Athlon Sports Sees Notre Dame As A Top-10 Team, But With A Need For More
By its placement in its preseason rankings, Athlon Sports sees another successful season coming for Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish are the No. 9 team in Athlon’s top 25 heading into the season, once again predicted to be a double-digit win team that avoids upsets.
At the same time, there is a subplot within the stability of a 33-6 record since 2017, Notre Dame’s best three-year stretch since 1991-93.
“These are the best of times at Notre Dame in nearly three decades, while also increasingly restless times due to the raised expectations,” read Athlon’s team preview, released Tuesday.
Of late, the stronger interest lies in the six losses more than the 33 wins. Brian Kelly has brought stability as he enters his 11th season as head coach, but that comes with the desire for one more step from upper echelon to true national title contention.
“Nothing short of a playoff berth — essentially, no more than one loss — will achieve the newly established expectation at Notre Dame,” Athlon’s preview read.
As reliable as Notre Dame has been in taking care of opponents it is supposed to beat, the Irish have not won many games in which they’ve been underdogs and games against the best opponents on the schedule. There has been a high-visibility blowout each year. In 2017 and 2019, those were the difference between a possible playoff spot and a good but not really good season.
“’Really good’ will require victories over Wisconsin in Green Bay in October and a home victory against powerful Clemson in November, while adding to a three-game winning streak over USC in the regular-season finale,” Athlon’s preview read.
On paper, Notre Dame is set up to have a strong chance in all of them. Kelly thinks “really good” is well within reach.
“A significant part of Kelly’s optimism hinges upon the decision by quarterback Ian Book to return for his final year of eligibility,” Athlon’s summary read.
Book had an inconsistent first half of the season, which bottomed out in a 45-14 loss at Michigan on Oct. 26 in which he went 8-of-25 passing. Earlier, he threw two second-half interceptions in a September loss at Georgia. After that Michigan game, he rebounded and helped Notre Dame win six straight games to end the year, capped by a 33-9 dusting of Iowa State in the Camping World Bowl.
“[He] was mostly sharp in victories over Virginia Tech, Duke, Navy, Boston College, Stanford and the Cyclones,” Athlon’s summary read. “Now, there’s no time to come out of the gate slowly, not with the loss of his top three pass-catchers [Chase Claypool, Chris Finke and Cole Kmet] and a rushing attack comprised of a half-dozen running backs who couldn’t distinguish themselves in 2019.”
Book will be well-protected by an offensive line that returns all five starters and its sixth man. First-year offensive coordinator Tommy Rees had a successful audition in the bowl game and is close with Book after serving as his quarterbacks coach since 2017.
“He’ll be measured by what he does against Wisconsin, Clemson and USC,” Athlon’s summary read.
Notre Dame also has some clear breakout candidates at the skill positions, namely tight end Tommy Tremble plus receivers Braden Lenzy, Kevin Austin and Lawrence Keys III.
On defense, two top-15 units in two years has coordinator Clark Lea in the mix for Power Five head coaching jobs. He was a finalist at Boston College last year. One more, and his résumé only grows more attractive.
Notre Dame has some of its stars back, but must also deal with losses at edge rusher and in the secondary. Julian Okwara, Khalid Kareem and Jamir Jones combined for 14 sacks in 2019, but there are two clear replacements at one of the team’s deepest positions.
“Another contingent of pass rushers looks promising, led by fifth-year end Ade Ogundeji,” Athlon’s preview read. “Two of the top three linebackers are back. Drew White is the blue-collar player in the middle with budding star Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah coming off a dominant performance to conclude the ’19 season.
In the secondary, starting safeties Alohi Gilman and Jalent Elliott are gone, as are top cornerback Troy Pride Jr. and occasional starter Donte Vaughn. But the unit’s best player is back.
“Softening the blow of losing Gilman and Elliott is the ceiling-free promise of sophomore Kyle Hamilton, the standout safety who lived up to his billing as the playmaking third man in the rotation as a true freshman,” Athlon’s preview read.
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