Notre Dame in about half of the top 25s

[OUmillenium]

I looked at a website that lists about 20 preseason polls. ND is listed at #22 on average. Wow, I thought for sure they were destined for another carp year then I remembered their schedule. After looking at it though, it is not as soft as it has been in the past.

When will they make a move back to an elite/highly ranked program competing for the BCS?

Do you love seeing them struggle as much as I do?

Here is there schedule, feel free to predict their season record. I would love to see OU crush the Domers but it probably won't happen this year.

Sept. 5 NEVADA
Sept. 12 at Michigan
Sept. 19 MICHIGAN STATE
Sept. 26 at Purdue
Oct. 3 WASHINGTON
Oct. 17 USC
Oct. 24 BOSTON COLLEGE
Oct. 31 Washington State (at San Antonio, TX)
Nov. 7 NAVY
Nov. 14 at Pittsburgh
Nov. 21 CONNECTICUT
Nov. 28 at Stanford

I'll say at Mich is a tossup cuz Mich sucked unter Rod last year...LOSS

Mich St at ND...not as highly ranked but ND notoriously overranked as of late + I like MSUs qb...LOSS

At PU...LOSS

USC...LOSS

at PITT...LOSS

at Stanford...LOSS

So I will go with Neuter Dame going 6-6. Does that deserve a top 25 ranking?

[Scott D]

I see at least 8 wins on that schedule.

[oudivesherpa]

If the Domers don't win at least eight games this year, Weis new career will be........

[tommieharris91]

Sept. 5 NEVADA
Sept. 12 at Michigan
Sept. 19 MICHIGAN STATE
Sept. 26 at Purdue
Oct. 3 WASHINGTON
Oct. 17 USC
Oct. 24 BOSTON COLLEGE
Oct. 31 Washington State (at San Antonio, TX)
Nov. 7 NAVY
Nov. 14 at Pittsburgh
Nov. 21 CONNECTICUT
Nov. 28 at Stanford

So I will go with Neuter Dame going 6-6. Does that deserve a top 25 ranking?

6-6 against that collection of garbage is a disappointment.

[fadada1]

their schedule isn't as "soft" because air force and army aren't on it.

seriously, look at their schedule and tell me why they shouldn't be in the big10(11) and play a conf. champ. game. they're already playing half the teams for f**k sake. wake up, nd, and get over yourselves.

[delhalew]

Do they still play D1 ball?

[SoonerInFortSmith]

If the Domers don't win at least eight games this year, Weis new career will be........

...professional hot dog eater.

[soonerinabilene]

this year, usc is the only for sure loss on that schedule. luck, weis pulling his head out of ***, and clausen finally living up to his hype makes a 10 win season possible, but i wouldnt bet more than five bucks on it.

[goingoneight]

I still wanna know when Jimmy Claussen is going to win his 4 National Championships. Is that when Bobby Reid and Adarius Bowman split the Heisman?

[Crucifax Autumn]

I'd like to see Nevada bury them in the first game and put an end to this foolishness.

[OU_Sooners75]

They should have at least eight wins...but we are talking about a very underachieving ND squad under Wies.

Highlighted are the wins I think they should have this year:

Sept. 5 NEVADA
Sept. 12 at Michigan
Sept. 19 MICHIGAN STATE
Sept. 26 at Purdue
Oct. 3 WASHINGTON
Oct. 17 USC
Oct. 24 BOSTON COLLEGE
Oct. 31 Washington State (at San Antonio, TX)
Nov. 7 NAVY
Nov. 14 at Pittsburgh
Nov. 21 CONNECTICUT
Nov. 28 at Stanford

[PLaw]

The domers are a fly in the NCAA ointment with any argument for excluding current non-BCS conferences from the BCS bowl mix. The irish win 9 games and they get an automatic BCS game. What the heck?

Boomer

[Salt City Sooner]

They should have at least eight wins...but we are talking about a very underachieving ND squad under Wies.

Highlighted are the wins I think they should have this year:

Sept. 5 NEVADA
Sept. 12 at Michigan
Sept. 19 MICHIGAN STATE
Sept. 26 at Purdue
Oct. 3 WASHINGTON
Oct. 17 USC
Oct. 24 BOSTON COLLEGE
Oct. 31 Washington State (at San Antonio, TX)
Nov. 7 NAVY
Nov. 14 at Pittsburgh
Nov. 21 CONNECTICUT
Nov. 28 at Stanford
I'd agree w/ most of those. A couple of differences to me:

I'd flip Purdue & Pitt. Purdue went 4-8 last year & has a new coach due to Glenn retiring, which usually leads to a decent sized adjustment period in the first year. Pitt, although they lost McCoy, is one of, if not the favorite in the Big East.

I think they at least split w/ the Michigan schools. UM in all probability will be starting a true freshman at QB in his 2nd game, & MSU will also be breaking in a new QB, not to mention the fact that Ringer won't be behind him as a security blanket.

[OUmillenium]

So some of us were right and some of us were wrong.

[yermom]

well, who knew Stanford would kick *** this year?

[Scott D]

well, I had them beating Michigan :P

[westcoast_sooner]

ND plays a pretty tough schedule year in and year out. I went back over the last several years and looked, they typically play a couple of Pac-10 (USC and Stanford & maybe one more), a couple of Big-10, then some Big East or ACC - plus at least one service academy.

In hindsight, looking at the schedule below, one would think that they should have got wins at Michigan, and certainly at UConn. Washington wasn't very good - they're still rebuilding there and Purdue is awful. But bottom line is that ND just wasn't very good this year and there wasn't much reason why Weis shouldn't have had a better record.
Sept. 5 NEVADA
Sept. 12 at Michigan
Sept. 19 MICHIGAN STATE
Sept. 26 at Purdue
Oct. 3 WASHINGTON
Oct. 17 USC
Oct. 24 BOSTON COLLEGE
Oct. 31 Washington State (at San Antonio, TX)
Nov. 7 NAVY
Nov. 14 at Pittsburgh
Nov. 21 CONNECTICUT
Nov. 28 at Stanford