What would define a “successful” 2020 football campaign at Notre Dame?
In the 24 years from 1994-2017, the Fighting Irish lost a minimum of three games 23 times. The outlier was the 12-1 finish in 2012, when the lone setback came to Alabama in the BCS Championship, a 42-14 drubbing.
In the last two seasons, though, Notre Dame had back-to-back campaigns with less than three defeats: 12-1 in 2018 with a bid to the four-team College Football Playoff, and 11-2 last season after winning the final six games, a first since 1992.
The 33-6 ledger the past three years is the sixth-best in the 130-team Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), and the best three-year mark at the program since a 33-4 output from 1988-90.
The caveat is whereas those 1988-90 units vanquished 10 opponents that finished in the Associated Press Top 10, there have been no such conquests over the past three (and none since handing Michigan State, which was unranked when they played, its lone defeat in 2013).
In summary, Notre Dame has established itself as a legitimate Top-10 caliber operation the past three season, and now is aspiring to reach the Tier 1 level where anything less than a playoff bid constitutes “disappointment.”
For 2020, here are the five basics to assess and judge the continued progress:
