Five Teams That Could Add Value To Notre Dame's Future Schedules
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Contrary to what the major media outlets and the X warriors want you to believe, Notre Dame has not and will not face any difficulties scheduling opponents. Recently, the Irish have scheduled home and home games with Auburn, BYU, renewed their rivalry with Stanford for the 2027 and 2028 season and scheduled a 12-year home and home series with Clemson.
As things stand currently, there are some future schedules that look daunting, like 2028 where they face Texas at home, Arkansas at home, Clemson at home, Miami at home, Auburn on the road, Virginia Tech on the road and Pitt on the road. The following year in 2029, they face Alabama at home, Georgia Tech at home, Texas on the road, NC State on the road, Clemson on the road and Florida State on the road.
With the recent comments from Texas Athletic Director Chris Del Conte, it's not a forgone conclusion that Notre Dame will square off with the Longhorns in 2028 and 2029. Ideally, it still takes place, but in this day and age of college football, one can never be too certain which brings us to this conversation. There's five opponents that, I believe, could add value to Notre Dame's future schedules.
One of them, is the BYU Cougars, a team they have a home and home scheduled with this season and in 2027. When the game was announced, Irish Breakdown released an article talking about why this would be a good-long term rivalry for the Irish. Both of these teams and institutions have a lot of fundamental similarities. Head coaches Marcus Freeman for the Irish and Kalani Sitake for the Cougars have a combined record of 47-8 over the last two seasons. This would add tons of value to Notre Dame's future schedules.
Another opponent that could add mass amounts of value is Texas A&M. They've played in two high-octane games in 2024 and 2025. The Irish walked away victorious in 2024 down in College Station while the Aggies won in South Bend this past season on a last-second touchdown. Head coach Mike Elko has ties to Notre Dame and is an ascending head coach. The biggest value this potential rivalry could bring is the SEC aspect to Notre Dame's schedule.
Agree or disagree with it, the narrative around the SEC remains despite a diminishing track record of post season success over the last three seasons. The biggest win Notre Dame got credit for in 2024 was their win over Texas A&M in week one despite the Aggies finishing the season 8-5. On the flip side, the Aggies win over the Irish in South Bend played a big role in their first ever College Football Playoff bid. It would be beneficial for both sides. Once you add in the recruiting aspect down in Texas for the Irish, starting a series with the Aggies becomes a no-brainer.
Purdue and Michigan State are two teams from the Big 10 that Notre Dame has a lengthy history with that should be played on a more regular basis. Purdue has been on the schedule for the past few seasons while their rivalry gets renewed with the Spartans this upcoming season. This will be their first matchup since 2017 when the Irish took on Michigan State in East Lansing in 2017.
Notre Dame and Michigan State have squared off 79 times while the Irish and the Boilermakers have played each other 89 times. One thing this new era of college football is lacking is in regional rivalries. Michigan State and Purdue checks that box and gives the Irish more rivalries on their schedule.
Speaking of regional rivalries, renewing their series with the Michigan Wolverines is something I'm all on board for. It's become a divisive topic within the IB community, but this is a rivalry I think needs to return. With USC electing to run away from their long lasting rivalry game with the Irish, Notre Dame needs another opponent on their schedule where there's this feeling of 'bad blood'. Every other major rivalry in college sports has that whether we're talking about Ohio State v. Michigan, Alabama v. Auburn or Texas v. Oklahoma.
As of now, there's no high-octane regional rivalry for Notre Dame; the closest thing they have to that is when they play Pitt which is a good rivalry, but doesn't carry the same weight as when the Irish and the Wolverines square off. The two are set to face off again in 2033 in Ann Arbor, but you won't hear any complaints from me if this game gets renewed earlier.
There's several teams that Notre Dame could start up a series with, but I believe these five could be the most beneficial for the program on the field, in recruiting and the narrative surrounding the program. Some of their future schedules are already ironed out, but if any teams (yes I'm looking at you Texas) elect to back out, there's several viable options for the Irish to replace them with.
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