Notre Dame has become a popular preseason dark horse to make this season's College Football Playoff.

It is ranked among the top 10 teams by several publications, including No. 7 by Lindy's. FoxSports' Bruce Feldman recently composed a piece with the title "Why Fighting Irish are built to win a national title right now," and the Associated Press has projected head coach Brian Kelly's team to face Auburn in one of the semifinals of the four-team playoff.

Such optimism stems from several factors, most notably the return of basically all 11 starters on defense (when including cornerback KeiVarae Russell from 2012-13), and nine of the 11 starters on offense from the Music City Bowl win over LSU. Among those 20 starters, the vast majority will be drafted by the NFL, many of them in the higher rounds, led by projected first-round selections in left tackle Ronnie Stanley and linebacker Jaylon Smith. Plus, whereas in 2016 Notre Dame has to open at Texas and close at USC, both are at home this season. The timing seems best to win big in 2015 with a confluence of myriad factors.

The rub is at quarterback. Junior Malik Zaire has one career start — when he was the MVP in the bowl win — and has never played a full game. Plus, there is not a safety net of experience behind him, unlike in 2012 when newcomer Everett Golson had 16-game starter Tommy Rees bail out the team in times of trouble.

Popular opinion holds that a veteran, seasoned, proven QB is a foremost need if prosperity is to be achieved. However, the last 50 seasons at Notre Dame challenge that idea, provided the supporting cast, especially on defense, can help carry the load. In the 51 years since 1964, Notre Dame has had 11 teams that were legitimately in the national title hunt on the last day of the regular season. In most, the quarterback position was either inexperienced or a huge question mark, if not both, entering the season.

Interestingly, Kelly is 15-1 at Notre Dame when starting either a true freshman (Rees) or redshirt freshman (Golson and Zaire) at QB. In other words, when a more basic, simpler offense was balanced with a stout, competent defense, the Fighting Irish thrived. The formula appears in place this year, although with Zaire in his third year in the operation, he is far from a novice. Regardless, he is still classified as relatively green at the throttle.

That might not be a bad thing if you look at Notre Dame's quarterback history during those 11 seasons when it was a bona fide contender for No. 1 when it entered the regular season finale:

Like Zaire, Huarte had only one career start, but that was entering his senior year, whereas Zaire is still only a junior. Huarte had never even earned a monogram. Out of nowhere, he won the Heisman Trophy and led the Irish to an unbeaten ledger until the finale at USC.

Neither played the year prior because of freshman ineligibility back then. Hanratty opened the season with a stunning performance against No. 8 Purdue, that year's Rose Bowl champion, by completing 16 passes for 304 yards and three touchdowns. O'Brien closed the year by completing 21 passes for 255 yards and three TDs in a romp at Pac-8 champion USC to clinch the national title.

It's easy to forget that as a junior the previous year, Theismann had the same turnover issues as Golson did in 2014. Of Theismann's 219 pass attempts that season, 18 were intercepted (compared to 427 passes by Golson in which 14 were picked off). The Notre Dame student magazine Scholastic even wrote in its 1969 review, "don't be surprised if No. 7 (Theismann) isn't on the field to start the (1970) opener."

Theismann went on to have a tremendous senior year in which he finished as the Heisman runner-up while the Irish placed No. 2 in the final polls.

Clements did have a full season of starts under his belt prior to the march to the 1973 national title as a junior, but he finished his sophomore year 9-of-22 for 103 yards, three interceptions and minus-22 yards rushing in a 40-6 loss to Nebraska in the Orange Bowl.The Irish lost three games in a season for the first time in nine years.

Like Zaire, Lisch had only one career start entering the season. Montana had three starts in 1975, but he was 1-2, completed only 42.4 percent of his passes, threw eight interceptions in merely 66 attempts and was coming off shoulder surgery that sidelined him in 1976.

The struggling Irish team saw third-team QB Montana take over in the third game and lead 10 straight wins en route to the national title.

Previous year starter Lisch began a five-year NFL career. The senior Courey, like Zaire, had only one career start. After a 3-0 start, Kiel took over as the starter in the fourth game, with Courey coming in for relief.

Yet Notre Dame entered the season finale at USC 9-0-1 and ranked No. 2, with a Sugar Bowl berth against No. 1 Georgia awaiting.

Similar to Zaire, option specialist Rice was known more as a runner than passer. He started six times the previous year but lost his job by the time the bowl game arrived. Rice had completed only 42 percent of his passes as a sophomore with one TD.

Notre Dame went on to win the national title with him in 1988, and finish No. 2 in 1989.

Notre Dame had just graduated No. 2 NFL pick Rick Mirer at QB, and the senior McDougal had tossed only 21 career passes as a three-year reserve. Fortunately, incoming National Player of the Year Ron Powlus would succeed Mirer.

When Powlus broke his collarbone the week before the opener, the Irish had to settle for McDougal - who became the all-time pass efficiency king at the school while leading a 10-0 start, a win over No. 1 Florida State and a No. 2 finish to the Seminoles.

After five straight seasons with at least five losses, the redshirt freshman QB Golson helped the Irish to a 12-0 start, their first No. 1 ranking in 19 years (with McDougal) and a berth to the BCS Championship game.

The moral of the story is if a relatively newbie at QB has excellent complementary support from the defense and can lean on a reliable running game (like against LSU), much can be accomplished without all the experience from the man taking the snaps.

Among the last six national title winners, five had quarterbacks with no previous starting experience entering the season, most recently Ohio State's Cardale Jones last year and Florida State's Jameis Winston in 2013. Experience is treasured, but not always required if there is strong assistance and guidance.