Opponent Watch: Seminole Wake 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

Wake Forest (3-3) at Florida State (3-3), Sat 3:30 PM ET on ESPN2

via GIPHY

IT’S THE BYE WEEK, Y’ALL and I hope you’re catching up on rest or that honey-do list you’ve been neglecting, because the Irish are sitting pretty for at least another week before they head down to San Diego.

If you *must* watch football this weekend (and there are precious few football Saturdays each calendar year so you absolutely should) let me get you some middling mid-afternoon mid-Atlantic ACC action: Wake Forest and Florida State. Both teams were on the losing end last week, with Clemson stomping Wake by 60 points, while the Seminoles surrendered a large lead against Miami and ended up losing by a single point. The stats favor FSU by a touchdown or more, but continued unsteadiness from Willie Taggart’s group portends well for Notre Dame’s final home game chances next month.

Also this Week

Other Upcoming Opponents

Northwestern (3-3) at Rutgers (Sat 12:00 PM ET, Big Ten Network)
Syracuse (4-2) vs North Carolina (Sat 12:20 PM ET, ACC Network)
Navy (2-4) vs Houston (Sat 3:30 PM ET, CBS Sports Network)
Southern Cal (4-2) at Utah (Sat 8:00 PM ET, Pac-12 Network)

Past Opponents

Stanford (4-2) at Arizona State (Thu 9:00 PM ET, ESPN)
Michigan (6-1) at Michigan State (Sat 12:00 PM ET, Fox)
Ball State (3-4) vs Eastern Michigan (Sat 3:00 PM ET, ESPN+)
Vanderbilt (3-4) at Kentucky (Sat 7:30 PM ET, SEC Network)

Strength-of-Schedule Rankings

Last week, ND opponents went 5-3. On the year, opponents have a combined record of 42-34 (55.3%) with an average schedule strength of 45.

Rank	Team		Record	Weekly Change
8		Northwestern	3-3	-2
10		Stanford	4-2	-1
11		Southern Cal	4-2	-4
15		Pittsburgh	3-4	+7
31		Michigan	6-1	+12
32		Vanderbilt	3-4	+13
34		Notre Dame	7-0	-16
39		Florida State	3-3	-3
50		Wake Forest	3-3	-3
63		Virginia Tech	4-2	-13
83		Syracuse	4-2	-1
89		Navy	2-4	+10
113		Ball State	3-4	-6