I do believe Notre Dame will have a tough squad to beat this year although they are only returning 2 starters on offense and 5 on defense. I believe Howard has a very athletic team but they have always had althletes, just never a coach to discipline them and it will be no different this year. As always Polk County will have a powerful team and will probably be the favorite along with Notre Dame. Polk County might have the edge considering they are playing ND at their house, but Notre Dame beat them there 2 years ago in PC, there is no reason why they cant beat them again. My playoff teams are Polk, ND, ER, Grundy. and watch out because Grundy might spin some heads this season...