Notre Dame Football Ripped For 'Embarrassingly Soft' 2026 Schedule
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Notre Dame's 2025 schedule didn't impress most people, neither did their 10-2 record when it came to picking the College Football Playoff teams. Unfortunately, a quick look at their 2026 schedule already has similar complaints.
On Friday, Notre Dame's 2026 college football schedule was released. Their opponents for 2026 include Wisconsin, Rice, Michigan State, Purdue, North Carolina, Stanford, BYU, Navy, Miami (FL), Boston College, SMU and Syracuse.
Of their 12 opponents in 2025, eight of them had losing records. Only BYU, Navy, Miami and SMU had winning records, and Miami was the only one of those teams to finish ranked in the top 10.
Notre Dame 2026 schedule
Sept 6 Wisconsin at Green Bay
Sept 12 Rice
Sept 19 Michigan State
Sept 26 at Purdue
Oct 3 at UNC
Oct 10 Stanford
Oct 17 at BYU
Oct 31 Navy at Foxborough
Nov 7 Miami
Nov 14 Boston College
Nov 21 SMU
Nov 28 at Syracuse— Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) January 23, 2026
"Join a conference"
As you might expect, college football fans started ripping Notre Dame's schedule and mocking them for their lack of conference affiliation. More expressed anger at Notre Dame manipulating things to ensure a top-12 ranking, which makes them automatically eligible for the College Football Playoff.
"Notre Dame has the weakest schedule of all CFB teams," one user wrote.
"So basically automatically in the playoff. They play one team worth a damn in Miami," wrote another.
"Hopefully Notre Dame doesn’t deprive their players of a bowl experience next year when they are (likely) excluded from the CFP. Their leadership has a convenient habit of forgetting their role in the selection process…" a third remarked.
"So 1, maybe 2 tough games and could lose them both and still be ranked top 12 because of their name."
"2026 Notre Dame should not be considered for top 25 until AFTER week 7, their 1st five opponents were 7-36 in conference play during 2025, then they play UNC (3-5) in conference. Finally week 7 they play a team with 2025 winning record against BYU."
Notre Dame's leadership whined and complained to everyone who would listen after their snubbing from the CFP. They opted out of their bowl game and celebrated it.
As their schedule exists now, they shouldn't lose a single game until mid-October. If they do, they'll have no one to blame but themselves if things don't work out.
This story was originally published by The Spun on Jan 23, 2026, where it first appeared in the College Football section. Add The Spun as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
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