Opponent Watch: Look What the Hurricanes Blue In

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 North Carolina (Sat 3:30 PM ET ABC)

Credit: Miami Herald

The Irish have a late kickoff against Stanford, so here’s a good afternoon game. ~~Notre Dame’s next coach~~ Larry Fedora has the Tarheel offense clicking, but Miami’s defense has shown signs of life this season.

Will Miami’s offense keep up with UNC’s scoring? The winner of this game will be in good position in the ACC’s Coastal Division.

Strength-of-Schedule Rankings

Last week, ND opponents went 6-6. On the year, opponents have a combined record of 37-28 (56.9%) with an average schedule strength of 55.

Rank	Team	Record	Weekly Change
1	Stanford	3-2	+1
5	Southern Cal	3-3	-1
18	Texas	2-3	+9
21	Michigan State	2-3	+3
27	Syracuse	2-4	+1
46	Notre Dame	2-4	+12
49	Virginia Tech	4-1	+25
63	Duke	3-3	-3
67	Miami	4-1	+45
70	Navy	4-1	+33
91	NC State	4-1	+24
130	Nevada	3-3	-16
131	Army	3-2	+1