The Notre Dame football team has officially wrapped up training camp and is now aiming at the regular season. Still, there is at least one analyst who thinks that while the Irish are going to be very good, the Pitt Panthers of all teams are going to be a thorn in the side of Marcus Freeman's squad late in the season.
With college football officially kicking off this weekend with the season opener in Dublin, prediction season is also winding down, and people are putting away their preseason picks and focusing on what's happening on the field. Before that happens, though, Sports Illustrated's Bryan Fischer is taking on a massive task. The analyst recently went out and predicted every single record and schedule results for the Power 4 conference teams, as well as Notre Dame.
Even with a Pitt loss, Notre Dame football still projected for the College Football Playoff
Fischer does believe that Notre Dame will be excellent, despite opening the season with a loss at Miami. The analyst has the Irish winning eight straight after the Hurricanes. However, he also predicts their second loss of the season will come against Pitt of all teams.
"The Fighting Irish are breaking in a new starting quarterback but still have talent all over the place. It wouldn’t be surprising to see them favored in every game this season. They might trip up in Miami or on the road at Pitt late in the season, but you can likely pencil them into the CFP between a decent schedule and what they have coming back from their national championship game run."
If the Notre Dame football team gets past teams like Texas A&M and USC and then drops a contest to the Panthers, there will be some people quite upset. That the analyst believes the Irish are still going to the playoffs should blunt that frustration some.