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This season, Notre Dame football returns to independence after joining the ACC for the pandemic-shortened 2020 campaign. A challenging schedule awaits the Fighting Irish.
Brian Kelly’s team, which is ranked ninth in the preseason AP Poll, has four games scheduled against top-15 opponents. They’ll face No. 8 Cincinnati, No. 10 North Carolina, No. 12 Wisconsin and No. 15 USC.
Additionally, Notre Dame has the added difficulty of playing six games against teams that will have two weeks to prepare for them. This doesn’t even include the season opener against Florida State.
The Irish will play half of their schedule against opponents coming in off a bye week, which is something they’ve dealt with in the past. That doesn’t make it any less daunting this time around though.
Notre Dame is coming off its second undefeated regular season and College Football Playoff berth in the last three years, but because of some key attrition (quarterback Ian Book, three starting offensive linemen, linebacker Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah and pass rushers Daelin Hayes and Adetokunbo Ogundeji), some expect the Irish to take a step back in 2021.
Whether they actually will remains to be seen, but their schedule certainly won’t be doing them any favors.
This season, Notre Dame football returns to independence after joining the ACC for the pandemic-shortened 2020 campaign. A challenging schedule awaits the Fighting Irish.
Brian Kelly’s team, which is ranked ninth in the preseason AP Poll, has four games scheduled against top-15 opponents. They’ll face No. 8 Cincinnati, No. 10 North Carolina, No. 12 Wisconsin and No. 15 USC.
Additionally, Notre Dame has the added difficulty of playing six games against teams that will have two weeks to prepare for them. This doesn’t even include the season opener against Florida State.
The Irish will play half of their schedule against opponents coming in off a bye week, which is something they’ve dealt with in the past. That doesn’t make it any less daunting this time around though.
Notre Dame is coming off its second undefeated regular season and College Football Playoff berth in the last three years, but because of some key attrition (quarterback Ian Book, three starting offensive linemen, linebacker Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah and pass rushers Daelin Hayes and Adetokunbo Ogundeji), some expect the Irish to take a step back in 2021.
Whether they actually will remains to be seen, but their schedule certainly won’t be doing them any favors.
