It's The Year Of Our Lord 2020 And Notre Dame Is About To Go Undefeated
Dearly beloved, it is my sincere pleasure to welcome you all back to the Church Of Chief. Normally I would ask you all to close your eyes and soak in all the senses that signal that football is back. Charcoal wafting through the air and into your nose, a marching band playing somewhere in the distance, Miller Lites so cold that you get a few bit of ice chips hitting your lips, and when you step into the stadium, the PA system vibrating through your chest and a green expanse below you that some have called the most beautiful sight their eyes have ever seen.
None of that happened though. Covid-19 cast a black cloud over the Midwest. First the MAC fell. Then quickly the BigTen canceled football and Notre Dame's traditional rivals out West did as well. It was thought that the rest of the nation would soon follow. In a time of despair people often look to God for guidance. When College Football was in crisis, the nation turned to God's favorite team. There was ONE singular ray of hope shining brightly against the darkness…
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Michael Hickey. Getty Images.It took an Independent, both in thinking and athletics, to save a conference and a Nation. Notre Dame saved the ACC and my advice to the rest of the conference….PRAY. The Irish will be bringing Old Testament justice punishment to the league that couldn't get on without them. The Four Horsemen are riding in for real this time and Notre Dame is set to become the first ever Independent Football Program to win a Conference Championship. Unprecedented and supposedly impossible, but the Lord rewards those who do his work and saving College Football is definitely near the top of the Lord's priority list in 2020. The Irish will be rewarded with yet another uNDefeated season
Barstool's audience has grown exponentially since I first wrote the uNDefeated blog way back in 2012. Maybe people think this is a schtick or that I continue to write this blog simply out of tradition. I assure that is not the case for me, and I know it is not the case YOU. I have been writing this blog in my head for the last 25 years. An August of mental gymnastics when the Blue&Gold Illustrated arrived at my door and I ran up to my room with it, read it, and came away KNOWING that this was the year, every year.
Somethings never change. The Irish ARE going to go undefeated. Hit play on this song and let the faith come beaming out of your heart
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September 12th vs Duke
Daniel Jones isn't walking through that door and thank god for that because he lit up Notre Dame in 2016 which is the last time anyone will mention that season ever again. They've got some kid who transferred from Clemson playing quarterback and the only thing I know about him is that he's in trouble.
Big coming out party for new OC Tommy Rees. Points everywhere. Notre Dame is currently a 20 point favorite which means you can take them at home and turn it off at half time because the Irish and Ian Book will have that covered. W. 1-0
September 19th vs USF
Brian Kelly revenge game. Remember this?
I am pretty sure that was directed at Dayne Crist against USF. Brian Kelly's first game. It is also a revenge game for Tommy Rees who came off the bench as just a baby face 3 star QB to throw for almost 300 yards in a loss. Nobody, and I mean NOBODY, come into our house and pushing Notre Dame around. Especially not USF twice. That's a W. 2-0
September 26th, @ Wake Forest
Wake Forest has turned into a cute little program down there in Winston-Salem. Dave Clawson is a good coach. He's had four straight winning seasons. Here is the problem though…they lost everything. Leading passer, leading rusher, leading receiver are all gone. AND…they've got Clemson and Notre Dame on the schedule in the first three weeks. Their new quarterback is going to be looking like Simba against a stampede of Irish defenders right out of the gates
It's ND's first road game of the year, but Wake Forest never has any fans to begin with so playing in that empty stadium should feel normal for both teams. A win that will look good on the resume at the end of the year when Wake Forest is 8-4, but ND is on a different level. W, 3-0
Side note: I am shocked that nobody has
October 3rd, BYE
October 10th, vs Florida State
I LOVE when FSU is on the schedule. It reminds me of the day I fell in love with college football and Notre Dame. November 13th, 1993. The game of the century
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That was Bobby Bowden. THIS is new Coach Mike Norvell
Call me crazy, but that guy isn't leading a team into Notre Dame stadium in October and coming out with a victory. That is another W for the Irish. 4-0
October 17th vs Louisville
This is a Chief revenge game
The Irish won by 18. They won't let me down again and embarrass me in front of my boss. W. 5-0
October 24th @ Pitt
Notre Dame always has one big scare per year and I feel like 9 times out of 10 that game is against Pitt. This spot makes me nervous. On the road, time TBD but it'll be at night, Pitt returns 15 starters from a team that won 8 games, Clemson is the next opponent and I just like Pat Narduzzi. He's a hard-nosed guy. He is the perfect culture fit for that program. I bet he has them winning 10 games in the next few years. This is a BIG time trap game. I can smell it from here. And since I have properly identified it, so will Notre Dame and they will be ready. W. 6-0
