Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/109499
A By Lou Somogyi football schedule's difficulty is often defined by a team's success. Such was the case with Notre Dame in 2012. The Associated Press preseason top 25 of Notre Dame's schedule included at No. 1 USC, at No. 4 Oklahoma, No. 8 Michigan, at No. 13 Michigan State and No. 21 Stanford. Popular projections had Notre Dame losing at least two, probably three, and maybe more, of those five games, and probably getting upset somewhere else. Lo and behold, Notre Dame finished the regular season 12-0 and No. 1 … but some critics contended they "didn't really play anybody." USC and Michigan State finished 7-6, Michigan was 8-5 and Oklahoma became a paper tiger at 10-3 with the 41-13 loss to Texas A&M in the Cotton Bowl. Therefore, in 2013 Notre Dame's schedule might not look as daunting, yet could prove at the end to be much more challenging. Here is an early, cursory "on paper" overview, from toughest to maybe the lightest. 1. Stanford (12-2) Michigan quarterback Devin Gardner takes over as the face of the Wolverines moving forward after dynamic dual-threat QB Denard Robinson exhausted his eligibility in 2012. Top Offseason Note: Offensive coordinator Pep Hamilton joined the Indianapolis Colts to reunite with quarterback Andrew Luck. Mike Bloomgren was promoted to OC after serving as Stanford's offensive line coach the past two years. Recruiting coordinator Mike Sanford (an Irish assistant from 1996-98) will add quarterbacks and receivers coach to his duties, and former Cardinal QB Tavita Pritchard (2006-09) moved from defense to running backs coach. Notable: Stanford's 35 victories the past three years (35-5) are tied with Alabama (also 35-5) and Boise State (35-4) for most in the country. Summary: SI.com (Sports Illustrated) has Stanford as its early preseason No. 3, behind Alabama and Texas A&M. Stanford lost top rusher Stepfan Taylor and its top A cursory look at next season's Fighting Irish opposition BCS Material The 12 In '13 photo by lon horwedel