Newsstand: ESPN writers believe Notre Dame will underperform in 2022
ESPN recently published a roundtable article where its writers gave their thoughts on big questions that surround college football for the 2022 season. One of the questions posed was: Which team will underperform?
Senior writer Adam Rittenberg picked Notre Dame.
“Notre Dame is my pick because of questions on both sides of the ball, as well as a coaching transition that could pay off long-term, but might be bumpy at first,” he wrote. “The learning curve for Marcus Freeman is both understandable and real, and even showed up during the Fiesta Bowl loss.”
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Another ESPN senior writer went with the Fighting Irish as well.
“Notre Dame just missed out on a trip to the College Football Playoff a year ago, even with its head coach being wooed to LSU,” Chris Low wrote. “Freeman takes over amid a bright future and even bigger expectations. Of course, when are expectations at Notre Dame not grandiose? Freeman will be learning on the job next season and doing so without some key players who moved on to the NFL. That’s never a good combination, which means Notre Dame’s five-year stretch of winning 10 or more games could be in jeopardy in 2022.”
LSU, Georgia, Michigan and Texas A&M were picked by other ESPN staff writers.
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