Notre Dame Football: 3 reasons Irish will disappoint in 2020

Notre Dame football is expected to make a run at the College Football Playoff in 2020, but there’s a decent chance the Irish could disappoint.

Just a few weeks ago, it was looking like the 2020 season wouldn’t be happening for schools like North Carolina or Notre Dame because of COVID-19 outbreaks on campus, but here we are.

The Irish are just a few days away from the start of the 2020 season, kicking things off on Sept. 12 against Duke in an ACC-dominated schedule. Why are the Irish facing mostly ACC schools? Because the ACC decided to take them in amidst most leagues moving to conference-only schedules and both the Big Ten and Pac-12 postponing their seasons.

Notre Dame is already a member of the ACC for other sports, including basketball, so why not just make it official for football this season to help the Irish out?

The move only strengthens the conference, giving it a couple of serious playoff contenders and a few dark-horses like Louisville, North Carolina and Florida State who could make pushes for New Year’s Six bowls.

Notre Dame and Clemson will be the clear favorite playoff contenders followed directly by North Carolina and the ACC might be the deepest it’s been in years because of the addition of the Irish.

But just because Notre Dame is considered a contender doesn’t mean it’s going to live up to the expectations placed upon it. Here’s why the Irish might actually disappoint this season.