This is going to be rather light on predictions, but when we reach the "Rough Estimate of the Expected Difficulty of Game" section, I have to sort of guess where this Notre Dame team is going to be. While you can legitimately make a case for almost any record between 3 and 10 wins, I’m going to say this team falls somewhere in between, with a steady running game, capable quarterback play and a defense that’s capable of some big plays but struggles against the run due to defensive line depth. If you want to dismiss all of that and just look at the other information, I would not be offended.

Also, all of the returning starter stuff is coming from Phil Steele . Go buy his magazine if you haven’t already.

Opponent: Pittsburgh (November 1st at home)

Result Last Year: The Irish and Panthers haven't squared off in two years, but last time they did it was the much anticipated debuts of both Weis and Wannstedt that resulted in a dominant performance from Notre Dame.  The two teams also put on quite a show in 2004 as Tyler Palko scorched Notre Dame Stadium for a 41-38 shootout victory.

Notes From the 2007 Season: The Panthers were ravaged by injury and the fact Diamond Dave was their coach (as a Dolphin fan, I'm still pretty bitter towards him), but after a 44-14 drubbing by Virginia that dropped them to 2-3, they rallied quite nicely.  Although they only ended up 5-7, the last seven games were either wins (Cincinnati, Syracuse, WVU) or respectable losses.  LeSean McCoy was a very pleasant surprise, sprinting his way to over 1400 yards and 14 scores despite having a rotating duo of general incompetence in the backfield with him at quarterback after Ben Stull's injury.

Key Returnees, or Lack Thereof: 15 starters return (8 on defense, 7 on offense). . .McCoy is back, along with nearly everyone else who ran the ball for them last season, including much-hyped but little producing LaRod Stephens-Howling. . .the top two receivers are back, along with stud Derek Kinder, who missed last season with injury after a great 2006 campaign. . .top three tacklers return, although they lose top sack man Joe Clermond, who had 10.5 last season.

Rough Estimate of the Expected Difficulty of Game:  6 (could be a rough one), even at home with Wannstedt across the sideline.  They're going to have a solid offense if Stull or Bostick can put find Kinder off play-actions to McCoy.  If the 'stache can be considered good at anything, it would be defense, although it's not like there haven't been giant explosions of points allowed by the Panthers during his tenure.

2008 Summer Movie Comparison: Get Smart, because while there are a lot of very attractive pieces involved (Anne Hathaway and The Rock along with LeSean McCoy and Derek Kinder), there's a bumbling idiot (Maxwell Smart/Diamond Dave) getting in the way.  Plus, there's competition in conference/in theaters (USF and WVU, Love Guru come outs the same day and Wall*E comes out only a week later).

(Just an aside, but Wannstedt and Weis are in very similar situations.  Their fourth year at their alma mater, both inexplicably bringing in great recruiting classes in spite of the on the field results.  Granted, Weis has been more successful both on the field and in recruiting - Dave is 16-19 at Pitt, Weis 22-15, which includes the two BCS losses when Wanny hasn't made a bowl yet - but they'll both be under extreme pressure this season.)

Opponent: Boston College (November 8th in Chestnut Hill)

Result Last Year: Led by the 72 Million Dollar Man, Boston College posted a dominant 27-14 victory in South Bend last year.  The Eagles jumped out to a 20-0 lead, but the Irish closed the gap after Brian Smith took back one of Matt Ryan's 14 (rough estimate) interceptions-returned-for-touchdowns to cut the lead to 20-14.  There was a BS holding call on another Irish touchdown that sucked the life out of the Stadium and helped the Eagles escape with a win.

Notes From the 2007 Season: Both successful and not at the same time.  On one hand, had a fantastic comeback against Virgina Tech, made the ACC title game and got Ryan enough credit to make him the third pick (I swear I'm not laughing as I write this) in the NFL draft.  On the other hand, their season ended on December 28th against Michigan State in the Champ Sports Bowl even though they were number two in the nation at one point.

Key Returnees, or Lack Thereof: 10 starters (6 on offense, 4 on defense). . .they lose Ryan, but also solid running back Andrew Callender, who had nearly 1700 yards from scrimmage last season. . .top four rushers are gone, but 5 of the top 7 receivers are back. . .lose two of their top three tacklers and four of their top seven, although linebacker Mark Herzlich, he of the 97 tackles with 10.5 for loss, will be anchoring things as one of two returning members of the back seven. . .three of the five starters at offensive line are back to protect whoever ends up playing QB.

