Home games at Notre Dame Stadium; rankings are preseason AP
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The games that will decide the season
Circle these four
Game
The stakes
Miami, Nov. 7
The season’s marquee home game – a top-10 Hurricanes team in South Bend in November for the first time in fifty years, with playoff seeding on the line
At BYU, Oct. 17
The new series’ first leg in Provo – two programs that were the last teams out of last year’s playoff, now settling it directly
Wisconsin at Lambeau, Sept. 6
A Sunday-night Shamrock Series opener at football’s most historic address – Rockne’s shadow meets Curly Lambeau’s
SMU, Nov. 21
A ranked November visitor sandwiched into the closing stretch – the trap the committee will be watching
SCHEDULE FACTS
No USC for the first time in decades
The Jeweled Shillelagh rivalry is paused over scheduling disputes – the BYU home-and-home fills the slot, and both schools say they want the rivalry back.
Six straight road openers
The Lambeau trip makes it six consecutive seasons opening away from South Bend – the longest such stretch in program history.
Five trophy games
Megaphone (Michigan State), Shillelagh (Purdue), Legends (Stanford), the Navy rivalry’s 99th meeting and more – independence keeps the hardware calendar full.
New for 2026: finish anywhere in the CFP’s final top 12 and Notre Dame’s at-large bid is automatic – which makes a schedule with only four true road games and two ranked home dates a structural gift. How that guarantee slots into the bracket is covered in how the College Football Playoff works. The independent’s calendar answers only to the NCAA.
The Bottom Line
Lambeau on a Sunday, Provo in October, Navy in Foxborough and Miami’s first November visit in fifty years – Notre Dame’s 2026 schedule trades the USC rivalry for a BYU grudge match and hands a No. 4 team one of the sport’s cleanest playoff paths.
