What Opposing Coaches Are Saying About Notre Dame's 2026 Opponents
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We're less than 100 days away from Notre Dame kicking off their 2026 season at Lambeau Field against the Wisconsin Badgers. The Irish schedule has been a hot topic of discussion amongst college football talking heads, and now that spring has ended and fall camp is around the corner, rosters have taken shape and depth charts are starting to get worked out.
Major outlets like Athlon Sports spoke with opposing coaches of all teams across the nation about the outlook of their upcoming seasons, the challenges they present and how they might fair this upcoming season. Notre Dame's 12 opponents are all featured in Athlon's magazine, and opposing coaches has some interesting takes about the Irish's 2026 opponents.
Wisconsin Badgers
"They scored 81 points in nine conference games," one opposing Big 10 coach explained. "I don't care who your quarterback is. That speaks to a lot of bigger issues than just the quarterback position. There are teams in the conference who could not throw a single pass and score more than nine points per game. It also speaks to, defensively, your ability to make turnovers, and special teams, your ability to make kicks.
"I thought it was a whole package thing," they continued. "Truthfully, I was surprised that both Wisconsin and Maryland decided to run it back with their coaches. I wasn't really impressed with either one of those teams. It almost felt like they didn't know who the next guy was going to be, so they decided they'd rather have a year to prepare a move like that."
Rice Owls
"Schematically, they do good stuff on offense that challenges people just because its so hard to see with that triple option," one opposing AAC coach said. "What's interesting about this league is there are three teams who are like that, but it's hard to prepare for, and that'll start to give people fits. Head coach Scott Abell is going do a great job.
"That's how you've got to play over there with a specific brand of football to be able to attack a specific type of player," they continued. "When you have the ball against them, it feels like all the pressure is on you because if you don't score or pick up a couple first downs, you aren't getting the ball back for five, six, seven minutes. Yeah, Abell is going to do a really good job."
Michigan State Spartans
"Their entire staff of position coaches made me go 'oh s-. Interesting.' They brought in a lot of good coaches, so I think they'll be a good team this year," one Big 10 assistant coach shared. "I don't think they added a lot of players that change the game for them, but you could tell from the outside that the culture wasn't great. Maybe them losing a bunch of players and talent and completely hitting the reset button is actually a good thing.
"I'm pretty bullish on them. I thought picking up offensive line coach Nick Tabacca and safeties coach James Adams, he is absolutely unbelievable. He's the best I've ever been around in terms of a coach, an evaluator, a recruiter; he makes his guys want to run through a brick wall every day. Any staff that he's on, stock up big time,"
Purdue Boilermakers
"Some continuity definitely helps with Barry Odom in year two," one Big 10 assistant coach explained. "Truthfully, I wasn't incredibly impressed with what they brought in through the transfer portal. At Purdue, you have such an avenue to offer playing time to guys when other schools that you're going to play against that aren't that much better than you can't do that.
"I don't think they took advantage of that," they continued. "But I definitely think they'll be better from a continuity standpoint. I really do think that they have a good coaching staff, but I'd be lying if I said that I was impressed with what they brought in through the portal."
North Carolina Tarheels
"Schematically, it felt like a Bill Belichick defense," one ACC assistant coach said. "They do a really good job of using the people they have, mixing up who the rushers are, looking at who you are and how they want to match up to you. Week to week, they actually make better adjustments than a lot of people. They just didn't have the players and they were better on defense than the were on offense.
"They were pretty bad on offense, but the guy they hired, Bobby Petrino, is phenomenal. He's as good of a coach as there is with offense in college football. I can't imagine how that dynamic is going to go though. I don't think there's a sense that they've improved their evaluation abilities for this day and age of college football to bring in the right guys."
Stanford Cardinal
"The direction that they went with new head coach Tavita Pritchard and obviously with General Manager Andrew Luck being there, just having those guys in the building after they cried, sweat, and bled in those same locker rooms and on that same field, that's going to give those guys a bit of an edge," one ACC assistant coach said. "Knowing that they got someone there from home to be leading them, its just like what Cal has with Tosh Luipoi being there.
