We are less than four months away from the start of the college football season, and (hopefully) a national championship run by the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. That seems like more than enough time to talk about Notre Dame’s 2026 schedule over and over and over again. Over the course of the offseason, I plan on having several different discussions about the schedule and how it not only relates to the team — but to you, the fan.
So here we go
The 5 Most Interesting Games on Notre Dame’s Schedule
1. Miami Hurricanes
This is what you wanted. There are a lot
of fans my age and older than have wanted more games with Miami. It took 20 years from the final meeting of the real Catholics vs Convicts for the two teams to meet again in 2010 — and that was in the Sun Bowl. When the Irish got into their pact with the devil deal with the ACC in 2014, we thought there would be more games with this old rival. Instead, we’ve only seen three games since that time. Notre Dame’s lone win during that timespan was in 2016, and the last two meetings in 2017 and 2025 did serious damage to Notre Dame’s postseason after the losses. The old rivalry is kind of back… and Miami back in Notre Dame Stadium for the first time in almost a decade is huge.
2. Michigan State Spartans
I know what you’re thinking — SAY WHAT? Yes, this is not a list of the best or toughest games on Notre Dame’s schedule. This is about things being “interesting” and bringing back an old rival is more interesting to me than some random bit for the season. The Megaphone Trophy will be on center stage (or at least to should be) and it will just feel good to have some good old midwest pigskin noise in our orbit. Sparty plays Toledo and Eastern Michigan before they travel to South Bend, and could be a very confident bunch. Add Pat Fitzgerald to the mix along with Max Bullough, and the 80th all-time meeting could be a lot of fun.
3. SMU Mustangs
The negative hits Notre Dame has been taking for its 2026 schedule seemingly comes with SMU as a non-factor. Most outlets have the Mustangs as a top 25 team to start the season, and their schedule isn’t the roughest path before they come to South Bend on November 21. I’m not sold that SMU is going to be a real problem next year, but there’s real potential for the Mustangs to be a top 15 team by then, which always adds more weight to the game. The fact that they could be anything from 10-0 to 5-5 before the meeting so… interesting.
4. Wisconsin Badgers
I suppose an argument can be made that Wisconsin could be a lot better this year, but this ranking isn’t really about them — and it doesn’t have anything to do with the Shamrock Series or Lambeau Field (at least for me). It’s the season opener, and after an offseason like Notre Dame has had — what could be more interesting? We should be able to see right away if Notre Dame is really all about its LEAVE NO DOUBT mantra — or not.
5. BYU Cougars
BYU and most of its fanbase like to talk completely out off their ass. We can appreciate them stepping into the schedule in place of USC, but don’t get it twisted… they need Notre Dame on the schedule more than Notre Dame needs them (even with an Irish schedule that is severely lacking). BYU lacks national respect and a win over ND could get them all of that in spades — which is funny because they magically don’t have the Texas Tech Red Raiders on their Big 12 schedule this year. It’s going to be in Provo for the first time since 2004, and they are going to make it a very big deal to them.
Do you agree with me or not? Go ahead and drop your 5 (or 2 or three) in the comments below and tell me why.
