Fighting Irish predictions

With just 9,120 seconds til kickoff, I am making my official predictions for the 2006 season. Looking at the schedule, it's hard to identify any teams with a really good chance of outscoring us. We have a veteran offensive line, a senior Heisman candidate quarterback, two awesome receivers, and enough talent in the backfield that Charlie is moving our second leading rusher to linebacker. Speaking of which, the defense will be improved, probably well beyond the point at which they would be just good enough to keep teams under 30 points (which itself would lead to at least nine wins).

Georgia Tech - win by 21. GT DC John Tenuta is capable of putting together a gameplan against the Irish (to the extent that Brock Spack isn't), but his players are just too green to stop all of Charlie's weapons. Reggie Ball is cause for concern, but he can't lead his team to the >30 points it would take to win.

Penn State - win by 29. They lost their all-Big 10 quarterback and all of their DBs, three of whom are being replaced by kids who played other positions last year. This being the all-time highest requested ticket in ND history, those that are in the stadium will be extra spirited (yeah right) and it'll be a long day for the Lions.

Michigan - win by 13. Our offense comes back to earth a little bit as Michigan will be pretty solid throughout the defense. Big coaching edge to ND as Charlie will find ways to move the ball while Lllloyd once again chokes on the road (0-3 at ND, 15-9 on the road the last five years).

Michigan State - win by 15. This will be one of the hardest games of the year and closer than the score indicates. They do lose a few guys on defense and we should be able to run and pass with equal effectiveness. Charlie did a tremendous job getting the team mentally ready for USC last year, and he'll have plenty of ammunition to do the same this week.

Purdue - win by 24. If Brock Spack didn't know what hit him last year, imagine how he'll feel after his defense, which loses virtually the entire line and secondary, gets rolled early and often. The Boilers might be able to score a few points, but especially when they match up against ND, they're the same old sorry-ass Purdue.

Stanford - win by 31. Thus begins the stretch of the schedule wherein Quinn can pad his Heisman numbers and the second stringers can get some meaningful minutes. Stanford's offense will be improved (though they didn't exactly overwhelm us as a unit last year) but their defense will be terrible even by Pac 10 standards.

UCLA - win by 24. The Bruins will be chasing their tail offensively without Olson, Lewis, and the Man Train. I like the fact that we're adding teams like this to the schedule. Since we'll be playing more Big East teams in future years and consistently looking for a scrub military academy or Duke-level team to fill out the home schedule without a return trip, we should take any opportunity to get a home and home with mid to high level BCS teams like UCLA.

Navy - win by 31. Despite the fact that Navy has a bye week before this game, is sure to play us tough, and could actually be 7-0 coming in, it will be a workmanlike win in which we won't be able to help getting points in bunches. Dibs on Bob's couch.

North Carolina - win by 21. Offensive production may drop a little once Quinn throws for his five touchdowns and sits for much of the second half. As a sub-average ACC team, the Heels will be overmatched in Brock Spack like proportions. NBC's ratings plummet.

Air Force - win by 17. The closest thing to a trap game we'll have all year. This is where the mental gameplanning will take on more importance as the only talk will be about finishing undefeated and looking ahead to USC and the bowl game. Keeping everyone's focus on the opponent at hand will be a new challenge for Charlie.

Army - win by 39. Army is an improving team that may match up well against the Arkansas States, Baylors, and VMIs on their schedule, but will still be outclassed against the Irish. It will be a big party to send the seniors off in style. They should give us the Commander in Chief's trophy after this win.

USC - win by 9. There is NO FUCKING WAY we will lose to these assholes again.

So there you have it, the 13th perfect regular season in Fighting Irish history. It will simply take an extremely well-balanced team to knock us off, and after Michigan, the best balanced team we see will be the Trojans. There are a couple of other good looking teams out there, and we'll see one of them in the bowl game. And no matter whether it's Texas, Miami, or even a rematch with Ohio State, we will be in a great position to keep the big #1 on Grace Hall lit up all winter long.