[This series is for those times when communication fails and deadlines are not met. Maybe I should give more than a few days notice...]

I looked at Notre Dame back on June 30th. Since then I have received a preview by CW from Rakes Of Mallow. Here is that preview.

What have the Fighting Irish done this off season to inspire their fan base for the 2010 season?

They traded in a guy who had never been a head coach at a level above high school for one who is 171-55-2 as a head coach in college.  There were some Irish fans that weren’t a fan of the Brian Kelly hiring, but most – myself included – think it was a really top-notch decision.  He’s said all the right things, did a good job of stabilizing Weis’ last recruiting class and is doing a solid job so far with the next class.  If he can coach and develop talent at Notre Dame like he did a Cincinnati, Central Michigan and Grand Valley State, I would be shocked if the Irish didn’t turn into a really good football team.  He was dominating a BCS conference with a bunch of two and three-star guys, and now he’s working with some of the best recruits in the country, so big things are possible.  Hopes are high for the future, not just 2010.

Well, there is the issue of replacing two of the most productive offensive players in Irish history.  Jimmy Clausen and Golden Tate were both fantastic in their junior seasons and have moved onto the NFL.  Thankfully, the cupboard isn’t bare, but there are a few issues.  Dayne Crist will slide under center – or the shotgun formation equivalent.  The junior was a five-star recruit, but he missed the second half of 2009 with an ACL injury.  He was almost back to full-speed for the spring game, which was promising.  Kelly’s history with quarterbacks is superb and Crist has all the tools, but you just never know with a first-time starter until the game is actually being played. 

Replacing a star like Golden is impossible, but there are plenty of toys for Kelly and Crist to play with.  Michael Floyd and Kyle Rudolph are both potential first round picks and All-Americans, while Armando Allen returns for a senior season out of the backfield.  John Goodman, Duval Kamara, Tai’ler Jones, Shaq Evans, Mike Ragone and a host of other skill players will get into the mix.  If the offensive line performs and Crist isn’t a disappointment, there shouldn’t be too much trouble on that side of the ball.

The defense was not very good last year, but Irish fans are hoping that’s more to do with scheme and conditioning than talent.  I can’t stress to you and your readers how awful Jon Tenuta was as a defensive coordinator, so we’re hoping that a mix of fitter players being better coached will yield improvements on that side of the ball.  Also helping out is the maturation of the defensive line, which is just getting older, bigger and stronger. 

I don’t think any Irish fan can complain about where they’re ranked after 16 wins the last three years.  I’d like to think we’re going to be a lot better than that, but it’s certainly justifiable as a preseason ranking.  I’d rather have your expectations of 65 than Phil Steele already putting us up in the top 20. 

I expect to see a competent, well-coached football team taking advantage of a rather easy schedule and winning some games by playing smart ball in the fourth quarter against good teams and running bad teams out of the stadium.  I think the results of the last couple years have hidden just how much talent Charlie Weis put together in that locker room.  When you combine all of those great athletes with Brian Kelly’s impressive record of coaching, I’d like to think we’re a pretty good football team.  The beginning of the schedule will be the tricky with Michigan, at Michigan State, Stanford, at Boston College and Pitt, then a light reprieve followed by November games with Utah and Southern Cal.  There are winnable games there, but certainly a heckuva lot of losable games, too.  Just steady improvement over the course of the season, culminating with a win over Kiffykins and USC.

You never say never, but I’d hope not.  So much of the Irish identity is tied into being independent after Michigan blocked them from joining the Big Ten’s predecessor early in the 1900’s.  That led to the barnstorming and now a recruiting base that goes from coast to coast - then a little farther to Hawaii.  Financially, as long as there’s some revenue coming in from a TV contract, the Irish don’t need to join up because they have more money than God.  Should worst come to worst and the super-conferences begin joining, I hope the Irish look to one of the coasts instead of joining the Big Ten.  Playing games up and down the east coast with an annual trip out west would allow them to maintain a national identity, something that relegating themselves to the Big Ten would almost surely kill.