{"id":16735,"date":"2011-08-02T08:00:27","date_gmt":"2011-08-02T13:00:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/?p=16735"},"modified":"2011-08-01T12:17:22","modified_gmt":"2011-08-01T17:17:22","slug":"notre-dame-fighting-irish-college-football-preview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/notre-dame-fighting-irish-college-football-preview-16735\/","title":{"rendered":"Notre Dame Fighting Irish College Football Preview"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>
Notre Dame middle linebacker Manti Te'o led the team with 133 tackles in 2010<\/figcaption><\/figure>Over the month of August, our team of writers will be previewing the top teams heading into an exciting 2011 campaign.\u00a0 The college football handicappers at Maddux Sports are also preparing and have season-long packages readily available for clients.\u00a0 Let\u2019s examine year two of the Brian Kelly regime in South Bend.<\/p>\n

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

Notre Dame Fighting Irish<\/strong><\/p>\n

2010 record:\u00a0 8-5<\/em><\/p>\n

2010 Bowl Game:\u00a0 33-17 win over Miami (FL) at the Sun Bowl<\/em><\/p>\n

2010 ATS:\u00a0 6-5-2<\/em><\/p>\n

2010 O\/U:\u00a0 4-9<\/em><\/p>\n

Returning starters:\u00a0 16 (eight on offense, eight on defense)<\/em><\/p>\n

Offense<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Uncertainty at the quarterback position is the main question at Notre Dame leading into the season, as senior quarterback Dayne Crist has suffered season-ending knee surgeries in consecutive years.\u00a0 He went 4-5 last year as the starter and is the frontrunner in being at the controls when the Irish open the season at home against South Florida.<\/p>\n

Tommy Rees is there to pick up the pieces of Crist is unable to return to top form, throwing for 1,106 yards and 12 touchdowns during his freshman year.\u00a0 He led the squad to four consecutive wins to end the season, highlighted by a Sun Bowl victory over Miami (FL).<\/p>\n

The main question outside of the quarterback position is the status of star wide receiver Michael Floyd, who decided to not leave early for the NFL, but was arrested on suspicion of drunk driving.\u00a0 Head coach Brian Kelly immediately suspended the senior and has other players to focus on.<\/p>\n

Theo Reddick is Notre Dame\u2019s top returning wideout if Floyd isn\u2019t available, catching 40 passes for 414 yards and three touchdowns last year.\u00a0 Those numbers are a major drop off from Floyd\u2019s incredible 79 receptions and 1,025 receiving yards.<\/p>\n

With so much focus on the team\u2019s aerial attack, the coaching staff would be best served not to lose sight on improving the running game.\u00a0 The unit ranked 92nd nationally in gaining 127 yards per game and returns four starters on the offensive line.<\/p>\n

Sophomore running back Cierre Wood hopes the line can create more gaps to run through, carrying the ball 119 times for 603 yards and three touchdowns.<\/p>\n

The offense should definitely score more than the 26.3 points per game it averaged last year, which ranked 67th in the country.<\/p>\n

Defense<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

This unit is always overlooked on campus, but plenty of optimism surrounds the group heading into the season.\u00a0 Eight starters are back from a unit that held opponents to 20.2 points a contest.<\/p>\n

The defensive line is expected to be a major strength over the course of the season, as freshman Aaron Lynch grows into his role on the edge.\u00a0 He tallied seven tackles in the team\u2019s spring game.<\/p>\n

Behind the line is a deep linebacker core that is led by junior middle linebacker Manti Te\u2019o.\u00a0 He led the Irish with 133 tackles and is projected to be one of the best in the country at the position.<\/p>\n

Special Teams<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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

Senior placekicker David Ruffer will be a major weapon for the Irish, coming off a season that saw him be a Lou Groza finalist.\u00a0 He hit his first 18 field goal attempts in 2010 and is 23-of-24 in his career.<\/p>\n

Sophomore Bennett Jackson is expected to continue his growth as a kick returner and was named Special Teams Player of the Year for the program last year.\u00a0 He ranked 88th nationally by averaging 22.24 yards on returns.<\/p>\n

Against the Spread<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

The Irish seemed to put everything together in tallying four straight SU and ATS victories to end the season, including three outright underdog scores in that span.<\/p>\n

Bettors may continue to find opportunity to fade the team at Notre Dame Stadium, posting a 2-8-2 ATS mark over the last 12 home games.<\/p>\n

Bet On<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Kelly knows the Big East Conference from his days in Cincinnati and bettors should expect the Irish to drop the hammer on Pittsburgh on September 24.\u00a0 Notre Dame is 10-3 ATS in the last 13 meetings, including spread wins in five of the last six road meetings.<\/p>\n

Fade Away<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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

Academy schools definitely raise their efforts when playing the Irish and no school has had more spread success than Navy.\u00a0 The Midshipmen have covered the last 10 meetings at Notre Dame Stadium.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Over the month of August, our team of writers will be previewing the top teams heading into an exciting 2011 campaign.\u00a0 The college football handicappers at Maddux Sports are also preparing and have season-long packages readily available for clients.\u00a0 Let\u2019s examine year two of the Brian Kelly regime in South Bend. Notre Dame Fighting Irish […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":181,"featured_media":16557,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[200,1444],"tags":[1192,5090,3124,5091,3640,1311,2802,5089],"class_list":["post-16735","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-college-football","category-headlines","tag-brian-kelly","tag-cierre-wood","tag-dayne-crist","tag-manti-teo","tag-michael-floyd","tag-notre-dame-fighting-irish","tag-notre-dame-stadium","tag-tommy-rees"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16735","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/181"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16735"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16735\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16738,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16735\/revisions\/16738"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16557"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16735"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16735"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16735"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}