Notre Dame football: Most exciting future meetings after 2021

Notre Dame football exciting future matchups: Ohio State in 2022, 2023

The last time that Notre Dame beat Ohio State, World War II hadn’t started, as it was 1936 and former Four Horseman of Notre Dame, Elmer Layden, coached the Irish. Since then, and there’s only been four meetings, and the Buckeyes have had Notre Dame’s number.

Most recently, the 2016 Fiesta Bowl went sideways for Notre Dame when Jaylon Smith injured his knee and Notre Dame lost 44-28.

Ohio State has won the B1G 10 every year since 2017, and 11 times since the year 2002. They have made the College Football Playoff in each of the last two seasons, and recruit at the highest level of anyone in college football, this side of Tuscaloosa.

Suffice it to say, they’re among the elite teams in college football that Notre Dame is a half step away from joining.

Both teams are undergoing changes at quarterback, but they should reload fairly easily. The question for these games is whether or not Brian Kelly can take the next step in recruiting to compete, and whether or not Ryan Day can do it himself, or just with an inherited Urban Meyer’s roster.

The two will meet at Columbus in 2022 and South Bend in 2023. They’re the first regular-season meetings between the two programs since 1996, and while it’s hard to predict what state any program will be in a couple of years from now, it’s safe to expect these two to rank highly and play in prime time.