Notre Dame Fighting Irish 2010 NCAAF Preview, Schedule, Odds, and Predictions: The Charlie Weis era is over and the Irish faithful couldn’t be happier unless they had just won the BCS National Championship. Head football coach Brian Kelly is right where he belongs, and all he does is build winning programs. His overall record is 171-57-2 (.748) while winning 2 Division II National Championships and turning around the Central Michigan Chippewa’s as well as the Cincinnati Bearcats. While Weis seemed like the right man for the job, Kelly is the right man for the job. His accolades include Home Depot National Coach of the Year 2009, Big East Coach of the Year (2007, 2008, 2009), American Football Coaches Association Division II Coach of the Year (2003, 2002), do you see a trend? Maybe a coach of the year nationally on the sport’s biggest stage in the making?
Some say with the spread offense that he’s an “offensive coach”. “You win and lose football games as a whole;” says Kelly “Offense, defense and special teams are what I’m an expert at. I don’t just rely on one side of the ball.” “You can’t go 12–0 if your defense stinks,” Kelly says. “You can’t do what we’ve done over the last three years — winning 34 and losing six — if your defense is lousy. You’ve got to find a way to play good enough defense in the times that you need it,” Kelly says. “There are going to be times when you have to win 28–7 and there are going to be times when you have to win 45–43.” You gotta love an Irish guy with quotes like these taking over at Notre Dame; it’s only a matter of time till they are back in the National spotlight. The odds makers at SBG Global have the Notre Dame Fighting Irish +3500 odds to win the BCS National Championship.
Offensively Dayne Crist, another five-star quarterback out of California will start out running the spread for the Irish despite limited mobility and inexperience in the offense. Running back Theo Riddick has moved to a slot receiver position, leaving Armando Allen (697 yards, 4.9-yard average) as the leader in the backfield. The odds makers at SBG Global have the Notre Dame Fighting Irish middle number listed at over/under 8 wins for the 2010 NCAAF regular season.
Defensively, taking advantage of a good group of linebackers, Notre Dame switched to a 3-4 front this spring and should be more aggressive this fall. The bottom line as Coach Kelly sees it a simple accountability issue. “It’s getting your players to be accountable on a day-to-day basis,” he said. “It’s developing them as young men, and you have to do that through relationships. If you don’t do that, you’ll never get your players to go to areas that they can’t go without you.”
All eyes are on the Irish and soon they will be smiling. I predict a 9 win season and a major bowl bid in Coach Kelly’s first season and a return to prominence.
2010 Notre Dame Fighting Irish College Football Schedule
Sat, Sept 4 vs Purdue 3:30 PM ET
Sat, Sept 11 vs Michigan 3:30 PM ET
Sat, Sept 18 @ Michigan State 8:00 PM ET
Sat, Sept 25 vs Stanford 3:30 PM ET
Sat, Oct 2 @ Boston College TBD
Sat, Oct 9 vs Pittsburgh 3:30 PM ET
Sat, Oct 16 vs Western Michigan 2:30 PM ET
Sat, Oct 23 vs Navy* 12:00 PM ET
Sat, Oct 30 vs Tulsa 2:30 PM ET
Sat, Nov 13 vs Utah 2:30 PM ET
Sat, Nov 20 vs Army* 7:00 PM ET
Sat, Nov 27 @ USC 8:00 PM ET
* Game played at neutral location.