2019 was a very strange year for Notre Dame football. First, almost everyone was wrong about everything. The sure things at quarterback and defensive end were not. Jafar Armstrong was not the latest version of Theo Riddick. The linebackers, viewed by many as the weakest position group on the team, may have been the strongest. The defense was supposed to take a step back after last season, but the points per game allowed from 2018 to 2019 moved all of .5 points in the wrong direction.
Those factors always make for an odd feeling. Essentially nothing went as expected.