Opponent Watch: An Orange Tree in a Wake Forest 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

Syracuse (6-2) at Wake Forest (4-4), Sat 12:00 PM ET on ACC Network

via GIPHY

The Irish have a primetime kick in Chicago, but there’s an early game of note. Syracuse is newly ranked and hoping to keep making noise on the national stage with their potent offense led by QB Erik Dungey. Wake Forest, on the other hand, is trying to stop the bleeding on the defensive side of the ball. You should expect this to be a high-scoring affair, and Dino Babers should have his squad highly tuned to meet Notre Dame in two weeks.

Also this Week

Other Upcoming Opponents

Florida State (4-4) at NC State (Sat 3:30 PM ET, ABC)
Southern Cal (4-4) at Oregon State (Sat 10:00 PM ET, Fox Sports 1)

Past Opponents

Ball State (3-6) at Toledo (Wed 7:30 PM ET, ESPN2)
Pittsburgh (4-4) at Virginia (Fri 7:30 PM ET, ESPN2)
Navy (2-6) at Cincinnati (Sat 3:30 PM ET, ESPNU)
Michigan (7-1) vs Penn State (Sat 3:45 PM ET, ESPN)
Virginia Tech (4-3) vs Boston College (Sat 3:45 PM ET, ACC Network)
Stanford (5-3) at Washington (Sat 9:00 PM ET)

Strength-of-Schedule Rankings

Last week, ND opponents went 5-6. On the year, opponents have a combined record of 52-45 (53.6%) with an average schedule strength of 42.

Rank	Team		Record	Weekly Change
8		Southern Cal	4-4	-3
9		Stanford	5-3	+2
15		Pittsburgh	4-4	+3
20		Northwestern	5-3	+3
23		Michigan	7-1	-3
27		Vanderbilt	4-5	-12
38		Florida State	4-4	+16
45		Notre Dame	8-0	-9
47		Wake Forest	4-4	-6
61		Virginia Tech	4-3	-2
73		Navy	2-6	+12
76		Syracuse	6-2	+5
101		Ball State	3-6	+7