The Triple Option: Can Notre Dame football keep its winning streaks intact in 2020?

Ahh yes — the Notre Dame Fighting Irish Triple Option on OFD. It’s definitely still a thing, but this week has been kind of a vacation week for me so I’ve stayed out of the office (mostly).

So... I’m here to make sure this still happens. This, of course, is Rivalry Week(s) on SBN and I see there has been a lot of discussion over the past few days. That’s awesome, and I’m sorry I didn’t join in. Honestly, even with the “vacation” thing going down, my cell service (this includes being able to hotspot to my laptop) was basically nothing. I was living life like it was 1988 (or 1918 if you want to throw in a pandemic). I’ll have an Off The Rail Podcast up late tonight to address the many things discussed.

SO LET’S GO!!!

LET’S GO STREAKING!

BGI’s Lou Somogyi wrote about Notre Dame’s 3 big streaks entering the 2020 season. In my opinion, we don’t discuss these streaks nearly enough. They’re a big deal and crucial to program-building. Those 3 are:

• 18 game winning streak inside Notre Dame Stadium
• 24 game winning streak against unranked opponents
• 9 game winning streak in the month of November

Can the Irish continue these streaks? If they do, the top 2 opponents on the schedule (according to me) will be wins in the Clemson Tigers and USC Trojans. Assuming the Wisconsin Badgers will be ranked when the Irish meet them at Lambeau Field in October — none of those streaks will be on the line (unless of course the game gets moved to Notre Dame Stadium — DO IT!).

WATCHING THE IRISH ON THE ROAD

Murtaugh over at 18 Stripes put together the lowest attended games of the Brian Kelly era. It’s a fun list, and pretty insightful. Did you know that 57.1% of the lowest attended games were a combination of contests with the Navy Midshipmen, Stanford Cardinal, and Boston College Eagles? Well... you do now.

HOW TOUGH?

Most of the Notre Dame media outlets have produced their lists about which teams will be Notre Dame’s toughest opponents in 2020. Here’s one from Athlon that I don’t agree with — but it’s hard to argue against as well.

ACC! ACC!! ACC!!!

Notre Dame is kicking ass in the ACC. The conference added the Syracuse Orange, Louisville Cardinals, Pittsburgh Panthers, and Notre Dame during conference realignment and the Irish are doing just fine. The Irish are also 23-8 against ACC opponents since 2014 in football.