Why a Notre Dame–Oregon Home-and-Home Would Be a College Football Dream

Marcus Freeman avoided excuses as his teams executed down the stretch despite wild travel demands at the end of 2024

(EDITORS NOTE: caption correction) Jan 9, 2025; Miami, FL, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish head coach Marcus Freeman celebrates after defeating the Penn State Nittany Lions in the Orange Bowl at Hard Rock Stadium. | Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images

At the end of the 2024 season, Notre Dame had perhaps the wildest travel of any team nationally.

After a 9-1 start to the year, Notre Dame finished the year with a Shamrock Series game at Yankee Stadium in New York, followed by a trip to Los Angeles just one week later to close the year against USC.

Then came a postseason that saw a home game on December 20 before a Sugar Bowl trip to take on Georgia (January 2 after game was postponed due to Bourbon Street tragedy on January 1), and a trip to Miami for the Orange Bowl in January 9.

That's four games in three corners of the lower 48 states and no excuses were made about it by Fighting Irish head coach Marcus Freeman.

That theme has continued with a pair of teams that will meet Friday for a spot in the National Championship Game.

Curt Cignetti and Dan Lanning Aren't in Excuse Making Business

Oct 11, 2025; Eugene, Oregon, USA; Oregon Ducks head coach Dan Lanning shakes hands with Indiana Hoosiers head coach Curt Cignetti after Indiana defeated Oregon by the score of 30-20 at Autzen Stadium. | Troy Wayrynen-Imagn Images

No. 1 Indiana will take on No. 5 Oregon on Friday night in Atlanta, with a spot in the National Championship game on the line.

If anyone could make excuses about travel this year or this round, it'd be these two.

Oregon won a First Round game on its home turf in the Pacific Northwest before traveling all the way to Miami to rout Texas Tech this past Friday. It now will head to Atlanta for the semi-final game.

Indiana had a First Round bye but had to travel all the way to Southern California to take part in a historic Rose Bowl domination of Alabama, before traveling back cross-country for Friday's game.

Despite the wicked travel demands, neither coach is making any sort of excuse.

Both coaches were asked Saturday during a teleconference about if the travel demands of the College Football Playoff were too much. Neither made a hint of an excuse.

Both coaches asked about the travel demands of the College Football Playoff:

Dan Lanning: “It’s not bad.”

Curt Cignetti: “I’ll echo that sentiment.”

— Matt Fortuna (@Matt_Fortuna) January 3, 2026

Compare These Comments to End of Notre Dame-USC Rivalry

How many times have we heard from the USC camp about the ridiculous travel the Trojans have to make in order to play in the Big Ten?

That wasn't the only reason, but certainly played a factor in USC head coach Lincoln Riley pushing to end the legendary series with the Fighting Irish in recent years.

Notre Dame already has a home-and-home on the books with Indiana in the near future, although not much travel comes with that for either program. However, how sweet would a home-and-home with Oregon be?

One of the greatest football programs of all-time and a relative new kid on the block that has competed for national championships fairly regularly over the last 20 years?

Marcus Freeman against Dan Lanning, two of the best head coaches in the game today.

Notre Dame's classic gold helmets in iconic Autzen Stadium and a return trip to South Bend. We'd get to see what kind of uniform Nike could come up with for Oregon in a game that would almost certainly be played under the lights.

The football would almost certainly feature a pair of top 10 teams, both of which could throw the travel excuse back in rival USC's face? And Notre Dame's strength of schedule, like when it added BYU to replace USC, would improve instantly.

Yeah, the more I think about it Oregon just might be the team I'd like to see on a future Notre Dame schedule more than any other in the nation.