If we go 8-4 that’s a big step back, especially after all the hyping of this defense and how most mags and pundits are predicting, AGAIN, a return to national prominence.

If we play with heart and with barbaric physicality for four quarters, as our D should, we will give up FEW pts. Our offense needs to put up about 14-21 a game and we can run the table.

Right. I meant VT, Clemson, and NC are ACC teams but you were talking about ECU not USF last year. I read that wrong.

That is very true, and good points (its actually worse, South Florida is Big East). I just get the jitters by coaches who have a habit of taking out big teams on the road with (at least perceived) less talented teams.

I also disagree on Maryland. The only way they win that game is if, when they come out in those new God-AWFUL unis, ND forgets who they’re supposed to be playing and suddenly thinks “Well, this game is in a professional football stadium, this must be a CFL team or something.” They get scared because they think they’re up against pros and crap their pants and run away. No way Maryland wins that.

I’m going with 9-3 regular season with losses to Sparty, Air Force, and the Tree. BCS bid and we squash LSU in the Sucre Bowl.

I’m just not as convinced that the D as is prime-time as people are think. If the D wasn’t dominant, there’s no way ND finishes last season 5-0. The offense will be better, but how much so? Enough to keep us in scoring shoot-outs a-la UM and MSU last year? Therefore I’m going the opposite of Tjak, and seeing 8-4.

Ah, mixed them up. My bad.

Good perspective.

I’m not too worried about Maryland. We should be able to get the starters some rest during Wake Forest, so the team will be relatively fresh for Fed-Ex field, even though they’ll have already played USC and Navy after the bye week.

I have a feeling the Stanford game is going to make or break our BCS hopes. We’ll probably have one loss at that point, either from (scUM)/USC, MSU, or a let-down game, and it’s tough to back into the BCS by losing your last game of the year, even if it is to a really good team. If we happen to have 2 losses, a big WIN at Stanford could be enough to propel us back into the BCS if we were on the bubble. Big BCS implications either way, I think.

Brad-I was starting to feel the same way as I read about these guys yesterday. But wasn’t the ACC a mess last year? Are those wins all that impressive? I know many say the same thing about ND given that Utah, USC, and Miami all had their own issues.

One thing that gives me confidence is that finally ND has bonafide big time, big game performers. They don’t have a Floyd, or a Teo, or a Harrison Smith or a Tyler Eifert–national award watch list kind of guys all over the field like ND does. If Kelly and company are as good as we think/hope they are, they should have more than enough firepower to beat USF convincingly. Not necessarily a blowout, but not a nailbiter either.

Yes, the Tree is that lame.