Notre Dame football: Way too early 2021 schedule preview

With the 2020 Notre Dame football season over, we take an early look at the 2021 slate for the Fighting Irish.

The 2020 season is over for Notre Dame football, and it was a fantastic, unbeaten regular season. It was also a frustrating, winless postseason, as the Irish dealt with disruption due to COVID-19, which ultimately cost them their game against Wake Forest, but handled things as well as anyone in the country after that point.

On the field, Notre Dame was led by a fifth-year senior at quarterback in Ian Book. Things weren’t always great on offense, as the Irish struggled at finding a consistent receiver and deep threat, but there were plenty of bright spots too. The offensive line play was elite, and the emergence of Kyren Williams and Michael Mayer is exciting for the future of the offense, as long as they can rebuild for next season.

Meanwhile, on defense, Kyle Hamilton reminded everyone why he is one of the three or four best defensive players in the Brian Kelly era. Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah proved himself to be one of the biggest hitters in the game, and Clark Lea earned the Vanderbilt head coaching job on the back of an awesome overall defensive effort.

Next season will have a lot of questions that come with it, but so did this season, and so will the season after next. One thing that isn’t in question is who Notre Dame will be playing in 2021 and that much couldn’t be said for 2020.

It might be early, way too early really, but let’s take a look at the 2021 schedule anyways: