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
Southern Cal vs Alabama (Sat 8:00 PM ET ABC)
Credit: Scout.com
Welcome back, Loyal Readers! And welcome back, college football!
Prepare to settle in for a monster opening weekend. There will be many great games, but you’ll want to see SC and ‘Bama tangle during primetime.
The eyes of Texas were going to be watching Notre Dame during this timeslot before the UT athletics folks moved the game to Sunday, so drink it in. The last time a squad from Southern California rolled into Texas, Santa Anna was involved. Methinks their Conquest will be nonexistent this time around. USC will be breaking in two new faces at quarterback against Nick Saban’s new defensive coordinator. A USC loss usually isn’t a bad thing, but I can’t bring myself to find a rooting interest. Let’s hope a sinkhole develops and we’ll all go home happy.
Strength-of-Schedule Rankings
Preseason rankings are meaningless, but during the season I’ll use Sagarin Rankings for schedule strength to track Irish opponents here.
Rank |
Team |
Record |
Weekly Change |
| 6 | Stanford | 0-0 | — |
| 15 | Southern Cal | 0-0 | — |
| 16 | Notre Dame | 0-0 | — |
| 23 | Michigan State | 0-0 | — |
| 33 | Miami | 0-0 | — |
| 35 | Texas | 0-0 | — |
| 38 | Virginia Tech | 0-0 | — |
| 39 | NC State | 0-0 | — |
| 48 | Duke | 0-0 | — |
| 57 | Navy | 0-0 | — |
| 78 | Syracuse | 0-0 | — |
| 86 | Nevada | 0-0 | — |
| 98 | Army | 0-0 | — |
Upcoming Opponents
- NC State vs William & Mary (Thu 7:30 PM ET ESPN3)
- Michigan State vs Furman (Fri 7:00 PM ET Big Ten Network)
- Syracuse vs Colgate (Fri 7:00 PM ET ESPN3)
- Army at Temple (Fri 7:00 PM ET ABC)
- Stanford vs Kansas State (Fri 9:00 PM ET Fox Sports 1)
- Nevada vs Cal Poly (Fri 9:30 PM ET)
- Navy vs Fordham (Sat 12:00 PM ET CBS Sports Network)
- Virginia Tech vs Liberty (Sat 12:30 PM ET ESPN3)
- Duke vs North Carolina Central (Sat 6:00 PM ET ESPN3)
- Miami vs Florida A&M (Sat 6:00 PM ET ESPN3)
Powered by SC schadenfreude, husband to Mrs. IrishElvis (not pictured), rabble rouser. TCB.
- Lost And Found: A Twitter Summary - December 6, 2021
- See You Never, Rival - October 22, 2021
- The Sandman Cometh - October 6, 2021
This may be the only time I root for USC…..