Notre Dame football: Top-10 teams with most challenge to make CFP
By Brad Weiss
The Notre Dame football team has a tough schedule in 2021, and if they want to return to the CFP, they will have to beat some elite teams to do so.
Looking at the 2021 schedule for the Notre Dame football team, they have a chance to get off to a fast start this Fall. First, they have to go to Florida State to take on the Seminoles, and that is going to be in primetime, and the first real starting opportunities to a lot of players on this roster.
From there, the Irish should be able to take care of business against Toledo and Purdue at home before a monster matchup against the Wisconsin Badgers. That game will be played inside Soldier Field, and will be an opportunity for new Notre Dame quarterback Jack Coan to beat up on his old team.
The game against Wisconsin will also likely be a top-25 matchup, which will be a theme for this Notre Dame football team after the Purdue game. Using the recent ESPN Power Index, the Irish are currently the No. 9 ranked team, and when it comes to top-25 opponents, they play more than every other team in the top-10, outside Alabama.
Notre Dame football has the second-most regular-season games against top opponents
Alabama was No. 1 in the Power Index, and they take on five top-25 teams in 2021, including No. 6 Texas A&M. The Crimson Tide will have a tough time repeating as champions based on their schedule, as well as the fact that they sent a ton of their elite players to the NFL this offseason.
While the rest of the top-ten mostly play two or three top-25 opponents, outside of Clemson and North Carolina, who only play one, the Notre Dame football team will take on four top-25 teams this season. Those teams include Wisconsin (No. 16); Cincinnati (No. 11); USC (No. 14), and North Carolina (No. 10).
All four of these games are certainly winnable, and the Irish will not have to play on the road in any of the games. Wisconsin will be at Soldier Field, and Cincinnati, USC, and UNC come to Notre Dame Stadium, putting the Irish at an advantage in all four contests.
Of course, early top-25 polls do not mean much once the season gets started, as we have seen top-10 teams fall flat on their faces in September, and some teams come out of nowhere to challenge for a CFP berth. For the Irish, the move back to an Independent schedule is a good one in terms of rivalries, but the deck is stacked heading into the 2021 season.