To do that, the Fighting Irish will need to improve on their 8-5 mark of a year ago.

Notre Dame started last season with a win over Purdue, but then lost three straight games to Michigan, Michigan State and Stanford to fall out of contention for any of the bigger bowl games.

Three straight wins to end the season over Utah, Army, and USC at least got Notre Dame an invitation to the Sun Bowl, where they beat Miami by a score of 33-17.

At the Bodog Sportsbook the oddsmakers have Notre Dame sitting at 22/1 on the BCS championship odds for this season, with their wins OVER/UNDER at 9. To go OVER nine victories, though, the Fighting Irish will need big seasons from offensive catalysts Dayne Crist and Michael Floyd.

QB Crist played nine games for Notre Dame last season, throwing for 2,033 yards with 15 touchdowns and seven interceptions in those contests. Crist is considered a longshot Heisman Trophy contender right now, sitting at 75/1 on that NCAA props list at the Bodog Sportsbook.

WR Floyd was good for 1,025 receiving yards for Notre Dame in 2010 and caught 12 touchdown passes; he's at 40/1 on those Heisman Trophy odds. You can also get Floyd on the props market heading into the season – his OVER/UNDER for receiving TDs is sitting at 11.5, while his OVER/UNDER for receiving yards is listed at 1,023.5.

Notre Dame begins its regular-season schedule on Saturday afternoon when they play host to South Florida. The Bodog Sportsbook will have the line and total for that contest and for the other matchups on the Week 1 college football schedule.

Get all your college football odds at Bodog.