Notre Dame Football: Game-by-game predictions for 2020

In what is one of the longest running rivalries in college football, Notre Dame and Navy will meet to open up the 2020 season. The game, which was originally supposed to be taking place in Dublin, Ireland, will be taking place in Navy-Marine Corps Memorial stadium in Annapolis, Md.

Brian Kelly is 8-2 against Navy since his arrival in South Bend and will be looking to make this his fourth win in a row over the Midshipmen.

Navy had a surprise turnaround season in 2019, going 11-2 and that was a big turnaround from the 3-10 record that they posted in 2018. The biggest question that the Midshipmen will have to answer will be how to replace quarterback Malcolm Perry, who was one of the best in program history.

Navy is a very good program that is well-coached, but they have to many questions on their roster for me to pick an upset here.

Final Score: Notre Dame 38, Navy 21 (1-0) 

In a rare regular season game against an SEC opponent, Notre Dame will welcome Arkansas and new head coach Sam Pittman to South Bend and this will be a huge test right out of the gate for him and the Razorbacks.

Arkansas has gone through a miserable three-year stretch, where they have accumulated an 8-28 record and are now perceived to be one of the toughest jobs in the country and that was reflected in their coaching search this past offseason. Arkansas missed out on several of their top candidates and settled on Pittman, who had been the offensive line coach at Georgia.

Pittman has made several changes to the Razorbacks in a short amount of time, bringing in former Florida star Felipe Franks to be the new quarterback and making a controversial hire in Kendal Briles as the new offensive coordinator. In time, these changes might help boost the program but Notre Dame will be a big test for Arkansas and the Razorbacks won’t be ready for it.

Final Score: Notre Dame 45, Arkansas 20 (2-0)