Opponent Watch: Quack-12 Edition

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

Stanford (3-0) at Oregon (3-0), Sat 8:00 PM ET on ABC

via GIPHY

Irish fans will be up early this weekend for the dreaded Noon Kickoff, and with it, fears of lethargy. We’ll let the blood pressure return to normal, then join us for the primetime matchup between Stanford and Oregon. Both teams are as-yet undefeated for this Pac-12 matchup and Gameday will be in attendance, which hopefully means viewers will get a healthy dose of Puddles both early and late.

Stanford has looked a bit sluggish thus far in 2018 (where have I heard that before?), but already possess a Week 2 victory over USC. Oregon has looked stronger, but their schedule has been much more forgiving. Both defenses have put up strong numbers on the year, and Notre Dame fans will want to look at both aspects of Stanford’s offense as they travel to South Bend next week to test the Irish defensive unit in primetime next week.

Also this Week

Other Upcoming Opponents

Southern Cal (1-2) vs Washington State (Fri 10:30 PM ET, ESPN)
Pittsburgh (2-1) at North Carolina (Sat 12:00 PM ET, ACC Network)
Navy (2-1) at SMU (Sat 12:00 PM ET, ESPN News)
Virginia Tech (2-0) at Old Dominion (Sat 3:30 PM ET, CBS Sports Network)
Florida State (1-2) vs Northern Illinois (Sat 3:30 PM ET, ESPNU)
Syracuse (3-0) vs Connecticut (Sat 4:00 PM ET, ESPN News)

Past Opponents

Michigan (2-1) vs Nebraska (Sat 12:00 PM ET, Fox Sports 1)
Ball State (1-2) vs Western Kentucky (Sat 3:00 PM ET, Watch ESPN)
Vanderbilt (2-1) vs South Carolina (Sat 4:00 PM ET, SEC Network)

Strength-of-Schedule Rankings

Last week, ND opponents went 5-6. On the year, opponents have a combined record of 22-13 (62.9%) with an average schedule strength of 67.

Rank	Team		Record	Weekly Change
6		Southern Cal	1-2	+18
26		Florida State	1-2	+8
39		Ball State	1-2	+70
41		Northwestern	1-2	-22
42		Notre Dame	3-0	+5
48		Pittsburgh	2-1	+41
67		Michigan	2-1	-21
73		Stanford	3-0	-34
77		Wake Forest	2-1	+69
81		Vanderbilt	2-1	+57
95		Navy	2-1	-42
117		Syracuse	3-0	+81
131		Virginia Tech	2-0	-26