Notre Dame football: 5 bold predictions for 2020
By Nick Villano
Notre Dame hasn’t been in the headlines, but they may be a bold choice in 2020.
It’s not often that Notre Dame is set to have a good team but analysts aren’t calling them a National Championship candidate. This happens a lot in college football. Teams that are traditionally great will get the benefit of the doubt before the season starts. That’s not the case for this year’s Notre Dame team.
We’re just not hearing a lot about their prospects in 2020. Maybe it’s because their schedule is still very much up in the air. Monster matchups with Stanford, Wisconsin, and USC have been canceled. As an independent playing in a partnership with the ACC, they only have a certain number of “conference games.” If more and more teams go to the conference-only schedule, Notre Dame has to figure some things out.
Still, one would expect a team that’s right outside the preseason Top 10 would get some people predicting they will over-perform. They have a date with Clemson to possibly propel them into the National Title conversation. There are other interesting matchups coming. Also, if they add ACC games to their slate, it could actually help their strength of schedule to what they have on the slate right now.
Looking ahead, Notre Dame has a lot that other teams would desire. They have a quarterback that has College Football Playoff experience (albeit, not a great experience). The Fighting Irish have four offensive linemen that have played at least 19 games. They have a four-straight top 20 recruiting classes, including two in the top 10 that become juniors and seniors this season (depending on redshirts). The Irish are in the right spot.
What is in store for Notre Dame football this season?
However, there are some questions that won’t get answers until the ball is snapped. That can lead to some interesting predictions when looking ahead at this season. Notre Dame is unpredictable. That could be good, but with some of their schedule still up in the air, it could turn out to hurt them. One thing we know for sure, they are set under center.