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n o t r e d a m e ( c o n t i n u e d ) "You saw some great coaching last year. "Now that the coaching has caught up to the talent, people will expect Notre Dame to overachieve more consistently now. It wasn't an overwhelmingly great roster last year, but it was a great team." Whoever the quarterback is will need help. Star tight end Tyler Eifert is gone to the NFL and established threats at wide receivers are few. "They're not going to have that bail-out player offensively," Sampson said, "where you just throw it up and they'll go 2012 RESULTS 2013 SCHEDULE DateGame (12-1 overall) get it." DateOpponent Results 8/31TEMPLE It's a simi- 9/1 vs. Navy* . . . . . . . . . W, 50-10 9/7 at Michigan 9/8PURDUE . . . . . . . . . . W, 20-17 9/14 at Purdue lar situation at 9/15 at Michigan State . . . . W, 20-3 9/21 MICHIGAN STATE 9/28OKLAHOMA running back, 9/22MICHIGAN . . . . . . . . . . W, 13-6 10/5 vs. Arizona State* 10/6 vs. Miami (Fla.)# . . . . . W, 41-3 (OT) 10/19USC where Cierre 10/13STANFORD . . . . W, 20-1317-14 10/26 at Air Force 10/20BYU . . . . . . . . . . . . . . W, Wood and Theo 10/27 at Oklahoma . . . . . . . W, 30-13 11/2NAVY 11/3PITTSBURGH . W, 29-26 (3OT) 11/9 at Pittsburgh Riddick are 11/10 at Boston College . . . . W, 21-6 11/23BYU 11/17 WAKE FOREST . . . . . . W, 38-0 11/30 at Stanford 11/24 at USC . . . . . . . . . . . . W, 22-13 * Cowboys Stadium, gone. 1/7/13 vs. Alabama^ . . . . . . . . L, 14-42 Arlington, Texas R e t u r n e e * Aviva Stadium, Dublin, Ireland # Soldier Field, Chicago George Atkinson ^ BCS National Championship III was a niche player last season and Amir Carlisle will only now be making his debut after transferring from USC, then sitting out last season with a foot injury. Defensively, Notre Dame will miss All-America linebacker Manti Te'o, the rare defensive Heisman finalist, profoundly. But its defensive line should be tremendous, led by future pros Louis Nix III and Stephon Tuitt. "Nix might have been Notre Dame's best player last year," said Sampson of the dominant nose tackle, "and I'm not forgetting Te'o and Eifert." Given the offense's questions, it's fair to suggest Notre Dame will have to win with defense and maintain its penchant from last season of simply finding ways to win close, often low-scoring games. Whether it can win as many of them, that very much remains to be seen. — Brian Neubert e Dame t Notr Of Nohaee that many 't v n think really did ne might mes as o s 12 close ga even of it winning s hdown. last year, an a touc y more th games b GBIprint.com GoldandBlack.com 2013 OPPONENT PREVIEW • Sept. 21 • Camp-Randall Stadium • Time TBA • TV TBd W Wisconsin Badgers isconsin's always seemed to maintain the same identity, a modest, blue-collar approach that has resulted in tremendous success during the past decade. The Badgers now have a new leader, after Gary Andersen was hired from Utah State to replace former coach Bret Bielema, and maybe a slightly different personality. Wisconsin "In some ways, Bret Bielema Linebacker Chris Borland and Gary Andersen are very dif- leads a strong Badger ferent guys," said John Veldhuis, defense. who covers Wisconsin for BadgerBlitz.com. "Andersen is more of the father-figure type who's going to be about tough love who at the end of the day is always going to be there for players. (Bielema) was kind of the fun uncle. So it'll be an interesting personality change. "I don't think anyone with reasonable expectations would think about the Rose Bowl or Big Ten title game again, because that would be a lot to ask of a new staff, but … a more reasonable expectation might be nine or 10 wins, somewhere around there, because they do have a lot of talent and experience." Record-setting running back Montee Ball is gone, but Wisconsin has shown time and again that it can replace star running backs with relative ease, stacking one on top of the other. So the time is now for James White, Ball's understudy last year, and Melvin Gordon. White ran for 800-plus yards and a dozen touchdowns as Wisconsin's No. 2 back in 2012; Gordon averaged 10 yards per carry on 62 tries, totaling 216 yards in Wisconsin's 70-31 stomping of Nebraska in Lucas Oil Stadium last winter. So the running game should be just fine, trending upward at the end of last season following a slow start. A strong running game is nothing new to the Badgers. What might be new to Wisconsin's offense is a preference toward more athletic quarterbacks, something the Badgers have not typically had, Russell Wilson's one spectacular season in Madison aside. Gold and Black IllustrateD • volume 23, issue 6 • 97