Notre Dame Schedule Down The Stretch Sets Up For A Strong Finish

The conference schedules are starting to heat up, and most teams in college football are about to hit the tough parts of their schedule. For Notre Dame, that period is already behind them, and the schedule sets up for the 15th-ranked Fighting Irish to finish strong.

Notre Dame's first eight opponents have a combined 36-14 record, and if you take out the results against the Irish they are 34-8. That's good for an .810 win percentage, which shows how challenging the Notre Dame schedule has been so far. Seven of Notre Dame's eight opponents so far have a winning record, and the eighth team - Navy - sits at .500.

While the rest of the college football world prepares for their schedules to ramp up, Notre Dame enters a period where it should go into each game as heavy favorites.

Notre Dame's final four opponents have a combined record of 11-13, and Clemson (4-2) is the only team with a winning record. This schedule sets up nicely for Notre Dame to have a strong finish.

Let's take a look at Notre Dame's final four opponents.

PITTSBURGH PANTHERS

Record: 2-4

Remaining Schedule

Oct 21 - at Wake Forest
Oct. 28 - at Notre Dame
Nov. 4 - Florida State
Nov. 11 - vs. Syracuse (Bronx, NY)
Nov. 16 - Boston College
Nov. 25 - at Duke

The Panthers ended a four-game losing streak when they update then 14th-ranked Louisville Cardinals, who were coming off a win over Notre Dame. Pitt introduced a new quarterback, inserting Christian Veilleux into the starting lineup after moving Phil Jurkovec to tight end. Former Irish running back C'Bo Flemister scored two touchdowns in the upset win. Three of Pittsburgh's four losses prior to the win over Louisville were all by at least 11 points. Pittsburgh two road games so far were losses by 11 points (West Virginia) and 17 points (Virginia Tech).

CLEMSON TIGERS

Record: 4-2

Remaining Schedule

Oct. 21 - at Miami, Fla.
Oct. 28 - at NC State
Nov. 4 - Notre Dame
Nov. 11 - Georgia Tech
Nov. 18 - North Carolina
Nov. 25 - at South Carolina

Clemson's only two losses are to ranked opponents, as they fell to No. 16 Duke to start the season and then to No. 4 Florida State three weeks later. Clemson's offense has struggled much of the season, and they are coming off a 17-12 win over Wake Forest. The defense has been outstanding so far for the Tigers. This will be by far Notre Dame's toughest test of the final stretch. The Irish defense should be able to keep the Clemson offense in check, but the same could happen on the other side of the ball unless the Notre Dame offense improves.

WAKE FOREST DEMON DEACONS

Record: 3-3

Remaining Schedule

Oct. 21 - Pittsburgh
Oct. 28 - Florida State
Nov. 2 - at Duke
Nov. 11 - NC State
Nov. 18 - at Notre Dame
Nov. 25 - at Syracuse

Losing Sam Hartman and AT Perry has been bad for Wake Forest, who is averaging just 23.5 points per game. The defense is much improved, but the Deacons haven't reached 20 points in a game since a 27-24 victory over Old Dominion back on Sept. 16. The Notre Dame Senior Day being against Hartman's former school makes for an interesting storyline.

STANFORD CARDINAL

Record: 2-4

Remaining Schedule

Oct. 21 - UCLA
Oct. 28 - Washington
Nov. 4 - at Washington State
Nov. 11 - at Oregon State
Nov. 18 - California
Nov. 25 - Notre Dame

Stanford is coming off a huge come-from-behind victory over Colorado. After trailing 29-0 at the half, the Cardinal rallied back and won 46-43 in overtime. Stanford's offense was struggling mightily into that game, and we'll find out over the next four games if the comeback was the beginning of an improvement for Stanford, or if it was fool's gold.

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