Notre Dame’s future football schedule is doing exactly what the skeptics said it couldn’t: staying loaded.
For a program that gets plenty of noise around its independence, the Irish keep lining up major opponents without much trouble. Looking ahead to 2027 through 2030, Notre Dame will face teams from all four major conferences, and the slate is packed with the kind of matchups that keep the schedule conversation alive year-round.
The ACC still makes up the biggest chunk of the Irish’s future. That’s no surprise given the agreement already in place, but the headline addition is the 12-year home-and-home series with Clemson, a run that stretches through the 2038 season. Notre Dame’s ACC calendar also gets a boost from Virginia Tech with the hire of James Franklin.
The Big 12 presence is much lighter. Over the next five seasons, including this upcoming year, Notre Dame has just one Big 12 opponent on the books: BYU. That said, there’s still a real chance the Irish and Cougars keep this thing going beyond 2027, especially with open spots sitting on the schedule in 2028, 2029 and 2030.
Then there’s the SEC, where Notre Dame has seven opponents lined up in the coming seasons. That alone undercuts the idea that the Irish are ducking anyone. They’ve gone out and secured a run of heavyweight games that should draw plenty of attention.
A few of those stand out immediately. Notre Dame and Auburn have a home-and-home set for 2027 and 2028, a deal finalized in November of 2025.
If the Tigers don’t end up meeting the Irish in the playoffs before then, 2027 will be the first-ever matchup between the programs. Alex Golesh’s hire from USF only adds to the intrigue.
The Longhorns are next, with Texas on the schedule in 2028 and 2029. Alabama follows in 2029 and 2030.
Notre Dame’s regular-season meeting with Texas will be its first since 2016, while the Alabama game will be the first regular-season clash with the Crimson Tide since 1987, when the Irish rolled 37-6 in South Bend. Since then, the teams have met twice in the postseason, and those results did not go Notre Dame’s way.
There’s also Indiana in 2030, though that one comes with a little more uncertainty. The source notes the Hoosiers have already backed out of a few early-season matchups with P4 opponents in the Curt Cignetti era, so this is the game it feels least certain will actually stick.
Not everything on the Irish’s future slate is new territory. Purdue is already on the schedule through 2028, Michigan State returns this fall and runs through 2027, and Navy remains a regular fixture. Notre Dame also keeps familiar ACC names like NC State, Boston College and Stanford in the mix.
And there may still be room for more. The open slots in 2028, 2029 and 2030 could bring back teams like Michigan State, Purdue, Pitt and Boston College more regularly.
Stanford is another one to watch, especially if the Cardinal start climbing under GM Andrew Luck and new head coach Tavita Pritchard. Notre Dame has already extended that series through the 2028 season this offseason, and if Stanford starts looking more like its early-to-mid 2010s version, that rivalry could matter even more.
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Gould said he was excited about the chance and spoke highly of running backs coach Ja'Juan Seider, a sign the relationship is off to a strong start before the process really gets rolling. He also plans to make an unofficial trip to South Bend in the future, and with Notre Dame already in the conversation, the next step will be seeing how much that early momentum can grow once he gets a closer look in person. [Read more 🡒]