October 31st, @ Georgia Tech
I listened to Rico, Portnoy, and Big Cat talk about Georgia Tech as their week 1 pick. I don't know where that is coming from. They don't play the triple option anymore. I don't know what they play because they went 3-9 last year. Year 2 will probably be better but they still have a roster full of kids who were recruited to run an offense from 1956. A yellow jacket can't change it's stripes, or something. Notre Dame by a lot. W 7-0
November 7th, vs Clemson
This is the game everyone has had circled since the schedule came out last year and then again in August. I can not fucking wait. This is why kids go to Notre Dame. For a chance at a game of the century at home, in November, under the lights. I am going to hit you with some facts…Trevor Lawrence has never won a game north of the Mason-Dixon line. Is that true? I don't know. I am not going to look it up. Maybe he beat Syracuse or Pitt or BC, but those teams do not count and everyone knows that. Playing in Notre Dame stadium when he's going to have little snot drips from the cold weather getting stuck in his hair will be a new experience for Trevor Lawrence. Notre Dame will have a real defense. They have NFL caliber players at every level and they might have the best safety in all of college football in Kyle Hamilton. Trevor Lawrence and Clemson. Notre Dame lost to Clemson in the closest 30-3 game ever. A few bounces(the fumble on the sidelines) and one less injury(Julian Love) and Notre Dame is right there. It's time for Kelly to get his first top 10 win in a long time and this is the spot. W. 8-0
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November 14th @ Boston College
I am not calling this a trap game because BC stinks, but this is basically the spot Notre Dame lost in 1993 after winning the game of the century vs FSU. A natural let down spot. Luckily for the Irish, BC no longer has guys being dudes. They fired Steve Addazio. Nobody knows what they have on offense or defense or anything. Transition year for BC which should mean a stat pad game for Ian Book. W 9-0
November 21st BYE
Notre Dame is a fine academic institution where their enrollees are students first and athletes second. Having multiple bye weeks should help everyone stay eligible which is important when you're about to become the first ever independent to win a conference championship
November 27th @ North Carolina
EVERYONE has been sucking UNC's dick lately. I get it. I love Mack Brown as much as the next guy. They're using an air raid offense and just throwing it all over the place with a good QB and good WRs. This is not their time though. People always criticize Brian Kelly for not winning big games or living up to expectations. Well Mack Brown is the KING of that. Aside from when he had Vince Young just straight up winning games by himself, Mack Brown teams always disappoint. He says he wants to win the league this year, but he probably said that before he realized he had ND in a conference game in November.
This is a special Thanksgiving weekend treat. This game is on the Friday after Thanksgiving. It will likely have a shot at the ACC championship game on the line. If Notre Dame wins, they're likely in even if they lose to Clemson. UNC doesn't have Clemson on the schedule so in theory this could be their only ACC loss. Just between you(the faithful) and me, the ACC looks a LOT tougher than it did a few years ago. UNC being a resurgent program is part of that. In the end though, I trust Ian Book, Tommy Rees, Brian Kelly and a balanced Notre Dame offense to use their run game and big time O-line to control the game and the ball. W 10-0
December 5th vs Syracuse
Feels like an important year for Dino at Syracuse. Here is the thing though…even when Syracuse is good they suck. They were a top 15 team a couple years ago when they played Notre Dame in Yankee Stadium and the Irish beat them by a thousand. It was never close. DeVito stinks. They all stink. Notre Dame should let whoever their Rudy equivalent in 2020 is play in this one. Easy W, 11-0
December 12th ACC Championship, Bank Of America Stadium in Charlotte vs TBD(Clemson)
It's hard to beat the same team twice in the span of 5 weeks, but that is what Notre Dame will be doing. And, if for some god forsaken reason they can't beat Clemson twice…well…there's no BigTen or Pac-12 champion to make the playoff so Notre Dame might end up playing Clemson a 3rd time in the playoff because what else is the playoff committee going to do? Have a 1 loss Big12 team make it? Lol.
Notre Dame lost a lot of weapons to the NFL, but this is when Kelly and company remind everyone what the truth is about Notre Dame during his reign…the Irish are a PROGRAM. They have depth everywhere. They'll get production out of the TE. They'll find weapons on the outside. The running game should have new blood. They have more stability at QB than they've had at any time in the last decade. Notre Dame is going to fuck people up because they can. It's time to get that Championship, both ACC and Natty. It's time to get that respect.