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Opponent Watch: Thank God We Scheduled Navy

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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

Navy footballNavy at Houston (Friday Noon ET ABC/ESPN)

“Notre Dame lost to the No. 1 team in a monsoon!”

“Yeah, but what is their best win?”

Folks, Navy is our team’s best win. The Middies are ranked #15 in the College Football Playoff poll and, frankly, we need them to keep winning. This game will determine who wins the American Athletic Conference’s West division and plays the winner of Temple/Connecticut in the conference championship. I’m not going to lie. I’d love to see Navy play against Temple, because that would mean that Notre Dame was the de facto AAC champion. It’s not sexy, but it’s something.

Navy is the highest ranked Group of Five team in the CFP poll & therefore, I assume, control their destiny for a major bowl birth (either Peach or Fiesta). That would be quite significant, since the Mids haven’t played in a major bowl since 1963 (the Staubach years).

Strength-of-Schedule Rankings

Last week, ND opponents went 6-5. On the year, ND opponents are a combined 72-58 (.554), with an average schedule strength of 39.

Rank

Team

Record

Weekly Change
5 Texas 4-6 –
12 Georgia Tech 3-8 +1
13 Virginia 4-7 -3
9 Southern Cal 7-4 +11
25 Pittsburgh 8-3 -1
29 Notre Dame 10-1 -4
24 Stanford 9-2 +4
47 Clemson 11-0 -13
27 Wake Forest 3-8 +22
42 Boston College 3-8 +10
83 Navy 9-1 +1
97 Massachusetts 2-9 -9
86 Temple 9-2 +6

Past Opponents

  • Texas vs. Texas Tech (7:30 p.m. tonight FS1)
  • Pittsburgh vs. Miami (Noon EST Friday ESPN 2)
  • Navy at Houston (Friday Noon EST ABC/ESPN)
  • Massachusetts at Buffalo (4:30 p.m. EST Friday ESPNU)
  • Virginia vs. Virginia Tech (Noon EST Saturday ESPNU)
  • Georgia Tech vs. Georgia (Noon EST Saturday ESPN2)
  • Clemson at South Carolina (Noon EST Saturday ESPN)
  • Wake Forest vs. Duke (12:30 p.m. EST Saturday Watch ESPN)
  • Boston College at Syracuse (12:30 p.m. Saturday Watch ESPN)
  • Southern Cal vs. #22 UCLA (3:30 p.m. EST Saturday ABC/ESPN 2)
  • Temple vs. Connecticut (7 p.m. EST Saturday ESPNU)
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Assistant Editor
Notre Dame graduate, class of '02 (the Davie years!). A former newspaper and TV reporter, andrewwinn is now professionally involved in something far less fun to discuss than college football. A dad, a husband and a wannabe data nerd.

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