Notre Dame Football: 5 biggest concerns for Fighting Irish in 2019

1. Notre Dame’s schedule difficulty

With Notre Dame being independent from any conference, there becomes a small margin for error. In fact, many doubt that the Fighting Irish could make the College Football Playoff without going undefeated. If that’s what it will take to repeat as a CFP team, this will be an incredibly tough season.

Going 12-0 with any schedule is tough. It gets even tougher for Notre Dame when you look at who they have to play. Of course, they have to play Stanford every year, but that’s one of the easier games this season. They also have tougher opponents like USC, Virginia Tech, Virginia, and Boston College.

Notre Dame’s two toughest opponents are by far Georgia and Michigan. The bad news gets worse for the Irish when they realize they have to play both of these games on the road. It would be impressive to even split those two opponents, and Notre Dame likely has to win both of them.

So far, the only team to make it to the CFP outside of the Power Five conferences is Notre Dame football, and that is because they were undefeated. Some still didn’t want to put the Fighting Irish in the Playoff. It seems almost impossible for them to make it if they go 11-1, especially when you assume that Clemson and some team from the SEC will automatically earn spots. It would likely take three 10-2 conference champions to give Notre Dame a chance at 11-1.

Since the Irish have to go undefeated, it becomes a concern with this tough a schedule. Hopes are high, but I wouldn’t bet my money on them making it back to the CFP in 2019.