Notre Dame football: One storyline for each 2021 matchup
By Brad Weiss
The 2021 Notre Dame football team will try to build on the team’s success this past season, as they won ten games, their third straight double-digit win season. The Irish are losing a bunch of talent on both sides of the ball, including starting quarterback Ian Book, who will have some big shoes to fill.
As we look over the 2021 schedule, there are a bunch of storylines each week. Starting with the Florida State road game to kick off the year, the Irish have a ton of rivalry games and will have to navigate a pretty tough schedule if they hope to compete in the CFP or even get a New Years Six bowl game.
With that said, let us take a look at one storyline for each of the Irish’s 12 games this season.
Game No. 1: Notre Dame football at Florida State
The Irish kick off their 2021 schedule on the road, as they travel to take on the Florida State Seminoles inside Doak Walker Stadium. This game brings back memories of the 1993 college football season, when the Irish knocked off No. 1 Florida State, only to lose the following week to BC. Florida State would end up winning the national title that season.
Game No. 2: Notre Dame football vs. Toledo
This is actually the first-ever meeting between these two schools and should be an early-season game for the Irish to really work on some things on both sides of the ball. The Rockets do no figure to be much of a challenge but are coming off a 4-2 record in Jason Candle’s sixth full season at the helm of the program.
Game No. 3: Notre Dame football vs. Purdue
What can we say about this rivalry game? New defensive coordinator Marcus Freeman was a linebacker coach at Purdue and even served as co-defensive coordinator during his time with the program. This is a matchup that goes all the way back to 1896 and was played annually from 1946 through 2014, but they have not played each other since. The winner gets the Shillelagh Trophy.