Notre Dame Football: 5 bold predictions for November 2019
By Jacob Wilson
5. The Irish lose two games
Before going any further, it should be known that not all of these predictions are predicated upon the others. For example, just because a 2-2 record is projected in one prediction doesn’t mean all of the others have to follow suit in predicting bad performances all around. In other words, while it’s feasible that the Irish do lose two games, a prediction could also be made that the Irish win out and make a prestigious bowl appearance.
As for this prediction, it will be under the guise that the Irish continue to perform like they have over the course of their past two games. We all know what happened in Notre Dame’s dismal performance vs. Michigan, but few expected that performance to carry over in a home game vs. Virginia Tech.
On the verge of going down 21-7, Virginia Tech recovered what was the first fumble by a Notre Dame running back in years, returned it for a touchdown, and exited the half tied at 14. Down 20-14, quarterback Ian Book led an impressive game-winning drive to end things at 21-20, but the Irish shouldn’t get too comfortable relying on Book’s late game heroics.
This week’s Duke matchup might not present such problems, but the Irish will have to play a Navy team that has the propensity to play them tough and a Stanford team that has been a thorn in the side of the Irish for years. The Irish could very well blow all of these teams out of the water, but a continuation of recent performance could result in a four-loss regular season for Notre Dame.