginia Tech, USC, North Carolina, Navy, and Virginia in that stretch. Most of those games will be at home, but six of those seven teams (Navy being the exception) have a bye week the week prior to taking on Notre Dame. That will make it difficult for Notre Dame to go over their win total<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

PREDICTION<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is a rebuilding year for Notre Dame. The Irish won\u2019t contend for the CFP, but they should be able to win at least seven or eight games and make it to bowl season. The potential is there for a double-digit win season, but the under is likely in store<\/a> with four games against Top 15 opponents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Follow our <\/em>Twitter account<\/em><\/a> for the latest sports news and wagering odds, and come to our <\/em>Instagram<\/em><\/a> for more useful betting info too.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This will be Brian Kelly\u2019s toughest task at Notre Dame since the 2016 season. The Fighting Irish have won at…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":7450,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[133],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18611","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ncaaf"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18611","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18611"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18611\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18617,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18611\/revisions\/18617"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7450"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18611"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18611"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18611"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}