Will Notre Dame Be Trapped?

I don’t Bye The Schedule

The Notre Dame hate police will be out in force at the sight of the 2019 schedule.  While the schedule does feature Georgia, Michigan, Stanford, and USC the haters will point to Louisville, New Mexico, Bowling Green, Duke and Navy. They also will likely avoid reporting that seven of the teams on that schedule (New Mexico, Bowling Green, USC, Virginia Tech, Duke, Navy, and Boston College) are all coming off of byes when they meet the Irish. Given the make-up of the schedule and the number of teams on byes the schedule is tricky at its worst and if some of the teams with line-ups of returning starters improve (Michigan-15 returners, Virginia-15, Duke-15, USC-12) it is downright ferocious. Oh by the way, Georgia returns 17. For those of us scoring at home, the Irish return 13. I wonder how the Notre Dame is irrelevant chorus would explain all the byes before teams play the Irish.

So where is the Trap game?

I always hated the term trap game. It is almost an out for a crappy week of practice or a lack of preparation. However, as it has become part of football vernacular we can hardly leave out a potential trap for the Irish on this schedule. First, I love how Michigan sets up.  Notre Dame will enjoy their bye week prior to playing the Wolverines. The week prior to Notre Dame, Michigan will face off with one of their conference rivals in Penn State. I hope the game goes into seven overtimes.  I downright hate the location of Virginia.  The Wahoos are going to be good.  Bronco Mendenhall is a great coach he is in year 3 of rebuild and has improved from 2 to 6 to 8 wins last year.  I’ve seen them ranked as high as 25 in the early polls.  Hate the spot in the schedule and coming after a slobber-knocker with Georgia.  I still don’t list this as a trap game as UVA will likely be ranked.

Once again its Boston College.

Another game that I hate the location of. It is right before Thanksgiving, it is Senior Day, and it comes after Navy.  Though, I don’t think Navy is going to be strong this year, Boston College still comes on the heels of playing an option team.  The Irish will play a pass first team Duke, an option team Navy, and a run first power team in Boston College all that the end of the season.  Keep in mind Boston College started 7-2 last season, before fading down the stretch.  Though they lost a good amount on both sides of the ball and the Irish have won 6 in a row, 3 of the games were decided by four points or less. When you add the history of the Notre Dame and Boston College series, and a game that means a ton to Boston College, I simply hate the spot of this game. Not to mention, the Irish also still  have to travel to Stanford the following week.  Anyone who believes this schedule is soft, would be wise to take a second look.

What say our readers?

With plenty of time to ponder the schedule and summer days to recharge us, we’d love to hear from our readers.  Where are the traps in this Notre Dame football schedule and how do the Irish avoid them?