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Opponent Watch: Hurricanes in a Hurricane?

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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

Miami vs Florida State (Sat 8:00 PM ET ABC)

Credit: Miami Herald

Credit: Miami Herald

As Hurricane Matthew encroaches on the southeastern United States, sit down to watch a good ol’ primetime matchup in the Sunshine State. This rivalry hit its heyday in the early ’90s with missed field goals aplenty, but first-year coach Mark Richt (did you know he went to Miami?) has the ‘Canes rolling thus far. However, as you’ll see below, they’ve not been tested with top-tier competition as yet.

That will change on Saturday night, as the Seminoles bring solid, if not top-flight talent, to Doak Campbell Stadium. FSU is reeling from consecutive losses to a very good Lamar Jackson Lousiville squad and a boooooming kick last week at the final gun by North Carolina. FSU has a thing with kickers, so we’ll see if this one is tight. Brad Kaaya will probably be the best quarterback that Notre Dame faces this season, which should scare anyone who’s seen the Irish defense play.

Strength-of-Schedule Rankings

Last week, ND opponents went 4-5. On the year, opponents have a combined record of 31-21 (59.6%) with an average schedule strength of 66.

Rank

Team

Record

Weekly Change
2 Stanford 3-1 +4
4 Southern Cal 2-3 -3
24 Michigan State 2-2 -3
27 Texas 2-2 +24
28 Syracuse 2-3 +11
58 Notre Dame 2-3 -29
60 Duke 2-3 -10
74 Virginia Tech 3-1 —
103 Navy 3-1 +35
112 Miami 4-0 +62
114 Nevada 2-3 -16
115 NC State 3-1 +37
132 Army 3-1 +7

Other Upcoming Opponents

  • Navy vs Houston (Sat 3:00 PM ET CBS Sports Network)
  • Virginia Tech at North Carolina (Sat 3:30 PM ET )
  • Army at Duke (Sat 3:30 PM ET ACC Network)
  • Southern Cal vs Colorado (Sat 4:00 PM ET Pac-12 Network)
  • Stanford vs Washington State (Sat 10:30 PM ET ESPN)

Past Opponents

  • Texas vs Oklahoma (Sat 12:00 PM ET Fox Sports 1)
  • Michigan State vs BYU (Sat 3:30 PM ET )
  • Syracuse at Wake Forest (Sat 7:00 PM ET ESPN3)
  • Nevada vs Fresno State (Sat 7:00 PM ET ESPN3)
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