How Notre Dame’s opponents fared in WEEK 7 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. Notre Dame welcomed the Rice Owls to South Bend for the home opener, and sent them back to Texas with a 52-0 loss. Although the Irish were big favorites against Michigan State, they got their best shot — and still beat the Spartans 27-10. The Irish were once again massive favorites over a Big 10 team, and they more than covered against Purdue with a 49-10 win that was never that close. Notre Dame was better than a three touchdown favorite against North Carolina, but ran into a bit of a clunker (and rain) and beat the Tar Heels 37-26. After two weeks on the road, Notre Dame returned to South Bend and the homecooking did them well as the Irish destroyed the Stanford Cardinal 58-7. Disaster hit the Irish against BYU in a 28-24 loss, and no matter what part of the game you want to complain about (because there was quite a bit) the simplest thing to say is that Notre Dame flat out got outplayed by the Cougars. Notre Dame will now be able to chomp down some cheeseburgers during their bye week.
Notre Dame is still likely to be favored in every game this season, and they are still a 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 | RECORD | AP TOP 25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wisconsin Badgers | L vs UCLA 17-7 | 4-2 | – |
| Rice Owls | L vs Tulsa 38-17 | 1-6 | – |
| Michigan State Spartans | L vs Northwestern 24-21 | 2-5 | – |
| Purdue Boilermakers | L vs Washington 38-26 | 3-4 | – |
| North Carolina Tar Heels | W vs Duke 24-20 | 4-2 | – |
| Stanford Cardinal | W vs Elon 34-7 | 3-4 | – |
| BYU Cougars | W vs Notre Dame 28-24 | 6-0 | 2 |
| Navy Midshipmen | L vs UTSA 38-34 | 2-4 | – |
| Miami Hurricanes | W vs Florida State 43-35 | 6-0 | 1 |
| Boston College Eagles | W vs Pitt 27-21 | 3-3 | – |
| SMU Mustangs | W vs Virginia 23-13 | 5-1 | 23 |
| Syracuse Orange | L vs Louisville 34-26 | 2-4 | – |
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