With its high title odds, Heisman Trophy-contending players and elite playmakers entering the NFL Draft, Notre Dame has been one of the topics of conversation this college football offseason. The Irish were recently ranked No. 4 in ESPN\u2019s preseason top 25. While Notre Dame has been heavily criticized for what many deem as a weak or lackluster schedule ahead of the 2026 season, taking a deeper look at each game, Marcus Freeman\u2019s team will still be tested in a plethora of ways in its revenge season.<\/p>\n
Notre Dame will head to Lambeau Field, home of the Green Bay Packers, on Sept. 6 to kick off the season. The Sunday game will feature a Wisconsin team that went 4-8 in 2025 to finish No. 14 in the Big Ten. The Badgers saw 22 players depart for the transfer portal, while adding 31 new players, including transfer quarterback Colton Joseph from Old Dominion and running back Abu Sama from Iowa State. Wisconsin is projected to improve in Luke Fickell\u2019s fourth year with a win total set at 6.5, placing the team at the cusp of bowl eligibility. If the Irish can get off to an early start on the scoreboard, this game should be a comfortable victory to start the season.<\/p>\n
Week 2 sees Notre Dame host Rice in the Notre Dame Stadium opener. The Owls are coming off a 5-8 season that placed them 11th in the American Conference. In Scott Abell\u2019s second year, Rice will look to improve, having added transfer run-first quarterback Jacurri Brown from UCF, as well as linebacker Jesus Machado from Houston. Rice should be another opportunity for Notre Dame\u2019s offense to find its groove early ahead of hosting Michigan State on Sept. 19.<\/p>\n
The Spartans finished at 4-8 with only one conference victory \u2014 against Maryland \u2014 in 2025. This season, Pat Fitzgerald will resume coaching after a four-year hiatus, taking over a struggling team projected at just 3.5 wins. The Spartans will likely come into the game at 2-0 after taking on Toledo and Eastern Michigan in their first two tests of the season. The Spartans lost superstar receiver Nick Marsh to Indiana, key defensive anchor Darius Snow to Texas and many other leading talents. Notre Dame transfer KK Smith will get to take on his old team, but the Irish should not have a problem with the Spartans at home.<\/p>\n
The first true road contests will be against Purdue on Sept. 26 followed by North Carolina on Oct. 3. Purdue went 2-10 without any Big Ten wins in 2025 and will hope to build in Barry Odom\u2019s second season at the helm. The Boilermakers added multiple quality players out of the transfer portal, including Justin Denson from Michigan State and John Slaughter from Colorado. The Irish have scored 122 points in the last two seasons against Purdue and should have no trouble on the road. Then, Notre Dame will head to Chapel Hill, N.C., for the first out-of-state road game of the season against Bill Belichick\u2019s Tar Heels. After a hyped yet highly disappointing 4-8 season, the Tar Heels are striving for massive improvement in 2026. Belichick\u2019s team will have faced Clemson and TCU and had a bye week before the Irish. The Heels could be as good as 3-0 before taking on Notre Dame. While it is a road game, the Tar Heels will likely be unranked for Notre Dame\u2019s fifth game of the season.<\/p>\n
While the USC rivalry might have disappeared, Notre Dame will still play Stanford in 2026. After a 4-8 2025 season for the Cardinal, Stanford has a tough stretch of ACC games this season, including Miami, Duke, Wake Forest and Georgia Tech all before Notre Dame. Next, for Notre Dame\u2019s most significant road test of the season, Marcus Freeman will lead his team to Provo, Utah, to take on the preseason No. 12 BYU Cougars. BYU finished as the runner up in the Big XII and will return Bear Bachmeier at quarterback, who threw for over 3,000 yards in his freshman season, and LJ Martin, who rushed for 1,300 yards and 12 touchdowns in 2025. This team could be dangerous for Chris Ash\u2019s defense. The Cougars will likely enter the game undefeated or with one loss, and it will certainly be a golden opportunity for Notre Dame to finally prove itself against a ranked team.<\/p>\n
Next, The Irish will travel to Gillette Stadium to take on a Navy team which finished 11-2 last campaign. The Midshipmen are projected 8.5 wins for the 2026 season, and will be a greater challenge out of the American than Rice. The Irish will then host Miami in the most difficult game of the season. The Hurricanes have added quarterback Darian Mensah from Duke to help lead an offense with playmakers at every position. Coming off the National Championship Game loss to Indiana and big-time contributors leaving a stacked defense, Miami will look to prove its sustained success behind players such as Kadarius Toney. Many Irish fans have circled this as a potential opportunity for College GameDay to visit South Bend, and it is possible if both teams enter undefeated. Miami is ranked as the preseason No. 7 team, and will have faced Clemson, Florida State and Pittsburgh before taking on the Irish.<\/p>\n
Notre Dame will host Boston College and top 25 SMU in its next two home games as it prepares for the final stretch of the season. Boston College finished with one ACC victory in 2025 and looks to be improved in Bill O\u2019Brien\u2019s third season. Then, SMU will come to town two years removed from a College Football Playoff appearance and only one year after a 9-4 season in the ACC. Returning Kevin Jennings at quarterback, who threw for 3,600 yards, plus multiple 600-yard receivers, the Mustangs will be the biggest remaining roadblock in Notre Dame\u2019s path throughout the regular season.<\/p>\n
The final game of the season will be on the road at Syracuse over Thanksgiving. In Fran Brown\u2019s third season, the Orange will look to stay healthy and compete at the top of the ACC. Notre Dame transfer Steve Angeli will still be leading Syracuse after suffering a season-ending injury last year. The Orange have a favorable conference schedule, avoiding Miami, Duke and Florida State, and could have a record as good as 9-1 or 8-2 if the chips fall in their favor.<\/p>\n
Breaking down Notre Dame\u2019s schedule brings a better perspective of the season. If Notre Dame can get past BYU and Miami blemish-free, there is a high likelihood of making the College Football Playoff for another chance at the national championship. However, if Notre Dame manages to lose two games again, it would not be a surprise to see the Irish on the outside of the playoff bubble for a second straight season. The season is in the hands of Marcus Freeman and the talented Notre Dame roster as it prepares for the Blue-Gold Game this weekend.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With its high title odds, Heisman Trophy-contending players and elite playmakers entering the NFL Draft, Notre Dame has…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":873292,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2026],"tags":[7],"class_list":{"0":"post-873291","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-football","8":"tag-football"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116457737031412040","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/873291","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=873291"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/873291\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/873292"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=873291"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=873291"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=873291"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}