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Notre Dame 2009 Football Predictions

Written July 30, 2009 by InfoPlays

2009 Notre Dame Football Predictions On paper, it looks as though the Notre Dame Fighting Irish should improve on their record this season due to a favorable schedule. But for the Irish to start knocking off tougher teams, they need to find a running game that has been ineffective since Darius Walker left in 2006. That will come if the offensive line shows more aggressiveness this season, which should be the case with five senior starters up front. The benchmark game comes at home against USC on October 17th. College football lines have the Irish listed at +2000 to win the 2010 BCS National Championship. You can find these lines at Sportsbook.com where they offer 10% sign-up bonuses and reduced Friday juice.

Offense: Quarterback Jimmy Cluasen enters his third season as a starting quarterback for the Irish and he’s coming off the best performance of his career. He completed 22 of 26 passes for 401 yards and five touchdowns in their Hawaii Bowl victory over the Warriors. Now it’s time for Clausen to become a leader and improve his overall performance. He’s been watching tapes of New England Patriots’ quarterback Tom Brady to try and model his game after one of the best in the game. Clausen has excellent targets on the outside, including sophomore wide receiver Michael Floyd, junior Golden Tate and sophomore tight end Kyle Rudolph.

Floyd’s long arms and vertical leap allow him to make catches that most receivers can’t. Tate can create in space and turn a short gain into a long one in a hurry. Armando Allen leads the running attack after gaining 585 yards and scoring three touchdowns a year ago. Robert Hughes and James Aldridge are each proven backups. Hughes rushed for 382 yards and four touchdowns last year while Aldridge chipped in 357 yards and three scores. Four returning starters on the offensive line give the Irish hope of improving a stagnant running game. The fifth starter, left tackle Paul Duncan, started 12 games for Notre Dame in 2007. All five starters are seniors with valuable experience.

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Defense: Notre Dame will up the pressure this season defensively to try and create more turnovers. That has always been coordinator Jone Tenuta’s style, an approach he used at Georgia Tech when he was known as one of the best blitz-callers in the country. He arrived at Notre Dame after the 2007 season and combined play-calling duties with Corwin Brown last year. This year, Brown has moved to assistant head coach, leaving all of the play-calling to Tenuta. Three full-time starters return to a strong secondary with safeties Kyle McCarthy and Harison Smith, along with cornerback Raeshon McNeil. Darrin Walls was a full-time starter in 2007 before missing last season for personal reasons, so his return essentially gives the team four experienced starters in the back of their defense.

Robert Blanton has been a part-time starter in the secondary as well, with Walls, McNeil and Blanton all having shutdown capabilities. Junior Brian Smith leads the linebackers and he serves as the emotional leader of the defense. He’ll play both inside and outside, giving Tenuta personnel flexibility with senior Toryan Smith, fifth-year senior Scott Smith, superstar freshman Manti Te’o, sophomore Steve Filer and sophomore Darius Fleming. The line is the biggest concern, but it also has the most potential. Sophomore Ethan Johnson could be a star at end. Ian Williams is a third-year starter at tackle, and sophomores Kapron Lewis-Moore and Hafis Williams both made big strides and each are likely starters coming out of spring drills.

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