Notre Dame Fighting Irish
Last year: 11-2, beat Iowa State, 33-9, in Camping World Bowl Best win: vs. No. 18 Virginia, 35-20 Worst loss: at No. 19 Michigan, 45-14
Coach: Brian Kelly (11th year, 71-36*, 242-93-2* career)
*all 21 wins from 2012-13 vacated due to academic violations
Starters returning: 14 (7 offense, 5 defense, 2 specialists)
Offensive player to watch: QB Ian Book. The fifth-year senior decided to return to school rather than test the NFL waters last season. In 2019, Book, undersized at just a shade over 6 feet and 200 pounds, completed 60.2 percent of his passes for 3,034 yards, 34 scores, and six interceptions. Despite the strong TD-INT ratio, his completion percentage was down significantly from 2018, when he hit 68.2 percent. Book is also effective with his feet, gaining 546 yards and scoring four TDs on the ground last season. A couple of his biggest weapons are gone in WR Chase Claypool and TE Cole Kmet, but the entire offensive line is back.
Defensive player to watch: LB Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah. During his junior season in 2019, Owusu-Koramoah, who is from Hampton, Va., tallied 80 tackles, 13.5 for losses, 5.5 sacks, four breakups, and two forced fumbles.
Special teams player to watch: K Jonathan Doerer. Last year as a junior, Doerer made 17 of his 20 field goal attempts.
Schedule: vs. Duke, open, at Wake Forest, bye, vs. Florida State, vs. Louisville, at Pittsburgh, at Georgia Tech, vs. Clemson, at Boston College, bye, at North Carolina, vs. Syracuse.
Win-loss prediction: 8-2 or 9-1. As an independent, the Fighting Irish have had their schedule changed the most by the pandemic and now are on the one-year deal with the ACC, so instead of playing six ACC teams, they are playing 10. Duke, Wake, Louisville, Pitt, Georgia Tech, and Clemson were already on the schedule, but Notre Dame added FSU, BC, UNC, and Syracuse. North Carolina could be a very challenging game, and possibly FSU could be somewhat tough, too, depending on how the Seminoles perform in their first year under new coach Mike Norvell. Gone from the Irish's original schedule are traditional rivals Navy (which Notre Dame has played every since 1927, even through WWII), USC (every year since 1946), and Stanford (every year since 1997), plus matchups against Arkansas, Western Michigan, and Wisconsin (at Lambeau Field). Western Michigan was slated to be the Irish's 11th game until the MAC cancellation bit them like it bit BC with the Ohio game. With the Wisconsin and USC matchups removed, that takes away two trouble spot games for Notre Dame, which will probably be the underdog only once, against Clemson. It is always possible the Irish will trip up somewhere, though, and the likely candidates this season are now UNC or maybe Pitt.
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