Brian Kelly's Notre Dame Schedule Prediction is Certainly Intriguing

College football is back this week, even if games won't be played for nearly an entire month.

Teams are opening fall camp with Notre Dame set to join the party on Thursday, and predictions are being made across the college football media world, and former Fighting Irish head coach Brian Kelly has joined the fold.

Notre Dame enters the year with lofty expectations as it was ranked fifth in the preseason AFCA Coaches Poll that was released on Monday, and others have come out saying this will finally be the year the Fighting Irish win it all for the first time since 1988.

And then there is former Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly, who is making the transition to analyst for CBS Sports this season, and his prediction video for the Fighting Irish regular season is must-watch.

Brian Kelly Predicts Notre Dame Football's 2026 Regular Season

Kelly made the move to the TV booth this off-season as he'll be doing a weekly game on CBS Sports Network.

Notre Dame's all-time winningest (and losingest) coach will also provide commentary on the sport during the year, and he and the outlet dropped a video of how he sees Notre Dame's season going on Wednesday.

Check it out below.

.@CoachBrianKelly gives us a game-by-game look at Notre Dame's 2026 schedule.

Do you agree with his predictions? 🔮 pic.twitter.com/UhH3cY5QIL
— CBS Sports College Football 🏈 (@CBSSportsCFB) August 5, 2026

For being a former head coach that certainly seems to want to get back in the industry, he does a fine job of talking up some of the opponents that Notre Dame shouldn't have a problem with.

However, there was one key part of his prediction that needs to be reviewed. Real quick, go back to the video and watch the final eight seconds or so.

Brian Kelly's Syracuse Fumble

While I appreciate Kelly doing the coach thing where he makes Stanford and Navy sound like they should be tough games, somebody needed to jump in and save him for his Syracuse thought.

Yes, there is a strong chance by the end of November that it will have already snowed a significant amount in Syracuse, New York, but I'm not sure what impact that should have on the game considering the Orange have played their home games in the JMA Wireless Dome (formerly the Carrier Dome) since 1980.

Sure, when Kelly coached at Notre Dame, the road games the Irish played against the Orange took place in MetLife Stadium, home of the NFL's New York Giants and Jets, but that's a tough miss.

Not to bury the producer or production team, but somebody has to step in and not let that get posted.

Nick Shepkowski's Quick Thoughts

Yeah, I get it. It's cool to hate Brian Kelly if you're a Notre Dame fan and I'll forever understand why. I won't tell anyone not to, I'll just say that the rise of the Fighting Irish under Marcus Freeman have made Kelly's successes or failures away from Notre Dame entirely irrelevant to me.

Team 1️⃣3️⃣8️⃣#GoIrish☘️ pic.twitter.com/huWUdSnJLQ
— Notre Dame Football (@NDFootball) August 5, 2026

What I will say, though, is that Notre Dame fans should embrace having the target on their backs this season.

Sure, a tough road test at BYU exists, as does a massive home showdown with Miami, but Notre Dame will be favored in every single regular season game as long as CJ Carr remains healthy.

This is the Notre Dame football program we've longed to see for the last 30-plus years, now it's time to go enjoy what should be a season to remember for a very long time.

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