1 Stat That Matters Most for Each Notre Dame Opponent in 2026

It's not too early to know some stuff about Notre Dame's 2026 opponents. Lucky for you, you've come to the right place.

Today's exercise is a simple one — we'll dig into one key stat for each of the Irish's foes this season.

Notre Dame's 2026 Opponents: The Numbers That Define Each Team

Yes, much of that is related to the preseason conversation. The goal isn't to say that all of these stats will be at the forefront of every pregame discussion. It's instead a worthwhile preseason exercise to help shape expectations.

With that in mind, let's talk numbers.

Wisconsin — 9 points per conference game in 2026

It's almost impossible to be that inept on offense, but the Badgers found a way to do just that en route to the lowest scoring average in conference play among all FBS teams in 2026.

When you're as snake-bitten at quarterback as the Badgers have been under Luke Fickell, that stat can almost be ignored.

But it's worth noting that even though Old Dominion transfer Colton Joseph arrived as the savior, Fickell doubled down with Jeff Grimes as his offensive coordinator.

Needless to say, a repeat of that stat in 2026 would be all she wrote for the Fickell era.

Rice — 39% of returning production

As in, ESPN's percentage of returning production metric. Rice ranks No. 113 on offense and No. 113 on defense, which is good for No. 120 in FBS. Yikes. That's coming off a 5-win season which Rice lost four of its final five games, and did so by an average of 34 points.

The home opener will have a slightly unique prep for Scott Abell's version of the spread option, which will be run by former Miami (FL)/UCF quarterback Jacurri Brown. But against a team lacking experience in key spots, it's the most favorable matchup on Notre Dame's slate.

Michigan State — Sept. 19 will mark 1,484 days since Pat Fitzgerald's last win vs. a Power Conference team

Ah, now is the part where you tell me that Notre Dame isn't a Power Conference team, and I'll remind you that the Irish are included because they play 9-10 Power Conference foes every regular season.

But yes, Aug. 27, 2022 in Dublin was the last time that Fitzgerald beat a Power Conference foe. Go figure it was against Scott Frost. Also go figure that it was Northwestern's lone win that year before scandal embroiled the program.

When Fitzgerald comes to South Bend, he'll be in search of his first win vs. a Power Conference team on American soil since ... Oct. 16, 2021. If you're keeping track, that's 1,799 days.

Purdue — 5 games with 500 yards of offense allowed in 2025

That includes Purdue's first such occasion of 2025 when Notre Dame racked up 535 yards of offense in a 56-30 laugher. Illinois, Rutgers, Washington and Indiana all hit the 500-yard mark against Barry Odom's Year 1 defense.

Purdue added 15 defensive transfers, plenty of whom will be immediate starters. Will a new-look secondary flip the script on CJ Carr's 18.6 yards per pass attempt last year against Purdue? That feels ambitious.

North Carolina — 3.5 yards/carry allowed

Lost in the shuffle of what was a disastrous Year 1 for Bill Belichick in Chapel Hill was that his defense wasn't the doormat that the Week 1 loss to TCU suggested it would be.

The Horned Frogs ran for 7.4 yards per carry, but after that, Wake Forest was the only other team to average 4.5 yards/carry against Belichick's unit.

UNC finished No. 23 in FBS in yards/carry allowed, and in Games 2-9, that number was just 2.4. While one would still expect a new-look Irish ground attack to have an advantage in the trenches, perhaps UNC's defense is in a better spot schematically than one would think.

Stanford — 6 incoming transfers, 1/3 of which are from Harvard and Yale

I bring that up because at the Power Conference level, it's unthinkable in this era to have just 6 transfers with a coaching change. Then again, Stanford goes to the beat of its own drum. That drum will go as fast as Davis Warren will take them.

Warren came from Michigan, who calls itself the "Ivy of the Midwest." The last time we saw him on the field, he was leading the Wolverines to a bowl game victory against Alabama in 2024. Granted, it was a day in which the Wolverines mustered a whopping 190 yards of offense.

In other words, don't expect an overnight change from Stanford under Year 1 coach Tavita Pritchard.

BYU — 23-2 the last 2 seasons vs. everyone not named "Texas Tech"

Much has been made about BYU's struggles against Texas Tech, and it's perhaps clouded the national perception of a program on the rise under Kalani Sitake.

What doesn't get talked about is the fact that the Cougars have hit the 11-win mark each of the last two seasons and now rank No. 18 in percentage of returning production.

LJ Martin is one of the top backs in the sport, Bear Bachmeier showed a ton of promise as a freshman quarterback and a top-20 defense ranks No. 6 in returning production.

That midseason matchup in Provo is easily Notre Dame's toughest road trip of the season. It could be a top-10 matchup that has a huge say in the Playoff race.

Navy — 285.2 rushing yards/game in 2025

That was No. 1 in FBS for an 11-win team. And yes, there's always an unofficial asterisk when a service academy piles on the rushing yards, but that unit averaged 5.8 yards/carry. That's darn impressive.

Gone are the likes of NFL Draft darling Eli Heidenreich and Blake Horvath, and as Notre Dame fans will point out, this matchup hasn't been particularly close the last three matchups. One would expect the Irish, fresh off a bye, will have plenty of time to get right for this one.

But it's worth mentioning that if Notre Dame has a unit that struggles to stop the run, which was a bit of a question early last year, that can make this a more competitive game.

Miami — Malachi Toney had 841 YAC yards

As in, Toney came in as a true freshman and led the nation in yards after catch. That was the most YAC yards in a season by a Power Conference player since DeVonta Smith when he won the Heisman Trophy in 2020 (per PFF).

Notre Dame saw him when he made his college debut as a 17-year-old, and quickly, it was understood that Toney was a problem.

Miami OC Shannon Dawson quickly figured out ways to get the ball in his hands, and it was up to an opposing defense to build an entire game plan around slowing him down.

One should expect to see a lot more of the Leonard Moore shadow treatment than last year.

Boston College — 6.7 yards/play allowed vs. non-Notre Dame Power Conference teams

I bring that up because even if you pretend that Notre Dame game didn't happen, Boston College still had the third-worst yards/game allowed vs. Power Conference competition (min. 4 games). The Irish might've had a weird, sluggish showing at Boston College, but it still hit 8.3 yards/play in that contest.

It was a bad defense that was overhauled with Ted Roof, who was idle during the 2025 season. Will a new-look unit with a ton of transfer additions in the front seven turn that around? Bill O'Brien's job might depend on it.

SMU — 17 interceptions thrown in Kevin Jennings' last 15 games

That dates back to the 2024 ACC Championship when SMU's status as a Playoff team was hotly debated. By the way, he also had five fumbles during that 15-game stretch.

As accomplished as the senior signal-caller is, the turnovers have been an issue. He's thrown an interception in all but three games during that stretch, one of which was an interception-less game in a statement win against eventual-runner up Miami (FL).

A loaded Irish secondary could be given a prime opportunity to seize momentum against Jennings.

Syracuse — 4 career starts for Steve Angeli

A reunion/revenge game will take place if Angeli can stay healthy in 2025. Unfortunately for Syracuse, that wasn't the case last year and the season fell apart after he tore his Achilles against Clemson.

But the former Notre Dame signal-caller and brief Playoff fill-in left South Bend in part because of how good Carr was.

Seeing the side-by-side this year will be fascinating because while there's no denying who has the better surroundings, you should be able to see why Carr's ceiling made him worth investing in for Freeman and Co.

Whether that leads to a Playoff-clinching win for the Irish remains to be seen.

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