Notre Dame football is the most prestigious opponent to schedule

If a team schedules Notre Dame football, they will be rewarded for it.

When your favorite college football team puts Notre Dame football on the schedule, you always get excited about it.

Though they haven’t won a national title in over 30 years, Notre Dame remains the biggest brand in college football. The brand is so big and the fan base is so massive, the Irish can hold onto national independent status in the increasingly important Power 5 landscape and do just fine. Notre Dame made the College Football Playoff two years ago and may do it again here soon.

But because the Irish don’t play in a Power 5 conference, Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick has to be open to playing all sorts of teams, anytime, anywhere. Yes, the Irish have their annual ACC allotment, as they are a member institution in that league in every other sport but football. However, it’s always exciting to have the Irish on your fall football schedule.

If Notre Dame football is on your team’s slate, you get excited about it.

Of the 10 most anticipated non-conference games of the upcoming 2020 NCAA season, Notre Dame plays in three of them: A neutral-site affair with the Wisconsin Badgers at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, home vs. the Clemson Tigers and at one of their rivals in the USC Trojans in Los Angeles. Should Notre Dame go 12-0 with this schedule, the Irish will be a playoff team yet again.

The home date with Clemson might very well be the most anticipated game of the season. These two traditional powers met in the College Football Playoff two years ago. Clemson shellacked Notre Dame en route to its second national championship victory in three years. Notre Dame earned its spot in the playoff but needs to prove it’s not a Midwest Oklahoma-type of team.

If the Irish beat the Badgers in Lambeau and stun the Tigers in South Bend, there is a very real possibility Notre Dame has the makeup to get back to the playoff. Their starting quarterback from two years ago is still on campus in Heisman Trophy contender Ian Book. We know that Brian Kelly can coach and recruits very well to his private Catholic university in Northern Indiana.

There are plenty of other great games to see this year in the non-conference, but the only other program to appear on the list above twice is USC. That’s because the Trojans open the season with a neutral-site game vs. the Alabama Crimson Tide at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. There’s a reason people are excited to see so many Notre Dame games. It’s because the Irish are good!

When in doubt, it’s always a great idea to put Notre Dame on the schedule because people care.

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