Notre Dame Football: Irish continue to stockpile marquee matchups

It was announced today that the Notre Dame football team will play games against the Florida Gators during the 2031 and 2032 seasons. The two schools have agreed to play a home-and-home series ten years from now.

What will these two programs look like in 2031 and 2032? No one can know for sure. However, there is a good chance that Irish fans will be watching two matchups between two top-25 teams when these games are played. To ensure that happens, Brian Kelly and his staff will need to start scouting local Pop Warner football games.

The first game of this series will take place in Notre Dame Stadium on November 15, 2031. My guess is that Gator fans are not happy that their school’s athletic department agreed to play a game in South Bend in November.

The second game will be played in Gainesville on September 11, 2032.

In recent years, the Notre Dame athletic department has been able to secure a handful of home-and-home series against marquee college football programs. During Brian Kelly’s time in South Bend, the Irish have played in home-and-home series against Oklahoma, BYU, Arizona State, Texas, Michigan, and Georgia.

In addition to all of those, Notre Dame will also play home-and-home series with Wisconsin*, Arkansas*, Ohio State, Texas A&M, Alabama, and Michigan. (*the first games of the Wisconsin and Arkansas series were canceled last season due to the pandemic)

The combination of these home-and-home series and the rotation of ACC opponents has created some very impressive schedules in the near future.

After a one-year stint as a full member of the ACC, the Notre Dame football team will return to their partial membership. That means the Irish will play five ACC games each season.

As a result, their scheduling flexibility is somewhat limited. The athletic department has expressed its desire to preserve its annual games against USC, Stanford, and Navy. That only leaves four open slots on their schedule.

While Notre Dame typically uses one or two of those slots to schedule games against teams in the “Group of Five” conferences, they almost always use the remaining room on their schedule to play games against marquee opponents.

In the College Football Playoff era, constructing a strong schedule has become a necessity for Notre Dame. Without the possibility of playing in a conference championship game, the Irish need to impress the selection committee during the regular season.

Adding a home-and-home series against Florida to an already impressive list of future opponents will ensure that the Notre Dame football team will have a chance to play themselves into the College Football Playoff without joining a conference.