Brady Quinn on Notre Dame: ‘My expectation for this team was to be 12-0’

Notre Dame impressed by coming back from Aggieland with a season-opening win over Texas A&M. However, it didn’t change anything at all for Brady Quinn based on what he expects from him alma mater.

Quinn spoke with Greg McElroy on ‘Always College Football’ about the 23-13 victory for the Fighting Irish in College Station last weekend. While a great start to the season, it didn’t move much of the needle for the former quarterback-turned-media personality. That’s because he expects them to be undefeated this fall.

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“I guess I’d answer by saying no because I was already really high on this team,” said Quinn. “Knowing a lot of the pieces and parts? My expectation for this team was to be 12-0 this year. Floor probably 11-1. I said that before the season started to a few different people.”

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That starts with the Notre Dame defense for Quinn. With Al Golden and pieces back, Quinn says they maintained the main identity of the team for this year.

“If you really look at what they did this offseason, they were able to extend Al Golden, who I think is one of the best defensive minds in college football,” said Quinn. “He does an unbelievable job at scheming up protections and finding ways of applying pressure to quarterbacks.”

“He can only do that if he has the personnel,” Quinn continued. “They have so much more depth and they’re so much better in the secondary that it really allows Al Golden to do the things that he does from a rush standpoint, from a pressure standpoint. That’s kind of like their staple. That’s their foundation is they’re a team that’s built defensively.”

That then sets the baseline for the new offense for the Fighting Irish.

Quinn already feels better about it with how the offensive line performed at Kyle Field. With that, they can add on to a scheme that will only get better as the season goes on.

“They want to control the line of scrimmage. That was the big concern. You’ve got five guys who have started a collective, I think, what? Six career starts before this past week?” said Quinn. “I thought that they did an unbelievable job. I mean really an unbelievable job when you take into account that it’s a new offense with Mike Denbrock, you have a new quarterback who’s out there who wasn’t even in the spring game.

“A remarkable job by all parties involved on that side of the football,” Quinn added. “This is an offense that will continue to grow as Mike Denbrock gets more comfortable, as Riley Leonard gets more comfortable.”

The first game was arguably the biggest of the entire year for Notre Dame. Since they’re 1-0 after it, Quinn still sees them on pace to make the playoff and play a game in the opening round in South Bend.

“This is a team that’s going to be in the College Football Playoff. They’re going to host a home playoff game,” Quinn said. “I think they’re going to be able to make a run depending on how good that offense can become by the end of the season.”