College football 2018 preview: Predicting the first loss for every Top 25 team
If you’ve been paying attention, you probably noticed that Notre Dame has about four losses already.
Brian Kelly will have a good team this year, but not necessarily a great one and that’s what it would take to survive their schedule. After losing a pair of offensive linemen who were high first-round picks, their leading receiver and leading rusher, they’ll be leaning on quite of bit of inexperience in 2018.
They finished last season on a hot streak that included a bowl win over LSU, brought in a good recruiting class and have momentum coming into the season. Brandon Wimbush appears to be the likely starter at quarterback but there is still an ongoing competition Kelly is hoping will drive whoever wins the battle to improve throughout.
Notre Dame also lost defensive coordinator Mike Elko, who left to join Jimbo Fisher at Texas A&M last December. In his first and only season in South Bend, he helped improve Notre Dame’s scoring defense by almost a touchdown a game, taking them from 62nd in points allowed to 31st.
His 4-2-5 system, similar to what Oklahoma State will be playing this year, sent pressure from all over to keep opposing quarterbacks on their heels and it fit Notre Dame’s personnel to a T. Clark Lea, his replacement, takes over a defense that should be the team’s strong point led by a group of studs at linebacker.
The team as a whole will be somewhat of a work in progress this season and they’ll be much better in November/December than next week but since they play Michigan Week 1, that’s when their first loss will come.