Notre Dame in Danger of Losing Major Future Opponent

One of the biggest draws on the future Notre Dame schedules will be against another national championship favorite entering 2026, Texas.

Maybe.

Notre Dame football is on a run it hasn't seen in quite some time.

Winners of 27 of its last 31 games, the Fighting Irish will enter the 2026 season as one of the teams to beat in the race for the national championship - which would be Notre Dame's first since 1988.

Notre Dame’s Future Schedule Suddenly Looks Less Stable

Part of the reason many see Notre Dame as being a lock to make the College Football Playoff is because of its schedule.

Outside of a trip to BYU in October, a home clash with powerful Miami in early November, and a senior day date with SMU, it appears that 2026 shouldn't present many hiccups for Notre Dame.

That said, a few years down the road, Notre Dame's schedules are supposed to get a lot more spicy.

Currently, Notre Dame is set to host Texas early in the 2028 season while its supposed to make a trip to Austin to complete the home-and-home in 2029.

That all sounds fine and dandy and is reason for excitement across college football - that is, unless you're an administrator at the University of Texas.

Texas Quietly Threatens Pulling Out of Notre Dame Series

While the Notre Dame vs. Texas matchups two and three years from now look like they'll be the biggest games of the non-conference season those years, they're not set in stone to actually be played according to Texas athletic director Chris Del Conte.

Texas AD Chris Del Conte on the pending Notre Dame series — “They’re tentatively on the schedule right now.”

When pressed if they would stay on the schedule, Del Conte reiterated they’re “tentatively” on the schedule. pic.twitter.com/9Xcf0aIdBm
— Eric C. Henry (@EricCHenry_) May 27, 2026

Del Conte was speaking at the SEC Spring Meetings on Wednesday, and certainly wouldn't give any guarantee as to the Notre Dame vs. Texas games being played.

"Tentatively."

Boy, that doesn't sound a whole lot different than Lincoln Riley when he was first asked about the future of the Notre Dame-USC rivalry a couple of years ago at Big Ten media days, does it?

Notre Dame Would Be Huge Roadblock in Texas Path to Playoff

It's amazing how when Notre Dame was coached by Brian Kelly or some of his predecessors, and when there were only four teams making the Playoff, these games weren't at risk of being cancelled.

Yet here we are with a 12-team and potentially larger playoff field, and some of the biggest names in the game are threatening to run from Notre Dame.

Notre Dame battles Texas in 2015 at Notre Dame Stadiu — Sep 5, 2015; South Bend, IN, USA; Texas Longhorns quarterback Tyrone Swoopes (18) is tackled by Notre Dame Fighting Irish linebacker Jaylon Smith (9) in the second quarter at Notre Dame Stadium. | Matt Cashore-Imagn Images

"Don't mess with Texas."

More like Texas doesn't want to be messed with.

It's a talking point that Texas missed the College Football Playoff by playing at Ohio State to start last season and losing. It received no love from the committee for playing such a difficult game.

However, what they fail to tell you is that Texas went into 1-3 Florida in early October and were handed a 29-21 loss to a Gators team that ultimately finished the season just 4-8.

Even so, that's part of the problem for SEC teams going forward. Top schools won't want anything easy with a nine-game conference schedule to deal with.

Nick Shepkowski's Quick Takeaway

Some will go as far as to say that Texas A&M didn't get rewarded last year for beating Notre Dame in South Bend in the early part of the season.

That may be true seeing as Texas remained unbeaten until the final week of the regular season, but had that game instead been a win over Sam Houston State or some other half-made up school, are we sure the Aggies would have been hosting a Playoff game last year?

I have no doubt that Notre Dame athletic director Pete Bevacqua will continue to try and get the most compelling matchups for the Fighting Irish in years to come, but in today's college football there are a slew of programs running from competition, even though the path to a postseason with a national championship chance has never been more open.

Alabama and Indiana are a couple of teams set to take on Notre Dame in home-and-home matchups in the next few years to come. Is it only a matter of time until those get threatened away as well?

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