Notre Dame Gets Good News for Series with Blueblood Program

As Notre Dame prepares for a 2026 season that will hopefully be one to remember, eyes of college football fans have had no choice recently but look a bit to the future.

Meetings of games to come are being cancelled regularly, and in Notre Dame's case, its century-long rivalry with USC is off the books for the foreseeable future.

That has led to wonder whether or not some of the biggest names on Notre Dame's upcoming schedules will remain there, and very few, if any, bigger names exist as future Fighting Irish opponents than the University of Texas.

The two are set to play in South Bend in 2028 and make the trip to Austin in 2029. But will that home-and-home ultimately take place?

Texas Athletic Director on Notre Dame Home-and-Home

While speaking at the SEC Spring Meetings earlier this year, Texas athletic director Chris Del Conte was asked about the Notre Dame vs. Texas series being played, something he certainly didn't sound committed to at the time.

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

"Tenatively" is as far as he would go.

It didn't help the matter when Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian was asked about scheduling at SEC Media Days in July, and took the time to talk about how playing a high school team and winning would be more beneficial to the program than losing to someone like Ohio State or Notre Dame.

Despite the words coming out of the Texas camp, Notre Dame athletic director Pete Bevacqua made it seem that all is good regarding the future matchup.

Notre Dame Athletic Director Pete Bevacqua on Latest with Texas

Pete Sampson covers Notre Dame football like a blanket for The Athletic and recently spoke with Notre Dame athletic director Pete Bevacqua. He asked about the future home-and-home with Texas, something Bevacqua seems pretty confident will happen.

Caught up with Notre Dame athletic director Pete Bevacqua, including on the Texas series.

"I think this series will definitely be played. And I talk to (Texas AD) Chris Del Conte frequently ... both universities want that game to be played and are going to play that game."
— Pete Sampson (@PeteSampson_) July 30, 2026

The word "definitley" being in there is strong and him noting that both universities wanting it to be played is worthwhile, too.

Nick Shepkowski's Quick Takeaway

I entirely get why Steve Sarkisian or any other coach wouldn't want to schedule a tough out of conference opponent.

Just look at Indiana last year. Did it ultimately matter that it started with the likes of Old Dominion and Indiana State?

That team worked out some kinks and went 16-0 en-route to a national championship.

Meanwhile, Texas lost to Ohio State and was seemingly playing catchup the rest of the season.

However, what the Texas people who complained about missing the playoff refused to acknowledge was a loss to 4-8 Florida that kept them out, meaning the Ohio State loss last year had very little, if nothing at all to do with it.

Regarding Notre Dame, everything is a non-conference game, but part of what makes the sport great is a huge non-conference showdown early in the season.

Michigan and Oklahoma this year, Ohio State and Texas as well.

Those are major showdowns between teams that don't meet often, that should have CFP or national championship implications.

Here's to hoping something comes down before long so we get more Notre Dame vs. Texas type games, and the Blueblood vs. Directional State Tech A&M University types are lessened.

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