When Brian Kelly brought his Notre Dame Fighting Irish to the National Championship Game a couple seasons ago, he did so with a ton of seniors and a lot of good fortune. This year, he has senior starters all over the field once again, and many believe that there is a legitimate chance for the Golden Domers to qualify for the CFP as a result.
2015 SCHEDULE
9/5: vs. Texas
9/12: at Virginia
9/19: vs. Georgia Tech
9/26: vs. Massachusetts
10/3: at Clemson
10/10: vs. Navy
10/17: vs. USC
10/31: at Temple
11/7: at Pittsburgh
11/14: vs. Wake Forest
11/21: vs. Boston College (at Fenway Park)
11/28: at Stanford
Clearly, if the Irish find a way to win 11 games on this schedule, they are going to be making their way to the CFP. This isn't quite as brutal of a schedule as we are used to seeing, but games against Texas, Clemson, USC and Stanford are still no fun whatsoever.
There are plenty of tricky road games as well, including a trip to Fenway Park to battle a Boston College program that normally gives them problems.
SEASON WIN TOTAL
A season win total of nine feels just about right for the Irish. They're definitely a Top 25 team in terms of talent, and they have a real chance to reach the BCS as well. That said, they probably won't end up in the CFP this year just because their schedule is too hard.
There aren't many easy wins in the bunch, but there are a lot of games in which Notre Dame is going to be favored by a margin in the teens.
OFFENSIVE OUTLOOK
Everett Golson wasn't promised a starting job this year with Notre Dame, and as a result, he transferred to Florida State, where many expect that he is going to be leading the Seminoles this year. That leaves Malik Zaire, still just a sophomore, to take over this offense.
The good news is that there are some fantastic pieces around him. Will Fuller, Amir Carlisle and Chris Brown make up an excellent receiving corps, and this offensive line might be one of the best in the nation.
Tarean Folston will have a lot on his plate this year out of the backfield, and it would be shocking if he didn't end up with over 1,000 rushing yards in 2015.
DEFENSIVE OUTLOOK
Ten starters are back from last year's defense for the Fighting Irish, and that could be a tremendous sign going forward. As we alluded to in the open, that Notre Dame defense in 2012 when it went to the National Championship Game was out of this world and made big stand after big stand when it needed to the most.
This year's unit features just four seniors too, so Kelly knows that he has a lot of great players who will still be in South Bend for quite some time.
There's no doubt that this unit won't allow anywhere near the 29.2 points per game it gave up a season ago.
SEASON PREDICTION
We actually feel better about Notre Dame knowing that there isn't a quarterback controversy. We're not all that sure if Zaire was or was not the better of the two quarterbacks on this roster, but now we know that it is his job and no one is looking over his shoulder.
When you play games on the road, you need a lot of senior leaders to get you through the tough times. Notre Dame has plenty of that. It won't be enough to get to the CFP this year in all likelihood, but this price of +2850 to win it all might be just good enough for us to want to take a flier out on the Irish just in case all hell breaks loose in college football this year.
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