Notre Dame QB Dayne Crist has tossed just 20 passes in his college career.
The Fighting Irish of Notre Dame enter the current campaign with 837 wins, third most in the history of college football. They also own a .735 winning percentage, which is second all-time behind the University of Michigan. But all of that past success won't help new Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly, who is taking the team through an extreme makeover.
The MGM Grand sports book in Las Vegas opened Notre Dame as a 50/1 long shot to capture the BCS championship. However, that number has since been bet down to 25/1.
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Pete Korner, owner of a Las Vegas-based company called Sports Club that makes the betting line for 80 percent of Nevada's legal sports books, opened Notre Dame at 75/1 before dropping the number to 50/1.
Korner also agrees with the majority of offshore sports books that have installed Notre Dame with an over/under season total of eight wins.
"Notre Dame has just three road outings and a neutral site contest with Navy among its 12-game schedule," noted Korner. "Plus, the Irish will be heavily favored against most schools at the end of this schedule, which must be considered extremely easy by the BCS computer which ranks all of the teams.
"If the Fighting Irish can split their first four games against Purdue, Michigan, Michigan State and Stanford, they will have an excellent chance of exceeding that eight-win projection.
"They will be about a 20-point favorite against Western Michigan, a double-digit favorite against Navy, about a 16-point favorite against Tulsa and at least a 24-point chalk over Army. The only close game I see is against Utah, but they could be about a seven-point favorite in that matchup. All of those games are at home except the neutral field contest versus Navy.
"Of course, the Irish must win all of those games - sometimes convincingly - if they are going to go to a major bowl game," concluded Korner.
Notre Dame was 3-4 SU against the seven schools on this year's schedule that it played last season.
The pro-style offense utilized by former coach Charlie Weiss and former quarterback Jimmy Clausen during last year's 6-6 campaign (4-8 ATS) has been trashed in favor of a quick-strike spread offense.
The defense has said goodbye to the 4-3 formation and hello to the 3-4 because new defensive coordinator Bob Diaco is committed to stopping the run. If the new scheme works, it should go a long way in improving a unit that allowed 170.2 rushing yards per game and 25.9 points per game.
The first figure ranked 89th in the country, while the second number ranked 63rd.
The offense averaged 30.1 PPG and ranked 32nd in the country last season. However, that unit could improve because it has one of the nation's best wide receiver-tight end combinations in Michael Floyd and Kyle Rudolph. Floyd will have the tough task of replacing Golden Tate, who amassed 1,496 receiving yards last year.
The pair of receivers must get accustomed to Dayne Crist, the front-runner to be the new man under center. The junior has the unenviable job of replacing Jimmy Clausen's 3,722 passing yards. Crist had a good spring practice session, but is coming off knee surgery to repair a torn ACL.
Crist has tossed 20 passes (10 completions, 130 yards, one TD and one interception) in his collegiate career.