"Their recruiting is still so much more on the academic side," they continued. "Like it's truly 'we're a better school because of academics.' That's the only thing I would ever hear about what they were doing."
BYU Cougars
"They're the best team in our conference," one assistant Big 12 coach shared. "They're the most physical team. They have the best coaches and they have great energy. They play complementary football – offense, defense, special teams. At the line of scrimmage, they look totally different than any other Big 12 team. I think that program is about to skyrocket.
"This is the year that they'll get over the top," they continued. "If they don't think year, I don't know that they every will. The reason I say that is because of the influx of money they got with their roster. Year two of quarterback Bear Bachmeier, year four with LJ Martin who is one of the best backs in the country, you return a lot of guys on defense that were really productive. Faletau Satuala is one of the best – if not the best – safeties we played all year."
Navy Midshipmen
"They're not dealing with the NIL and transfer portal world quite as much as everybody else is," one AAC assistant coach shared. "I think that there are pros and cons to that. Navy certainly leans in on the pros. They know who they are and who is going to be back for them. Offensively, they're obviously really hard to prep for.
"Even looking at them from a defensive perspective, they're pretty multiple with what they do, given the type of retention that they can have and with the type of students that can attend such a prestigious institution," they continued. "That's the prep difficulty and why they've been so good. I think that they should be really good again."
Miami Hurricanes
"They're absolutely the favorite in the ACC," one ACC assistant coached stated. "Head coach Mario Cristobal has enough scars from losing heartbreaking games the last couple of years that he is not going to let that happen again. The people there that he's finally surrounded himself with are going to be in position to give him guidance, especially on game day, management of the game, all of those kinds of things with making decisions to win the game.
"He's phenomenal around recruits," they continued about the Hurricanes. "When it comes to getting big-time players to come there, he's special. I truly think that the painful losses that he's had the last couple of years will be the reason why he makes sure that he wins the ACC this year."
Boston College Eagles
"Bill O'Brien is an excellent head coach," one ACC assistant coach admitted. "They just don't have ay playmakers. When that place has been good, it's always been good quarterback play, and they could run the football, really good tight ends, which they do have one now with Kaelen Chudzinski. He's a really good player, but they don't have a lot of really dynamic playmakers.
"I know that they brought in a couple of transfers at quarterback, but I don't know if any of them are elite players," they continued. "Zay Flowers is the only receiver that Boston College has had drafted in the last 30 years, but as a recruit, he was a peanut who ended up being an incredible player. They're not going to out-recruit anyone at receiver. Ever."
SMU Mustangs
"Man, head coach Rhett Lashlee does a great job," one ACC assistant coach explained. "He's done such a great job the last several years and the football word knows it too. Any time one of those big jobs opens up, you're probably going to hear Lashlee's name. They do a great job with recruiting and the true evaluation of players.
"Just being able to get those guys in at that university – it's one of those high-academic schools that you have to be able to get in and stay in," they continued. "I know a lot of guys on SMU's staff and I think Lashlee's coaches are some of the best that I've been around. He just knows how to evaluate people."
Syracuse Orange
"If quarterback Steve Angeli stays healthy, it'll be fixed," one ACC assistant coach said. "It's really what it comes down to. I don't know if the other guys in that room are any good. But Angeli is really good. Head coach Fran Brown is a good leader. If he sticks to his strengths, he'll do just fine. He does a good job running that program. He does a good job evaluating. Hopefully the overhaul of the staff will help him tremendously, especially on the defensive side.
"On the offensive side, I don't really know the receivers they brought in, but there's some talent still there," they continued. "They let some good players go, and I know they changed AD's but I think Brown is in good shape there. I don't think they're a place that wants to spend a lot of money to get rid of a coach unless they just bomb it."
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