ESPN: Notre Dame Will Have A Heisman Trophy Winner, Will Make The Playoff, Will Play In The Orange Bowl

Notre Dame is a trendy pick with some that cover college football for ESPN, with at least one person picking the Irish to have a Heisman Trophy winner, two picking Notre Dame to make the College Football Playoff and others projecting the Irish to beat Clemson.

Long-time College GameDay personality Lee Corso, who also used to be the head coach at Louisville and Indiana, predicted quarterback Ian Book to win the Heisman Trophy in 2020. It makes sense that Corso also predicts the Irish to make the College Football Playoff.

Fourteen of ESPN's college football writers also made their CFP predictions, and both Ryan McGee and Ivan Maisel predicted a Notre Dame playoff berth. McGee has the Irish projected to play Clemson - which would be the third meeting between the two programs - and Maisel has the Irish slated to play Alabama in the opening round.

Writers Mark Schlabach and Kyle Bonagura both made their bowl game predictions, and both had Notre Dame playing in the Capital One Orange Bowl. Bonagura has the Irish projected to play Georgia while Schlabach has Notre Dame set to face Florida.

Both have Clemson in the playoff, which means they believe Notre Dame will finish second in the ACC this season.

ESPN also released its Power Rankings heading into week one, and they had Notre Dame ranked No. 5. Here is what they had to say about the Irish.

"Finally, Notre Dame has joined a conference, at least for this season. The Irish will play 10 ACC games and be eligible to play in the conference championship game in December. They have the pieces in place to get there, too, from veteran quarterback Ian Book to one of the top offensive lines in the country to budding superstars on defense in linebacker Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah and safety Kyle Hamilton. This is a team primed to win 10 or more games for a fourth straight season."

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