Notre Dame Football: 5 reasons Irish will be contenders again in 2019

EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ - OCTOBER 01: Head coach Brian Kelly of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and his team wait to head on to the field for the start of the game against the Syracuse Orange at MetLife Stadium on October 1, 2016 in East Rutherford, New Jersey. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images) /

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Notre Dame football made its first College Football Playoff appearance in 2018 and the Irish could very well make it back in 2019.

Brian Kelly raised the bar in 2018. Six years after his Irish made the BCS National Championship Game but lost to Alabama, Notre Dame climbed back into the national spotlight as a College Football Playoff team.

The expectations changed, Kelly’s demeanor was much more relaxed and his team bought in to the new-look Irish on both sides of the ball.

That led to a 12-0 regular season and trip to the playoff as the No. 3 seed but lost to Clemson in the national semifinal, 30-3. It was a disappointing defeat and it showed that Notre Dame still has a ways to go in order to compete at the same level as Clemson or Alabama, but a few solid recruiting classes from now, it could be a national power, too.

And that takes us to the 2019 season. Can Notre Dame get back to the playoff for a second straight year? We say yes, and here’s why.

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