Notre Dame Fighting Irish

Notre Dame Football: The Irish Have a Shot For a Title in 2017

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 1:06 p.m. ET

Fansided, Noah Strackbein/FanSided via Slap the Sign

After 29 years of disappointment in one way or another, Notre Dame football is in serious need of a title.

How long will fans, players, coaches, and alumni have to wait for Notre Dame football to return to glory? Well, it may come sooner rather than later. How early? 2017.

After a 4-8 season, the expectations for Notre Dame aren’t very high next season. No surprise considering the Irish are losing one of the best quarterbacks in the NCAA, their top three defensive players, and just about every coordinator.

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What if I told you none of that mattered? That losing DeShone Kizer, two defensive captains, and Mike Sanford benefits Notre Dame? You’d say I’m crazy, right? Well, wait. Let me explain why all of this has made Notre Dame one of the most dangerous teams in the NCAA.

Through these losses, the Irish have learned, grown, and adapted. Maybe they’d be even better next season if some of these people stayed. But without them, Notre Dame is headed for a title.

Even with Brian Kelly continuing to run the show, no matter how much Irish fans want him gone, this team is more dangerous than any in the country. If they grow the way they should and use their assets correctly, Notre Dame will reign champion next season.

Brandon Wimbush is the Future

You can argue that Notre Dame already had a quarterback who was talented enough to lead the Irish to a National Championship. If DeShone Kizer had any defense what-so-ever, the Irish might have had a shot to reach their potential last year.

But with a terrible coordinator and losing key players to suspension before the season, there was nothing anyone could do but accept how terrible the defense would be.

Now, Kizer is gone, Notre Dame has a new man behind the defense, and Brandon Wimbush is ready to make his mark in South Bend. If you’ve watched him play just once, you’d know he’s something special.

Coming out of high school, Wimbush was considered an even better quarterback than Kizer or Malik Zaire. As the number-two quarterback in his recruiting class, Wimbush has the ability to do it all. With a strong arm, speed, and playmaking mindset, Wimbush racked up a 2014 first team All-American, 2015 All-American honorable mention, and 2015 All-USA New Jersey offensive player of the year, along with countless other awards.

Coming to South Bend, Wimbush will have one of the best running backs in the country behind him and a wide receiving core capable of making any quarterback look like a star. With the revamped Notre Dame coaching unit, Wimbush is coming into a team with some of the best help on and off the field, in the country.

Kizer may have been able to lead the Irish to the promise land if he stayed. But Wimbush should be a player Notre Dame fans are even more exited about. He’s just one part of this team’s return to glory, though.

Chip Long Gets to Call Plays

It’s no secret that over the last six years, Brian Kelly has made some dumb play calling decisions. For a man who’s consistently one of the best recruiters in the country, Kelly seems to have no idea how to run an offense on the field.

No one wanted to see Mike Sanford leave. Over the years, Sanford has kept this Notre Dame offense in top shape and was developing one of the best squads in the country. But, Irish fans are happy to see him get a head coaching opportunity in Western Kentucky.

By bringing in Chip Long, Notre Dame brought in a brand new Sanford. A young, optimistic coordinator who knows how to score. What makes Long great, though, is that he has somehow gotten Kelly to give him control of the play-calling.

At Memphis, Long’s offense averaged 38.8 points per game, ranking 16th in the country. During his lone season with the Tigers, Long turned a team who just lost their first-round NFL draft quarterback into one of the most dangerous offenses in the NCAA. Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?

Long will be stepping into a scenario much like Memphis. Kizer has left, and Long will have to turn a redshirt Sophmore into a dominant play caller. With the people he has to work with on the offensive end, Long should have no trouble scoring points in 2016.

Without Kelly calling the plays in South Bend, Notre Dame has already taken a giant step towards winning. Looking at Long’s season at Memphis, it’s exciting to think about how well he’ll work with players like Josh Adams, Equanimeous St. Brown, and the rest of this offense.

There’s no doubt that he’s going to make it one of the best offensive units in the country, if not the best offensive unit in the country.

Rounding Out the Offensive Talent

What makes Notre Dame’s offense so threatening isn’t a new quarterback of coordinator. What puts this offense above most of the NCAA is the rest of their talent.

To start, Josh Adams is returning from a record-breaking season. His 933 yards and five touchdowns may not have led the NCAA. But averaging 5.9 yards per carry, Adams proved he’s got big play ability. Moving into next season, Adams will be an even greater asset for the Irish.

That’s just the beginning. Notre Dame has some of the best receivers in the country returning next season. Equanimeous St. Brown, Kevin Stepherson, C.J. Sanders, and Chris Finke are one of the finest group of receivers in the country. Besides making their new quarterback’s life easier, these four will be trying to produce some of the best numbers in the NCAA.

Then they’re the offensive line. After Mike McGlinchey and Quenton Nelson both decided they’d return next season, Notre Dame went from a solid offense to an incredible offense. And what’s the biggest key to having a successful offensive unit, the O-line. After a post-WWII school record 5.63 yards per carry in 2016, this group is set to have another record breaking season.

But what tops all of this off – Alize Jones. After missing the entire 2016 season for academic issues, Jones returns as one of the top tight ends in the nation. The 6’4 sophomore has one season under his belt and loads of potential.

Add all of this together, and the Irish offense is one of the BEST in the FBS.

Welcome Mike Elko

Notre Dame’s biggest downfall in 2016 was their defense. Finishing 62nd in scoring defense last season, the Irish found absolutely no success on the defensive end last season. But with a new man calling the shots in Mike Elko, the Irish D is on the up and up.