The perfect Notre Dame schedule to watch if there is no college football season in 2020

The coronavirus pandemic is a real threat to shut down the entire 2020 college football season. It’s a depressing thought, and fans of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish have already been openly talking about such a happening because of the way the 2020 season opens up in a different country. So, to get ahead of what nonsense may come over the next few months, I put together the perfect Notre Dame football schedule to watch throughout the season in place of the real thing.

Okay it’s not perfect, and I did cheat with one of my own parameters — but I absolutely had to do it to make it work (and because I was tired of mapping the thing out on my scratchpad.

The parameters

• Fill out the 2020 schedule with past wins from the Brian Kelly era
• The game should mirror the week as much as possible as a win at home/away/neutral
• The opponent had to be played during the same week as listed (this is where I cheated ONCE)
• An opponent can only be used once
• A year can only be used twice

Here’s what I came up with:

Week 1: @ Louisville Cardinals (2019)

Week 2: Michigan Wolverines (2018)

Week 3: Michigan State Spartans (2013)

Week 4: @ Pittsburgh Panthers (2011)

Week 5: @N* Syracuse Orange (2016)

Week 6: Stanford Cardinal (2012)

Week 7: @ Oklahoma Sooners (2012)

Week 8: N.C. State Wolfpack (2017)

Week 9: Wake Forest Demon Deacons (2015)

Week 10: @N* Army Black Knights (2016)

Week 11: Boston College Eagles (2019)

Week 12: @ USC Trojans (2010)

BOWL WEEK: LSU Tigers 2017 Citrus Bowl

You have issues with this — I know. First of all, I know the 2012 Navy game fits perfect for week 1, but putting Louisville there allows me to kick Navy off the schedule (finally), but it also let me use just one cheat for Oklahoma. Notre Dame played the Sooners in week 8.

Yes it’s nuts — the 4-8 2016 season has two games on here. WTF?!

Think you can do better? I challenge you to come up with a better schedule with the same parameters.