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Opponent Watch: The ‘Other Tigers’ Edition

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Each week in this space, we examine two things: Notre Dame’s strength of schedule (from USA Today‘s Sagarin rankings), and who Irish opponents are facing. For those of who want to scout future opponents, I’ll give you my recommendation for who to watch when you’re not watching Notre Dame Football.

Who To Watch

Clemson vs Florida State (Sat 3:30pm ET ABC)

Notre Dame’s Jerry Tillery (99), left, and Jaylon Smith (9) bring down Clemson’s Deshaun Watson(4). SBT Photo/ROBERT FRANKLIN

Notre Dame’s Jerry Tillery (99), left, and Jaylon Smith (9) bring down Clemson’s Deshaun Watson(4). SBT Photo/ROBERT FRANKLIN

Our remaining upcoming opponents are playing opposite the Irish, so I give you the best game on the weekend slate: FSU at Clemson. This is a matchup between two top-20 teams that will surely have everyone talkin’ ’bout them ‘Noles (FSU fans drop consonants like TPD drops charges).

But I digress! Everett Golson & the FSU offense will try to Cook up an upset, while Dabo will debut his playoff-ranked squad in their toughest remaining contest.

Who do Notre Dame fans want to win? I’m not sure I know the answer here, but it’s November…will the Chaos Theory rein in Tallahassee?

Strength-of-Schedule Rankings

Last week, ND opponents went 5-7. On the year, ND opponents are a combined 55-43 (56.1%), with an average schedule strength of 39.

Rank

Team

Record

Weekly Change
1 Texas 3-5 —
5 Southern Cal 5-3 +5
11 Virginia 3-5 -4
12 Georgia Tech 3-6 -6
16 Notre Dame 7-1 +3
23 Stanford 7-1 +1
28 Clemson 8-0 -1
35 Pittsburgh 6-2 +7
46 Boston College 3-6 +6
56 Wake Forest 3-6 +4
61 Massachusetts 1-7 -15
96 Navy 6-1 +4
97 Temple 7-1 +14

Other Upcoming Opponents

  • Boston College vs NC State (Sat 12:30pm ET ESPN3)
  • Stanford at Colorado (Sat 1pm ET Pac-12 Network)

Past Opponents

  • Temple at SMU (Fri 8pm ET ESPN2)
  • Massachusetts vs Akron (Sat 12pm ET CBS Sports Network)
  • Virginia at Miami (Sat 3pm ET ESPN3)
  • Navy at Memphis (Sat 7pm ET ESPN2)
  • Texas vs Kansas (Sat 8pm ET Longhorn Network)
  • Southern Cal vs Arizona (Sat 10:30pm ET ESPN)
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