ND 2016 Schedule:

[purguy12]

I know its early but I just want to take a quick look at it and see how we might do next year.

Week 1: @ Texas= I think we can win but won't be a blow out like last year. 1st game of the year always scares me.
Week 2: Nevada = Should be a win. 1st home game.
Week 3: MSU= With out Cook we should win but MSU will still be good.
Week 4: Duke= another win for ND. 3 home games in a row.
Week 5: @ Cuse= Again no way we should lose this game.
Week6: @ NC State= This can be a tough game on the road. Not a real test but need to bring our A or at least our B game.
Week 7: Stanford= No Hogan. Just like the MSU game. Will be tough but should win. Being @ home helps.
Week 8: Bye
Week 9: Miami: New Coach. Not an easy game. Again should be a win. Being at home Helps.
Week 10: Navy: Always a tough game. I think they lose their QB should be a little easier for ND.
Week 11: Army: Easy game. Take care of business.
Week 12: Virginia: We should have no problem with them.
Week 13: @USC: Playoff game. I think we can be 10-1 or 11-0 going into this game. On road Big game has not been our specialty. Will be tough.

Overall: We start the season tough again. 3 Top programs with in the 1st 7 weeks. Positive ND plays 8 out of 12 games at home. Tough road game to start(@Texas) and end (@USC) the season. What I like about this schedule, its another Top 30 Schedule. We play MSU, Stanford, Miami at home.Bye week is before the Miami game. What I don't like about this schedule back end of the schedule is weak(can hurt us like this year) and we start the season with tough teams. I see maybe 1 loss leading up to USC. We can lose to any of these teams; Texas,MSU, Stanford or Miami and be ok going into USC. To make the Playoffs 11-1 can lead us except if that 1 Loss is to end the season against USC. If we lose lets Lose Early. If I had to pick the game Either MSU or Stanford(with USC beating Stanford and us beating USC.).Losing to Texas isn't a bad thing and we win out won't hurt as much.

I see 11-1 or 12-0 season with a playoff spot unless that 1 Loss is to USC to end the year.

 

[idseer]

Overall: We start the season tough again. 3 Top programs with in the 1st 7 weeks. Positive ND plays 8 out of 12 games at home. Tough road game to start(@Texas) and end (@USC) the season. What I like about this schedule, its another Top 30 Schedule. We play MSU, Stanford, Miami at home.Bye week is before the Miami game. What I don't like about this schedule back end of the schedule is weak(can hurt us like this year) and we start the season with tough teams. I see maybe 1 loss leading up to USC. We can lose to any of these teams; Texas,MSU, Stanford or Miami and be ok going into USC. To make the Playoffs 11-1 can lead us except if that 1 Loss is to end the season against USC. If we lose lets Lose Early. If I had to pick the game Either MSU or Stanford(with USC beating Stanford and us beating USC.).Losing to Texas isn't a bad thing and we win out won't hurt as much.

I see 11-1 or 12-0 season with a playoff spot unless that 1 Loss is to USC to end the year.

come on, purguy. a weak schedule didn't hurt us. playing very poorly against that weak schedule is what hurt us (and obviously losing 2 games we could have won).
anyway, speculation this early is maybe fun but totally worthless otherwise. so many things will be different from what we may expect. i just hope we have a dc that turns our defense into a real plus. i think our offense should be great no matter what happens.
am really curious how the kizer vs malik will go. i'd hate to lose either of them.

 

[purguy12]

MZ vs Kizer battle will be impressive. cant wait.

 

[whywork2]

MZ vs Kizer battle will be impressive. cant wait.

I'm impressed with Kizer, I think he had a fine season and my assessment is better than that seeing he was just a freshman. I like what he brings. He made mistakes but overall I liked what I saw. He'll learn to cut down on the mistakes. Zaire is great looking athlete with a strong arm. Just a great position to be in. Let's just hope Notre Dame has an uneventful offseason for a change, that would be sweet. Just one year without drama please.

