Notre Dame Football: Irish ready for another playoff run in 2019
By Jacob Wilson
How will the Irish fare in 2019?
- Week 1: at Louisville (Sept. 2)
- Week 2: BYE
- Week 3: New Mexico (Sept. 14)
- Week 4: at Georgia (Sept. 21)
- Week 5: Virginia (Sept. 28)
- Week 6: Bowling Green (Oct. 5)
- Week 7: USC (Oct. 12)
- Week 8: BYE
- Week 9: at Michigan (Oct. 26)
- Week 10: Virginia Tech (Nov. 2)
- Week 11: at Duke (Nov. 9)
- Week 12: Navy (Nov. 16)
- Week 13: Boston College (Nov. 23)
- Week 14: at Stanford (Nov. 30)
The Irish currently have only two top-10 opponents on the schedule, but there are always teams such as USC and Stanford that play the Irish hard regardless of where they stand at the time.
One of the biggest takeaways from this schedule is the difficulty of the Irish’s impending road games. The Irish will kick off the season on the road against ACC competition before eventually heading off to face Georgia and Michigan at their respective stadiums. Notre Dame should have an easier time on the road against Duke, but they’ll be tasked with taking down the thorn in their side that has been Stanford to end the regular season.
Prediction: 11-1
On paper, Notre Dame finds themselves in position to escape this schedule with an 11-1 record. Of course, the Irish could realistically end up with a 2-0, 0-2, or 1-1 record against the combination of Georgia and Michigan. If they do end up splitting those games, it’ll be up to the coaching staff to have their team playing clean football for the rest of the season.
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All things considered, the Irish may not have the strength of schedule to survive more than one loss. Should the defense play close to the level that it did in 2018, a one, potentially zero loss season could be in the cards. If not, the Irish may be looking at another disappointing season. In the meantime, we sit and wait until September.