When You Compare Notre Dame and Miami’s Schedules, One Thing Becomes Clear

When you hear about Notre Dame's 2026 football schedule nationally, you'd think the Irish were playing the majority of Division III's CCIW, not FBS slate it actually is.

That said, Notre Dame does have a favorable outlook considering its first six opponents all lost eight or more games in 2025. However, it also features three games against teams that finished 2025 ranked in the top 25, more than can be said for teams like Indiana and Oregon.

However, the narrative is what the narrative is and plenty have already taken it and run.

The interesting thing though, is that the opponent in Notre Dame's biggest game of 2026, one that just made a National Championship game run itself, has a schedule that nobody seems to be talking about, but that makes Notre Dame's seem daunting.

Notre Dame 2026 Football Schedule

Sept. 6 - vs. Wisconsin (Lambeau Field, Green Bay, Shamrock Series)
Sept. 12 - vs. Rice
Sept. 19 - vs. Michigan State
Sept. 26 - at Purdue
Oct. 3 - at North Carolina
Oct. 10 - vs. Stanford
Oct. 17 - at BYU
Oct. 24 - Off Week
Oct. 31 - vs. Navy (Gillette Stadium, Foxborough)
Nov. 7 - vs. Miami
Nov. 14 - vs. Boston College
Nov. 21 - vs. SMU
Nov. 28 - at Syracuse

Listen, I won't sit and tell you this is murderer's row by any stretch of the imagination. After the way Notre Dame handled its bowl snub, it will have extra pressure on it to perform in 2026, leaving no wiggle room with a potential loss.

However, it certainly appears to be a tougher slate than the Hurricanes will face in order to get back to the College Football Playoff.

Miami's 2026 Football Schedule

Sept. 4 - at Stanford
Sept. 10 - vs. Florida A&M
Sept. 18 - at Wake Forest
Sept. 26 - vs. Central Michigan
Oct. 3 - at Clemson
Oct. 10 - Off Week
Oct. 17 - vs. Florida State
Oct. 24 - vs. Pittsburgh
Oct. 31 - at North Carolina
Nov. 7 - at Notre Dame
Nov. 14 - vs. Duke
Nov. 20 - vs. Virginia Tech
Nov. 28 - vs. Boston College

Aside from Notre Dame, the toughest test on this schedule is what, at Clemson or against Duke?

Clemson is coming off a 7-6 campaign and hasn't been the same program since NIL and the transfer portal have taken hold.

Meanwhile, Duke is coming off an ACC championship but seems to be losing its starting quarterback to the Hurricanes of all teams.

Combine that with no road games being played after November 7 and this makes Notre Dame's schedule look fierce.

Conference Argument Remains a Joke

Perhaps the idea that being in a conference automatically makes things more difficult should be examined here.

Conferences are too big now for them to impact a regular season like they used to. Yes, the Big Ten or SEC might have a handful of really good teams each, but the conferences are so large that nearly nobody plays more than a couple of those teams at most.

Or, while we're at by looking at what the ever-talkative Joey McGuire faces with his Texas Tech squad this fall.

Or perhaps what new Penn State head coach Matt Campbell has ahead.

Yeah, about that conference thing...