Whether you saw the Blue-Gold game live or followed along with the reviews, the Irish have had a relatively eventful off-season. A solid recruiting class headlined by defensive stalwart Manti Te’o preceded three coaching changes. Rumors emerged from Spring practice sessions highlighting quarterback Jimmy Clausen’s continued development, defensive lineman Ethan Johnson domination of one-on-one drills and strong play from a deep secondary. Even the 2010 recruiting efforts have turned in early rewards with three solid verbal commitments.

With a 2009 season that features virtually everyone back on offense, a strong core of returning defensive players, coaching staff upgrades and a favorable schedule, many Notre Dame fans just want September to arrive. Make no mistake, the pieces are in place for a great run and expectations are high for the 2009 Irish squad. Unfortunately, high expectations make for long off-seasons.

For the reasons stated above, many media pundits and avid Irish fans view anything short of ten or 11 wins in 2009 as disappointing. A similar case could be made last year, when most viewed an eight or nine win season as a reasonable expectation. However, the Irish sputtered to a 0.500 campaign before partially salvaging their season with a resounding 49-21 victory over Hawaii in the Sheraton Bowl.

Never fear, the staff at Clashmore Mike has the answer to the off-season doldrums:  a 2009 season prediction poll. While the evidence noted above suggests Notre Dame should win ten or 11 games, we’d like to know what you think will happen. With the returning talent and a favorable schedule, ten victories seem like a foregone conclusion. If the last two years have taught us anything, little is certain in South Bend.

To benchmark the 2009 Irish opponents the 2008 AV Ranking final ratings were used to predict next season’s schedule strength. Using the 2008 results of the teams Notre Dame faces in 2009, the AV Ranking predicts a strength-of-schedule ranked 53rd best in the country.

Obviously this is not an exact science, several teams the Irish faced last season will be dramatically different from the squads they line up against in 2009. A quick glance at the quarterback position spells this out in glaring detail. However, using the 2007 AV Ranking rating results to predict the 2008 strength of schedule resulted in a 60th ranked strength of schedule. The Irish finished the regular season with the 73rd most difficult schedule.

Please take some time to complete the survey below. For each opponent simply vote for your percent confidence that the Irish will win the game. Check back in a few weeks and we’ll post the results of the survey with a typical Clashmore Mike statistical twist.

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