Rough Estimate of the Expected Difficulty of Game: 5 (another tough road game), because this number thing is hard.  On one hand, this is a team that barely survived in South Bend with the number three pick in the NFL draft that's also losing their starting running back and seven starters on defense.  But then this game is in Chestnut Hill, the Eagles are always beyond hyped to play the Irish and weird, awful things tend to happen in ND/BC games.  The one advantage the Irish have is that they're the fourth game in a murderous stretch of seven that includes games against Va Tech, at North Carolina, home against Clemson and then road trips to Florida State and Wake Forest before finishing off their season by hosting Maryland.

2008 Summer Movie Comparison: The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, because while the trailer actually looks somewhat entertaining, it surely will not be as good as previous incarnations because a key piece if missing from each (For BC, it's Matt Ryan; for Mummy 3, it's Oscar nominee and certifiable hottie Rachel Weisz).  Granted, you can try and cover up the gaping hole with Jet Li, Maria Bello, Josh Haden (freshman running back likely to start) or Chris Crane (senior QB who has the most experience coming into the season), but it's going to be tougher for Brendan Fraser and Jeff Jagodzinski without Weisz and the 72 Million Dollar Man.

Opponent: Navy (November 15th in Baltimore)

Result Last Year: The four decade streak finally came to an end as  the Midshipmen prevailed in triple overtime 46-44.  This game provided the best game of the season in South Bend, one of Weis' most controversial decisions (forgoing a 41-yard field goal at the end of regulation and letting Evan Sharpley get supermanned by Ram Vela) and a microcosm of the entire 2007 season in one play (the failed two point conversion to end the game where the entire line collapsed and Travis Thomas ran for negative yards).

Notes From the 2007 Season: If you were to watch games from only one team all of last season, Navy would not be a bad choice, as they played in games with scores of 34-31, 46-43, 48-45, 59-52, 46-44, 74-62 and 35-32, ending up at 8-5 after a heartbreakingly close loss to Utah in the Poinsettia Bowl.

Key Returnees, or Lack Thereof: 13 starters (5 on offense, 8 on defense). . .Coach Paul Johnson, who had an amazing tenure as Navy's coach, is now in Atlanta with Georgia Tech...quarterback and play-by-play announcer/copy editor nemesis Kaipo-Noa Kaheaku-Enhada is back under center. . .three of the top four rushers return, although Adam Ballard and super soldier Reggie Campbell are gone. . .lose their first and third best tacklers, but return the rest of the top 10.

Rough Estimate of the Expected Difficulty of Game: 3 (let's stop another streak from starting, please?), because it's Navy, and Notre Dame is supposed to beat Navy, that's just how it is.  New coach Ken Niumatalolo will keep the same system in place as Johnson, but will he be as effective as his predecessor was with it?  Defense was awful - awful - last year, although there's the potential for progress among the eight returning starters.  You know they'll score points, but hopefully the Irish linebackers are good enough to neutralize the triple option to some extent.

2008 Summer Movie Comparison: You Don't Mess With The Zohan, because your last half decade of Navy seasons and Adam Sandler summer comedies are eerily consistent.  The former will win somewhere between eight and ten games, make a decent bowl game and lose to Notre Dame.  The latter will be workman-like in its ability to make open-minded audiences with low expectations laugh, receive poor reviews, make a bunch of money at the box office and make everyone want to watch Happy Gilmore or Billy Madison.   Also, the title character of this summer's Sandler feature is a special ops officer, meaning he probably has had Navy-like training.

Opponent: Syracuse (November 22nd at home)

Result Last Year: Notre Dame and Syracuse haven't played since 2005, when the Irish won in South Bend 34-10.

Notes From the 2007 Season: Imagine if every season was as bad as Notre Dame in 2007: that's what it's like to be a Syracuse fan with Greg Robinson as coach.  Going into his fourth season, Robinson is a sexy 7-28, with two of those wins coming against Buffalo.  Did upset Louisville last year.

