Notre Dame Football: 5 reasons Irish will win 2018 national title

3. Favorable schedule

The Irish are known for playing a relatively tough schedule each season because they’re an Independent and don’t have ties or loyalty to a specific conference.

The 2018 season doesn’t seem like an exception to that, at least not on paper.

However, the Fighting Irish schedule is more favorable that it looks. At home, Notre Dame has Michigan, Stanford and Florida State. Those are three of their toughest games and if they can take each of them, there’s a good chance they can carry momentum into their difficult road games.

If the Irish can start the season off with a win over a formidable Michigan team, they will likely have enough confidence to carry them through the next 3-4 games. Stanford will be tough, but they should take care of business at home. At Virginia Tech is the week after and if the Hokies are still having quarterback issues, that could sway the final in favor of the Irish.

Pittsburgh, Navy, Northwestern, Florida State and Syracuse are all winnable games, ending the season with a tough road game against USC — also looking for a quarterback.

Notre Dame’s schedule is favorable, opening and closing with the toughest games.