Notre Dame Football: What are realistic expectations for 2021 season?

Expectations for Notre Dame football are on the rise after a second College Football Playoff berth in three years and Brian Kelly is well aware of that.

The Irish went 10-2 last season as temporary members of the ACC with a 9-0 record in conference play. They lost in the ACC title game to Clemson after beating the Tigers in the regular season and still managed to make the playoff along with their conference counterpart.

Notre Dame was given the unfortunate matchup of Alabama in the Rose Bowl semifinal and was handled 31-14. This was the Irish’s second three-score loss in the playoff in three years and it showed that Kelly and Co. still have a long way to go.

Talent is piling up as Kelly is recruiting at an elite level, as he should be, but he will be forced to replace Ian Book, Javon McKinley, Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah, and Ben Skowronek from a talented roster last season.

So what are the realistic expectations for Notre Dame in 2021?

Realistic expectations for Notre Dame football

The Fighting Irish go back to being an independent this season and that might be some bad news given how well they played in the ACC a year ago.

Fortunately, the Irish do have a number of ACC opponents on the schedule (Florida State, Virginia Tech, North Carolina, Virginia, Georgia Tech) and they could very well win each of those games. They also have a couple of Big Ten teams (Wisconsin and Purdue) and Pac-12 (USC and Stanford) teams on the slate. All of those Power Five games are winnable.

Toledo, Navy, and Cincinnati round out the schedule. Also all winnable.

Only two starters return on offense, but I can see the receivers being better than they were a year ago and Michael Mayer is a budding star at tight end. Kyren Williams is one of the best running backs in the country and Chris Tyree is a solid backup. Tyler Buchner has immense potential as QB1 but Jack Coan has experience. Can’t go wrong with either one.

Defensively, Notre Dame will probably remain a top-25 team nationally and I could even see the Irish being top 10 in a few important categories.

Notre Dame is going to be very good once again, but I see them losing 2-3 regular-season games.

Looking for realistic expectations for the Irish? I think most fans should expect 10-2 with a New Year’s Six bowl berth. I know I do.