Notre Dame also lost its punter and kicker. The Irish allowed six special teams touchdowns last year, in units which were mostly a disaster. The team hired a new special teams coordinator in Brian Polian, who was a head coach at Nevada the last four seasons and worked under Jim Harbaugh, David Shaw and Kevin Sumlin. Justin Yoon will be the kicker again and Tyler Newsome will punt, just like last season. Polian has his work cut out for himself in improving one of Notre Dame’s weakest points last season. 

With two new coordinators and a new strength coach, Notre Dame is trying to build on a tough 2016. Kelly is in his eight season with the Irish, but he can ill afford another losing season. NCAA football oddsmakers set the over/under at 7.5 wins, which would be a heady improvement from just four a year ago, but the schedule is tough as usual and the personnel really is not a lot better. While Notre Dame has the potential to be an eight-win team, it does not seem likely, and there will be so many changes and adjustments to make after losing three of its final four games last year, including a 27-45 stomping by USC in its finale. Notre Dame was not selected for a Bowl game, which is a near disaster for such a storied program. We expect improvement, but Irish fans will likely be disappointed to some degree, and it seems a good value bet to go ‘under’ on 7.5 wins this season.