 

[purguy12]

I'm impressed with Kizer, I think he had a fine season and my assessment is better than that seeing he was just a freshman. I like what he brings. He made mistakes but overall I liked what I saw. He'll learn to cut down on the mistakes. Zaire is great looking athlete with a strong arm. Just a great position to be in. Let's just hope Notre Dame has an uneventful offseason for a change, that would be sweet. Just one year without drama please.View attachment 62167

I agree 1 year would be great. I just hope whoever doesn't win the job doesn't transfer. I think Kelly might play it safe and say he will run a 2 QB system just to keep both. It will be hard to bench Kizer. Most experts are already saying he is Top 5 QB next year.

 

[ericd7633]

Honestly, the schedule sets up incredibly well for ND this year. Only 3 TRUE road games with NC State being very manageable, Texas with their youth, and USC who knows. Getting Syracuse at Met Life will probably end up being an ND crowd anyways, as will the neutral site games against Navy and Army. Getting MSU early in the year will also be beneficial as they work in a new QB(similar to 2013 w/Cook). Stanford loses a ton of guys and that's at home as well. Honestly, just surviving the Texas game would be huge for ND next year, get that win ND should have 0 or 1 loss heading into the game against USC. This schedule is MUCH easier than 2015's was IMO. While Texas and USC should be better, Stanford and Navy should be worse along with MSU and we are replacing Clemson with Va. Tech essentially.

 

[Irish7478]

Hopefully we fulfilled our injury quotient for the coming year, last year. I'm already getting excited about our prospects.

 

[bbirish73]

This season will be ND's best chance to go undefeated now and in the near future. The schedule has created a perfect storm in my opinion. Our offense is going to score a lot of points with either Kizer or Malik. The defense can only be better and the blitz happy VanGorder will actually find success. Stanford, Navy, Michigan State, USC, and Duke will have new quarterbacks. It is going to be tough for inexperienced quarterbacks to pick up ND's disguised blitzes. Things are brewing for a special year as long as the injury bug doesn't bite or academic scandals. I can't wait and I'm not going to be cautiously optimistic. Its going to happen

 

[jjc2009]

This season will be ND's best chance to go undefeated now and in the near future. The schedule has created a perfect storm in my opinion. Our offense is going to score a lot of points with either Kizer or Malik. The defense can only be better and the blitz happy VanGorder will actually find success. Stanford, Navy, Michigan State, USC, and Duke will have new quarterbacks. It is going to be tough for inexperienced quarterbacks to pick up ND's disguised blitzes. Things are brewing for a special year as long as the injury bug doesn't bite or academic scandals. I can't wait and I'm not going to be cautiously optimistic. Its going to happen

Once again, the team will rise and fall on whether this is a true statement or not. I have my doubts, mostly because we lost key players at every level (Day, Smith, Russell), Redfield is still a question mark and Studstill is only a FR. Drue Tranquill was asked in an interview if, given the lack of experience across the board if Van Gorder simplified anything, he gave an unqualified "no" and said, in fact, Van Gorder has added stuff for them to keep track of. His scheme is too cerebral and complex and doesn't free these guys up to take advantage of their athleticism. Maybe the light goes off for enough of them, and maybe we luck out by not stunting out of so many plays this year, but this team is going to struggle to put anyone away, even if they put up 35-40 pts a game.

I hope I am wrong, but lighter schedule or not, that's what this team is.

 

[CreepCreep2014]

Who cares who they play. They need to stop playing down to lesser teams and just show the fuck up and pound them!!! We need to bring are best game every week, because whoever we play is going to bring their best game. No more messing around. Show up and pound them...

 

[ChicagoIrish]

The game that really crushed us last season (besides the obvious Stanford game) was the win against Boston College. The next polls after that win was really the writing on the wall.

Sure, this season looks to be an easier schedule, but we can't have games like Boston College

 

[jjc2009]

The game that really crushed us last season (besides the obvious Stanford game) was the win against Boston College. The next polls after that win was really the writing on the wall.

Sure, this season looks to be an easier schedule, but we can't have games like Boston College

A win over Stanford on the road, and who knows what would have happened, but they shat the bed on that one.

 

[Irish7478]

The game that really crushed us last season (besides the obvious Stanford game) was the win against Boston College. The next polls after that win was really the writing on the wall.

Sure, this season looks to be an easier schedule, but we can't have games like Boston College

It's always a problem when you play a team that thinks of you as a top rival, and you think of them as just another game.