Eyes on the Irish, Sept. 23

Here are five bold - or perhaps not-so-bold - predictions about the Irish this week:

5. Theo Riddick will not duplicate his breakout performance.
It was terrific seeing Riddick get involved in the offense the way he did, but he was as successful as he was because he was a match up nightmare for the Spartans. Brian Kelly knew this and that's why he was so confident in telling people to watch out for Riddick last week. This week, the kid who has played three games at wide receiver takes on the top-ranked pass defense. The only team to put up more than 100 passing yards was Sacramento State in the opener. That's pretty good.

4. Notre Dame's defense will give up over 200 yards on the ground for the third-straight game.
Andrew Luck is getting a lot of press for the Cardinal and he rightly should. He's establishing himself as a solid NFL prospect. But Stanford's strength remains in its backfield, even if Toby Gerhart isn't there anymore. Stanford has a stable of quick, athletic runners, exactly the thing that has torched Notre Dame this season. Stepfan Taylor and Tyler Gaffney are the main men. In three games, they have a combined 294 yards with an average of 5.44 yards per carry.

3. Notre Dame will score fewer than 24 points.
This is a nightmare matchup for Notre Dame. The Irish are a pass-first team going against one of the best pass defenses in the country, not having allowed a passing touchdown through the first three games.

2. Armando Allen will rush for 100 yards for the first time this season.
As good as the Cardinal's pass defense has been, the run defense has been simply mediocre. Allen is averaging 5.5 yards per carry and has put up 253 yards through the first three games in a pass-first offense, including 71 against the twelfth-ranked Michigan State run defense. Knowing how tightly his receivers are going to be covered, Kelly is smart enough to try to exploit a defense's weakness...we think.

1. Notre Dame will start the year 1-3, but still finish the season with at least eight wins.
Going 1-3 would be the worst start for Notre Dame since the dreadful 2007 season, but there's no reason to think this season will end similarly. This has been a very difficult stretch for the Irish. They have played three traditional rivalry games whose series date back into the 1800s (if you don't think that matters, ask a player) and two of those teams have been dubbed good enough for the Top-25 in both major polls. Stanford could possibly be the best team on the Irish's schedule this year. It gets a little easier after that with Boston College and a Pittsburgh team that has really underperformed. Then things get a lot better for the Irish with Western Michigan, a struggling Navy team and Tulsa. Let's not forget that all but the Navy game are at home. Notre Dame quite conceivably could have six wins by the time Utah comes to town. And before you go throwing around accusations of Notre Dame scheduling weak opponents, consider this: Notre Dame plays five of its 12 games this season against ranked opponents - Michigan (21/22) Michigan State (25/23), Stanford (16/17), Utah (13/13), USC (20/-).