A Shifted Outlook For 2019 Notre Dame Schedule
For the first time since 1991-93, the 2019 Notre Dame football team could post three straight seasons of at least 10 wins.
In fact it would only be the second time the feat would be achieved, primarily because the Fighting Irish opted not to attend bowl games from 1925-68, didn’t even fully incorporate an 11-game regular season until 1974, and then added a 12th game along with the rest of the college football world starting in 2006.
Reaching that double-digit win total after achieving 10-3 and 12-1 marks the past two seasons also appears more doable for at least two reasons. One, the talent level/development in the program has blossomed to where Notre Dame appears to be, per Las Vegas odds, the underdog in only two contests: at Georgia on Sept. 21 and at Michigan Oct. 26.
Second, the overall schedule is more favorable in that there are seven home games, no back-to-back trips on the road during the regular season, two byes, and a cumulative record by last year’s opposition that is under .500.
Overall, the 2019 foes were 75-77 last year. Six of the 12 finished under .500 — including usually vaunted arch rival USC at 5-7 — and three others had a minimum of five defeats. The opening game at Louisville, which four years earlier appeared to be a treacherous start, sees the Cardinals enter the contest with the nation’s second-longest current losing streak at nine (Rutgers is at the top with 11).
Last year was another example of how one can’t always foretell how challenging a schedule will be. In 2016, USC finished No. 3 in the country, 10-3 Florida State was still considered one of the top-5 programs — or first tier — overall in the country, and 10-win Virginia Tech won at Notre Dame and finished No. 16 in the country under new coach Justin Fuente.
Just two years later the Trojans and Seminoles were both 5-7 while the Hokies came in at 6-7, including a loss to Old Dominion. During that same time, the once beleaguered Fighting Irish head coach Brian Kelly went from 4-8 to 22-4 the past two seasons with No. 11 and No. 5 finishes.
Fortunes and perspective can change quickly in college football.
2019 Schedule (2018 Record)
Sept. 2 at Louisville (2-10)
Sept. 14 New Mexico (3-9)
Sept. 21 at Georgia (11-3)
Sept. 28 Virginia (8-5)
Oct. 5 Bowling Green (3-9)
Oct. 12 USC (5-7)
Oct. 26 at Michigan (10-3)
Nov. 2 Virginia Tech (6-7)
Nov. 9 at Duke (8-5)
Nov. 16 Navy (3-10)
Nov. 23 Boston College (7-5)
Nov. 30 Stanford (9-4)
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