If you recall the thrilling but heartbreaking finish to Notre Dame’s season opening loss in 2016 at Texas you may remember the television call that went, “Texas is back, folks!”
Well, 247Sports made 20 bold predictions for the 2020 college football season and in them discredit Texas a bit but think very highly of Notre Dame’s chances in the upcoming season.
From Brandon Marcello of 247Sports:
Notre Dame is back
You can have Texas. I’ll take Notre Dame as my pick to contend for a national title in 2020.
Quarterback Ian Book is back after throwing 34 touchdowns against only six picks, and he’ll have his entire offensive line back to protect him this fall, too. The defense should once again be strong (particularly at linebacker) after holding teams to 17.9 points per game last season. The showdown with Clemson in November (in South Bend) might be the game of the year in college football. The Irish will need all the help they can get to knock off the Tigers, but if they do it they will be in the College Football Playoff.
Can they do it? Sure. This Irish team has a better shot at knocking off Clemson this season at home than Brian Kelly’s crew last season against Georgia on the road.
Potential spoilers on the schedule include Wisconsin in a game set for Lambeau Field on Oct. 3 and the season finale at USC. The Irish have a four-game warmup before facing its first ranked team of the year (the Badgers). Still, many will fight against the “Notre Dame is back” narrative until that Nov. 7 showdown with Clemson, which might just have its most talented roster in the Dabo Swinney era. The Irish can win it, too. Let’s face it: Kelly has the Irish playing pretty well with a 33-6 record the last three years and with a senior like Book at quarterback, this is the year the Irish catapult on the national scene and stay there.
Marcello cites the home battle against Clemson as the reason Notre Dame will contend. I don’t hate the idea, certainly, but I do have questions.
Who steps up on the defensive line and helps make that unit play more on par as the 2018 squad that was dominant up front?
Who emerges as being the go-to-guy on big plays as Book and Notre Dame lost both Chase Claypool and Cole Kmet to the NFL this spring?
Does a running back take over and perform at a level of what Tony Jones, Jr. was able to do last year?
And can the secondary that hasn’t played a lick together find cohesion and success sooner rather than later? Kyle Hamilton is a great start but plenty of questions remain there as well.
The answers to those questions will decide if Marcello is right or wrong. If Notre Dame can develop in the running game between both backs and the offensive line it’ll go a very long way.
Again, you can read all 20 predictions from Marcello on 247Sports as he predicts a bit of a drop for the defending champs, the staying power of a surprise Big Ten team from 2019 and a new champion in the SEC East along with plenty other fun and interesting predictions.
Related: Way Too Early Game by Game Predictions for Notre Dame Football in 2020
