Notre Dame Football: The lack of respect for the Irish continues… or does it?

Opposing schools and fans claim that the Notre Dame football program is overrated. The schedules of those schools, however, tells a different story.

In case you forgot, Notre Dame football remains independent and there is no reason for them not to stay that way. And for whatever reason, this angers some people.

People love to pile on the Irish arguably more than any other school in the country. Notre Dame’s independence has a lot to do with that–the nature of playing a national schedule is that the Irish upset fans from all across the country on a yearly basis. Disdain for Notre Dame football reaches every nook and cranny of the country.

When Notre Dame is performing well, they’re overrated or unworthy. When they’re struggling, they become the laughing stock of college football. It’s something that the fans of the Fighting Irish have come to own.

But regardless of what many might say about the Irish, it would seem that those in the know respect the Notre Dame football program… at least that’s what opposing teams’ schedule would seem to indicate.

In 2019, seven Notre Dame opponents (that’s right–more than half of them) will face Notre Dame after coming off a bye week. I don’t know about you, but that doesn’t seem like a coincidence. Oh, and that’s not even counting the opening-week game against Louisville.

The seven teams: New Mexico, Bowling Green, USC, Virginia Tech, Duke, Navy, and Boston College. Now, some of these teams likely had little choice in the matter. In the case of the latter four, the ACC likely dictated when Notre Dame fell on their schedule, but that’s maybe a different conversation altogether.

Note: The bright side to this conversation is that none of what would seem to be Notre Dame’s three most difficult opponents–Georgia, Michigan, and Stanford–have a bye week prior to playing the Irish.

For being “vastly overrated” and “unworthy of a spot in the College Football Playoff,” Notre Dame football seems to be respected around the college football world.