The Independents - Notre Dame

To start off the year, CFBRPI is going to break down the different conferences and pick the winners of each. Notre Dame is still an independent (luckily for them and their pocketbook) and are also the most popular college team in America, so this first post is just for them. Most teams will not get such an indepth look, but whether you love them or hate them, it is undeniable that the Irish are special.

Last year, with Brady Quinn at quarterback, Notre Dame was at the top of many lists for potential national championship teams. The year started off great for the Irish, getting an early win against ACC runner-up Georgia Tech in Atlanta. Notre Dame then destroyed Penn State at home before getting blown up by Mario Manningham and Michigan 47-21. They followed that up with a come from behind win against Michigan State, leading to one of the funniest rants in recent memory. The Irish were able to run off 8 consecutive wins after being crushed by Michigan (albeit against much weaker competition outside of the UCLA come from behind win) before playing @USC to finish the season. Some national pundits were still calling this team a possible NC contender with their one loss, especially if they could upset the Trojans in L.A. Lucky for Florida, it wasn't even close. USC demolished the Irish in much the same manner as Michigan, flying out to a 44-24 win. Voters still saw fit to rank Notre Dame high enough after the loss for the Irish to sneak into the BCS against another elite team, this time Les Miles' LSU tigers. While Weiss did have his team tied 14-14 into the second quarter, it was all LSU after halftime with the Bayou Bengals routing Notre Dame 41-14. While the season record of 10-3 along with a BCS bowl game are certainly worth being proud of, the three losses did come at a combined score of 132-59.

Looking into the 2008 season, things aren't looking good for the Irish. While Charlie Weiss has recruited a ton of top talent, they are still very young, and probably a year away from truly producing. Couple that with an incredibly difficult opening eight games to the season, and it isn't too hard to imagine Notre Dame starting 2-6 before winning their final 4 easily. A 6-6 season is what I'm seeing in the middle of July, especially if the Irish drop the season opener at home against the Yellow Jackets

Notre Dame's 2007 schedule (projected wins)
9/1 Georgia Tech
9/8 @Penn State
9/15 @Michigan
9/22 Michigan State
9/29 @Purdue
10/6 @UCLA
10/13 Boston College
10/20 USC
11/3 Navy
11/10 Air Force
11/17 Duke
11/24 @Stanford