Early Look at the 2020 Notre Dame Football Schedule

Here’s a quick look at the 2020 slate for Notre Dame football.

Year after year, Notre Dame is criticized for playing a weak schedule and not being in a conference. It doesn’t matter that Notre Dame plays as many Power 5 opponents as anyone else, or that they work to balance the ACC deal with playing their traditional rivals. Without a conference championship game, the Irish leave themselves open to criticism because the general public perceives their schedule to be weaker.

The 2020 schedule is certainly not a weak one, but that won’t stop the narrative from following the Fighting Irish.

The Irish begin their 2020 campaign in Dublin against Navy. As is true of every season, Notre Dame should beat Navy fairly easily. The difference in athletic ability is obvious. Navy also needs to find a replacement for Malcolm Perry at quarterback. If they can’t figure that out, then their triple option offense won’t operate properly. If the offense does operate properly they can at least keep the game close into the fourth quarter, by limiting possessions.

After that they’ll host Arkansas and Western Michigan. Western Michigan, one of the better MAC teams, might actually be the more difficult of these two games. Arkansas, now under coach Sam Pittman, was the embarrassment of the SEC last season. Now, they have some excitement around Pittman, but what is that good in year one?

Notre Dame will also be playing a “neutral site” game with Wisconsin at Lambeau Field. Given that the Badgers nearly just won the Rose Bowl, this will be a fight. Expect their defense to be complex and aggressive. On offense, Wisconsin is less intimidating. Their All-American running back, Jonathan Taylor, will be on a NFL roster. Meanwhile, Jack Coan and his receivers have never been particularly threatening.

The week after Wisconsin, Notre Dame will play host to Stanford. The Cardinal may have been down in 2019, but they could easily bounce back up to being an 8 or 9 win team in 2020. They’ll still be well disciplined and physical. Stanford is never an easy game.

Notre Dame will play six ACC games in 2020. They are Wake Forest, Pitt, Duke, Georgia Tech, Louisville, and someone called Clemson.

Wake Forest will be the week before Wisconsin. Their quarterback, Jamie Newman, is transferring out of the program. Like the Wisconsin game, this will be played in a NFL stadium. The Panthers home, Bank of America Stadium, plays host. That’ll make this the second neutral site game in 2020 for the Irish, but like Wisconsin, this will be closer to a home game for Notre Dame’s opponent.

Pitt is one of those teams that feels like a proper Notre Dame opponent. There is tradition to it. It’s also yet another game in a NFL stadium, Heinz Field. In this case, though, Heinz Field doubles as the home field for Pitt, so it’s not another neutral site game.

Duke and Louisville are on return trips to South Bend from the 2019 season. Duke should offer no threat, and the result should look a lot like this past season. Louisville was tougher than Notre Dame fans expected, and they’ll only be better in year two under Scott Satterfield.

Georgia Tech will take on the Irish in yet another NFL stadium. Again, it will effectively be a home game for Notre Dame’s opponent. This one will take place at Mercedez-Benz Stadium in Atlanta instead of Bobby Dodd Stadium. In 2019, the Yellow Jackets’ offense was abysmal, as they transitioned from the triple option offense. They’ll be looking to take a step forward, but still shouldn’t be much of a threat.

Clemson — perhaps you’ve heard of them — will travel to South Bend. They’ll bring names like Heisman hopeful Trevor Lawrence. Good for you if you can get a ticket to this one. The 2018 season ended with Clemson as National Champions, and they made the championship game again this season.

If we’re being honest, I don’t expect Notre Dame to beat Clemson. I just want them to keep it close.

The season ends with a trip to USC. Like in 2018, this will be Notre Dame’s chance to get Clay Helton fired. For some reason he just keeps surviving disaster after disaster. Pray he stays in Los Angeles forever. That being said, USC still has great athletes, and you never can assume a win in the LA Coliseum.

In total, Notre Dame will host 6 games in 2020. Two of those will be in November, with Louisville acting as Senior Day. The first home game for Notre Dame will on September 12, against Arkansas.

Only two of Notre Dame’s games will be played at the usual home of their opponent. Those are Pitt and USC. Five of Notre Dame’s games away from South Bend will be at NFL stadiums. That includes the Pitt game. The Navy game in Dublin will be played at Aviva Stadium, aka Lansdowne Road. Typically, Aviva Stadium plays host to the Irish rugby and soccer teams.

This schedule features ten P5 games, with opponents from four P5 conferences. There is a great diversity of opponents here, which will help Notre Dame test themselves against varied styles and skill levels.

Only 2 (Wisconsin and Clemson) of Notre Dame’s opponents will likely be ranked, but a number of others will likely be borderline ranked teams.

Notre Dame should win 10 games with this schedule — possibly 11 — in the regular season. It won’t be a cake walk, but it’s very doable. Will that be enough to make the College Football Playoff? Probably not, but a New Year’s Six Bowl is back in play.