Key Returnees, or Lack Thereof: 14 starters return (7 on each side of the ball). . .junior quarterback Andrew Robinson is back after a 2007 season where he completed 52.7% of his passes and had a 13:7 TD:INT ratio. . .top three rushers are back (their high man last season was Curtis Brinkley, who had 416 yards). . .only their top receiver Mike Williams remains, but he's a good one, with the next three moving on. . .two of the top five tacklers return, although everybody after that is back, including nose tackle Arthur Jones, who notched 16.5 tackles for loss last year.

Rough Estimate of the Expected Difficulty of Game: 2 (home game against Syracuse!), because while this might be Greg Robinson's best team yet - barely edging out that magical 4-8 team in 2006 - they weren't even really competitive in most of the losses.  There's experience all over the place for them, and Williams, at 6' 2" with 10 touchdown grabs last season, could pose a problem on the outside, I just don't find myself getting that worried about a team that's lost 28 games the last three seasons.  This may bump up if they can cause trouble against Northwestern, Penn State or any of the top-tier Big East teams before senior day in South Bend rolls around.

2008 Summer Movie Comparison: The X-Files: I Want To Believe, because the last season for Chris Carter's classic sci-fi show was 2001-2002, which perhaps not so coincidentally was the last year where Syracuse had more than 6 wins.  This isn't really a team anyone would ever want to see, just like the new X-Files movie.  It seems like everyone involved would just be better off if it were the 90's, when Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny were still considered stars and Donovan McNabb was still quarterback.

Opponent: Southern Cal (November 29th in Los Angeles)

Result Last Year: Irish hung around for a bit, based almost solely on the efforts of Trevor Laws, but this was a total embarrassment to the tune of 38-0 after it looked like Notre Dame may have righted the ship going into mid-October.  On the plus side, my friend Patrick and I got a picture with the Song Girls on the walk back to Willis Street after the game, so it was all sort of worth it in a way.

Notes From the 2007 Season: A somewhat down season in Troy as an injury to starter John David Booty, uncertainty in the backfield and inexperience at wide receiver left them open to an upset from Stanford, followed by a loss to Dennis Dixon in late October when they were trying to steer their way back towards a national championship.  Were pretty dominant the rest of the way, closing the season with double digit victories over Arizona State, UCLA and Illinois.  You know you're good when it's a "somewhat down season" and you're 11-2 with a Rose Bowl win.

Key Returnees, or Lack Thereof: 11 starters return (4 on offense, 7 on defense), but you could bump that up to five on offense, as Sanchez got quite a few reps in Booty's absence. . .workhorse Chauncey Washington is gone from the backfield, but everyone else is back, including Stafon Johnson, Joe McKnight, CJ Gable and Marc Tyler. . .Fred Davis leaves a hole at tight end, but the rest of the receiving crew is back. . . have to replace four starters on the offensive line. . . lose four of their top seven tacklers, including Keith Rivers, Lawrence Jackson and Sedrick Ellis, but it's Southern Cal, so it's just a guess they'll be able to find some replacements. . .defensive back Josh Pinkard also isn't listed as a returning starter, but he most likely would have been if not for an ACL injury early on in the season.

Rough Estimate of the Expected Difficulty of Game: 9.5 (eesh), because after nearly matching the Trojans in 2005, the Irish took a step back in competitive level after 2006 then were shoved the rest of the way down the steps last season.  This is the typical post-Thanksgiving night game against a stacked defense, experienced quarterback and disgustingly deep backfield.  Potential question marks at offensive line (which was shaky for the first half of last season) and wide receiver, as Vidal Hazelton and Patrick Turner have not quite reached Steve Smith/Dwayne Jarrett status yet.

2008 Summer Movie Comparison: The Dark Knight, because Southern Cal is the most hyped, most likely to succeed team on the Irish schedule, just like Christopher Nolan's Batman sequel is the most anticipated movie of the summer.  Both teams have incredibly high expectations and early difficulties to work around (marketing around Heath Ledger's tragic death; playing Ohio State in game two), but it would take some stones to bet against either of them.  They're the current franchises to end all franchises, and no matter who is under the cape and cowl or under center, you're going to have a high level of success (Stanford '07 is the equivalent of Batman and Robin).  If you want to be the best movie this summer, Christian Bale's second spin in the Batmobile will be your measuring stick, just like the clear goal for Weis and the Irish is to reach the level of success they have in Troy.