Notre Dame Football: Pre-spring game-by-game predictions for 2021

What an interesting first year Geoff Collins had at Georgia Tech. Like all first-year coaches in 2020, he didn’t really get a fair offseason with COVID-19 and now we’ll see what he can really do with a full spring and summer to get acquainted with his team. His Yellow Jackets showed some flashes in 2020, but not enough to be considered relevant.

Now the Yellow Jackets return Jeff Sims at quarterback for his sophomore year and only lose a few starters combined on both sides of the ball. This team should be a surprise in the ACC.

But Notre Dame will be ready in late-November.

Final Score: Georgia Tech 17, Notre Dame 30 (8-3)

The last game of the season will feature yet another Notre Dame rivalry game, this time against David Shaw and Stanford.

The Cardinal have underperformed greatly over the past few years and Shaw has come under some fire for it but if he wants to keep that job, he needs to make a bowl in 2021 and probably win around 7-8 games. He may not officially be on the “hot seat” but Stanford’s expectations have changed over the past decade and he hasn’t met them in a few years.

Notre Dame might be standing in his way of getting to a bowl here and this one will come down to the wire with Kyren Williams scoring the game-winning touchdown with under a minute left.

Final Score: Notre Dame 27, Stanford 21 (9-3)