Notre Dame has its easiest schedule set up since I became a fan of the team. They only have 6 home games, but they get North Carolina and Washington back on the schedule, both road games (one more chance to punk Ty Willingham before Washington does what they should've done this year and can him), Syracuse, San Diego State and Pittsburgh come to South Bend (SDSU is part of the deal to move BYU game in 2004 to the opener, as is Nevada in 2009), and the teams that are usually good on the schedule will be in transition periods (Michigan without Carr, BC without Ryan, USC without a crap ton even though they'll just reload). If ever there was a way ND can jump right back to consistently good, the 2008 schedule sets up beautifully for it. If the freshmen improve at the rate they should in the off-season, a bowl game, if nothing else, is likely.