Notre Dame Football: 5 early bold predictions for 2018 season

Notre Dame football finished the 2017 season with a 10-3 record, quite a rebound from a 4-8 campaign in 2016. What can we expect in 2018?

The 2017 season is in the books and we are officially in offseason mode. Notre Dame was coming off a 4-8 campaign in 2016 and Brian Kelly was squarely on the hot seat. Much has changed since then with the Irish winning 10 games in 2017 and looking like title contenders in 2018.

Notre Dame has the pieces to be a serious national title threat, but is that in the cards for Kelly and the Irish? They will need to figure out the quarterback situation as well as the defense with a coordinator departing and run and receiving games with the No. 1 running back and receiver both leaving for the NFL.

It’s time to be bold. Here are five bold predictions for the Fighting Irish in 2018.

5. Defense improves even after Mike Elko loss

Mike Elko was a splash hire out of Wake Forest in 2017 for Brian Kelly and the Fighting Irish. The head coach was looking to clean up a defense that struggled in 2016 and he did just that as the Irish improved to 44th in the nation in total yards allowed per game and in the top half of college football in both passing and rushing yards allowed.

The Irish promoted linebackers coach Clark Lea who came over from Wake Forest with Elko and it looks like the players are happy with the move. This defense seems to like Lea and he’s young and can relate to these guys — he graduated from Vanderbilt in 2004.

The pieces are in place and the Irish won’t be losing too much from the defensive backfield as well as the line, but they will have to replace a few starters in the linebacking corps. The defense will continue to improve in 2018 under Lea and jump into the top 25 nationally in total yards allowed.