Can Notre Dame Return to Prominence?
Posted by GameSetMatch on August 26th, 2011
In recent years, Notre Dame football has seen their fair share of bumps in the road. But as the 2011 football season approaches withing a week, we can take a look at a few aspects of their football team. First of all, Notre Dame’s head coach has decided earlier this week that he would name senior quarterback Dayne Crist as the started for its opening season game against the South Florida Bulls. In his 2010 season, Crist threw for 2003 yards, 15 touchdowns and 7 interceptions. He also had a completion percentage of 59.2 percent and was sacked 16 times in 9 games. He only competed in 9 of the 13 games for the Irish and on October 30th he only attempted two passes against Tulsa. During the game against Tulsa, Crist suffered a season ending injury, ruptured patella tendon in his left knee. After having a 4-5 record last season, Crist looks to come out strong and improve on last year.
One key target that Crist will be looking for this season is the junior wide receiver, Malcom Floyd. Last season, Floyd made a big impact racking up 1,025 yard off of 79 receptions. He also averaged 13 yards per catch and accumulated 13 touchdown receptions. As for the rest of the Notre Dame offense, they look to improve on a very weak offense. The Irish offense ranked 92nd overall in rush offense, 67th in points for and 34th in passing within all of the FBS division. As you take a look at their schedule, they are matched up against three preseason top 25 ranked teams but also have some tough unranked opponents. Some potential tough games will come up against Michigan, Michigan State, PIttsburgh, Air Force, USC, Navy and Stanford. The Fighting Irish defense will have to exceed their 23rd overall defense for tough games to come out the victors each week. With tough opponents like the ones mentioned above, it reminds me of the game poker, PP IT, their is a skill involved but at times you just need luck on your side and a good game face to edge out your opponents.
