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Notre Dame's football program has been a hot topic of discussion this offseason. After the playoff snub and their decision to sit out of the Pop-Tarts Bowl, the conversation around their independence intensified. The Fighting Irish have been an independent football program since its origin, but recently, there's been this narrative that they would begin to struggle schedule opponents down the road unless they join a conference. Thankfully, nothing could be farther from the truth. 

Over the last year, Notre Dame finalized a 12-year home and home series with Clemson, schedule a home and home series with Auburn in 2027 and 2028, schedule a home and home with BYU in 2026 and 2027 and renewed their rivalry with Stanford. This season, their schedule has come under fire for being a 'cake walk' which is just false. Is it a gauntlet? Absolutely not, but it's not as easy as what others make it out to be. However, the same can't be said about Notre Dame's future schedules, especially the 2028 and 2029 seasons. Contrary to popular belief, the Irish haven't struggled to schedule future opponents, in fact, it's been quite the opposite. 

2027 SCHEDULE 

Sep 4 – Purdue Boilermakers
Sep 18 – at Michigan State Spartans 
Sep 25 – Auburn Tigers
Oct 2 – Kent State Golden Flashes
Oct 9 – vs Wake Forest Demon Deacons*
Oct 30 – at Clemson Tigers
Nov 6 – Virginia Tech Hokies
Nov 20 – Navy Midshipmen 
Nov 27 at Stanford Cardinal 

TBA – BYU Cougars
TBA – Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets 
TBA – at Duke Blue Devils 

On paper, these are the 12 games that Notre Dame has scheduled for the 2027 season, but playing on the road against Duke isn't a done deal. There's a chance that gets finalized over the next few months, but if it isn't, Notre Dame will have one more game to get scheduled to finalize their 2027 regular season schedule. 

2028 SCHEDULE 

Sep 9 – Texas Longhorns
Sep 16 – Arkansas Razorbacks
Sep 23 – at Purdue Boilermakers
Oct 7 – Clemson Tigers
Oct 14 – Stanford Cardinal 
Oct 28 – at Auburn Tigers
Nov 4 – at Virginia Tech Hokies
Nov 18 – at Navy Midshipmen 

TBA – Boston College Eagles
TBA – Miami (Fla.) 
TBA – at Pittsburgh Panthers

Notre Dame has 11 of their 12 regular season games scheduled for the 2028 regular season. Odds are, they'll likely add another G6 team to the schedule to join the Midshipmen. It's unlikely the Irish will play 11-P4 opponents in 2028 especially when you consider some of those P4 opponents are Texas, Arkansas, Clemson, Auburn on the road, Pitt on the road, Virginia Tech on the road and the Miami Hurricanes. 

2029 SCHEDULE 

Sep 1 – Alabama Crimson Tide
Sep 15 – at South Florida
Sep 22 – at Texas Longhorns
Oct 6 – at NC State 
Nov 3 – at Clemson Tigers
Nov 10 – at Florida State 

TBA – at Syracuse Orange
TBA – Wake Forest Demon Deacons 
TBA – Navy Midshipmen 
TBA – Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets 

There's two games left to be scheduled for the 2029 season. We'll likely see one G6 opponent added and one P4 opponent added to the schedule. Obviously, it's tough to predict how a team will look in three years, but with teams like Alabama, Texas, NC State, Clemson, Florida State and Georgia Tech on deck, they likely won't go out of their way to schedule an elite P4 program in 2029, rather a middle of the road team in one of the major conferences. 

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