Notre Dame Football: Analyzing the effects of a long layoff for the Irish

Notre Dame football has found itself with a long layoff, having canceled its recent game with Wake Forest before having a scheduled bye.

It’s not very often that a college football team has a two-week layoff in the middle of its season, but as we know, nothing in 2020 seems to be normal. For the Notre Dame football team, that is exactly what has happened, given that Notre Dame was forced to cancel last week’s game with Wake Forest before having a scheduled weekend off this week.

It’s possible that this layoff was the worst possible scenario for the Irish.

Certainly, there are a few positive that could come from a two-week hiatus — the health of players such as Kyle Hamilton and Ben Skowronek are a couple of those positives — but for the most part, it’s hard to find many positives for Notre Dame’s mini-vacation this early in the season.

In its first two quarters of the season, the Irish sleepwalked through a sloppy first half against Duke. But the Irish were able to shake off the rust against USF, dominating from start to finish. The Irish had a sense of urgency, were physical, and dominated a lesser opponent, creating momentum that they were hoping to carry over against Wake Forest last week.

In short, it’s going to be hard for the Irish to maintain that same momentum when they do take the field against the Florida State Seminoles on October 10th.

In the long run, will Notre Dame have any trouble with the Seminoles that night? Probably not. But for Notre Dame, the goal isn’t just merely to win — it’s to get continue to dominate, focus, and lock in from week to week so that there isn’t a letup later in the season. Without games, it’s going to be hard to maintain the same level of focus and attention to detail.

The good news is that, as of now, all of Notre Dame’s goals are still ahead of them, even with everything going on in the world. Let’s hope for fewer roadblocks going forward.