Given the events that have taken place over much of 2020, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish should be content with their 27-13 opening-game win over the Duke Blue Devils, even if it wasn’t a thing of beauty. The good news is that they were able to adapt after facing some early challenges, which might serve as a metaphor for this whole season.
The socially-distanced crowd of 10,097 had little to cheer about early on, but eventually got to see Irish head coach Brian Kelly pick up Notre Dame’s 19th straight home win and the school’s first-ever conference victory in their one-year stint as a member of the ACC.