Notre Dame Football: Game-by-game predictions for 2017

If there is any game I see Notre Dame having very little chance to win, it’s this one. Plausible reasoning can be offered in defense of the Irish winning any of the previously mentioned games, but this one just seems too far out of reach. Despite the merry-go-round of potential Cardinal starters, Notre Dame has struggled greatly against the Stanford group, losing six of their last eight matchups with their newly acquired rival.

Considering Notre Dame lost to the Cardinals despite having one of the nation’s top quarterbacks, it’s hard to imagine they pull this one off with a renovated offensive approach. David Shaw has had his way with Brian Kelly in the last few years and will likely do the same with limited amounts of change this year. While the departures of Thomas and McCaffrey will be hard to cope with, Notre Dame will be sharing in their pain with some departures of their own.

It should be a close contest but bet on Stanford to slam the door late at home.

Final: Notre Dame 17, Stanford 26 (7-5)

2017 season prediction: 7-5

With the Irish rounding out the regular season with a competitive loss against the Cardinals, expect them to fall out of top 25 contention as the year draws to a close. However, Notre Dame should find themselves in a more favorable position than last year when they were eliminated from bowl game contention. Coach Kelly will likely see his team playing in a somewhat coveted bowl game should the team adhere to the predicted 7-5 record.

Next: Notre Dame 2017 projected 2-deep depth chart

Of course, there are many factors that could contribute to the Irish doing much better or much worse than anticipated. There is the possibility that Wimbush brings his team to a top 25 bowl game in which the team would gladly build momentum towards a 2018 title run, or the team could finish with a record worse or similar to that of last year. Should the latter occur, expect Kelly to have coached his final game with the Irish in South Bend.