How Notre Dame’s opponents fared in WEEK 1 of the CFB season
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Notre Dame’s 2026 college football schedule has been called many thing over the last eight months, but “tough” or anywhere near the word “hard” was certainly not among them. Still, some have mentioned that this Irish schedule could look a lot trickier as the season progresses. While they may eventually be true, it may not matter all that much (except for message boards and social media).
Notre Dame took a minute or two to get going against the Wisconsin Badgers in the season opener, but eventually the Irish whooped them 42-13. This week, the Irish welcome the UNDEFEATED Rice Owls to Notre Dame Stadium.
Notre Dame is likely to be favored in every game this season, and they have become the popular pick to win the national championship. Their strength of schedule probably isn’t going to matter much, but let’s keep track of it anyway.
| OPPONENT | RESULT | OVERALL RECORD | AP RANKING |
| Wisconsin Badgers | L vs ND 41-13 | 0-1 | – |
| Rice Owls | W vs Houston Christian 41-3 | 1-0 | – |
| Michigan State Spartans | W vs Toledo 30-20 | 1-0 | – |
| Purdue Boilermakers | W vs Indiana State 44-19 | 1-0 | – |
| North Carolina Tar Heels | W vs TCU 15-10 | 1-0 | – |
| Stanford Cardinal | L vs Miami 45-6 | 1-1 | – |
| BYU Cougars | W vs Utah Tech 63-7 | 1-0 | 14 |
| Navy Midshipmen | W vs Towson 42-15 | 1-0 | VOTES |
| Miami Hurricanes | W vs Stanford 45-6 | 1-1 | 7 |
| Boston College Eagles | L vs Cincinnati 34-15 | 0-1 | – |
| SMU Mustangs | W vs Florida State 27-24 | 1-0 | 19 |
| Syracuse Orange | W vs New Hampshire 66-3 | 1-0 | – |
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