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A way-too-early look at the 2022 Notre Dame football schedule

By Daniel Morrison

PALO ALTO, CA - NOVEMBER 27: A detail view of the football helmet held by a member of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team before an NCAA football game against the Stanford Cardinal on November 27, 2021 at Stanford Stadium in Palo Alto, California. (Photo by David Madison/Getty Images)
PALO ALTO, CA - NOVEMBER 27: A detail view of the football helmet held by a member of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team before an NCAA football game against the Stanford Cardinal on November 27, 2021 at Stanford Stadium in Palo Alto, California. (Photo by David Madison/Getty Images) /
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GLENDALE, AZ – JANUARY 01: Quarterback DeShone Kizer #14 of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish scores on a one-yard rushing touchdown against the Ohio State Buckeyes during the second quarter of the BattleFrog Fiesta Bowl at University of Phoenix Stadium on January 1, 2016, in Glendale, Arizona. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
GLENDALE, AZ – JANUARY 01: Quarterback DeShone Kizer #14 of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish scores on a one-yard rushing touchdown against the Ohio State Buckeyes during the second quarter of the BattleFrog Fiesta Bowl at University of Phoenix Stadium on January 1, 2016, in Glendale, Arizona. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images) /

A way-too-early look at the 2022 Notre Dame football schedule

Week 1: At Ohio State

Notre Dame football starts the season with an incredible matchup. Ohio State has always been one of the game’s powers, and today they serve as one of the perennial National Championship favorites. Expect them to start the season in the top-5, if not top-2, teams ranked in the country.

The Irish shouldn’t be too far behind, and every pregame show is going to be in Columbus for this game. In other words, this is a perfect start of the season for anyone looking for two top-tier programs with amazing histories to be going at one another.

There is extra intrigue here, though, as Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman played his college football at Ohio State. While there, he was a second-team All-Big 10 linebacker and was on the 2005-06 Buckeyes team that beat Notre Dame in the Fiesta Bowl.

On top of that, Freeman recently referred to not going to Notre Dame, who had offered him a scholarship, as a mistake. That implies Ohio State, the team his family grew up rooting for, was a mistake. Now, Freeman didn’t mean it that way, but Ohio State fans took it that way.

If that wasn’t enough, we will be seeing the new Notre Dame offense, with a new quarterback, for the first time. There are more storylines than can be counted and it’s incredibly exciting.

Week 2: Marshall

The Irish will have their home opener against Marshall in Week 2. The Thundering Herd have been a program going through some pretty major changes lately. Their coach, Charles Huff, is only in his second season there. Meanwhile, as conference realignment has shaken the Group of Five, Marshall is moving from C-USA to the Sun Belt soon. Even their quarterback, Grant Wells, is on the move to Virginia Tech through the transfer portal.

Notre Dame should be able to win this game on sheer talent alone, but Marshall has always been a dangerous G5 team to play. Don’t be surprised if they find a way to hang around.

Week 3: Cal

Cal is coming off an incredibly frustrating season. Berkeley, the city in California where Cal is located, put stricter COVID-19 regulations on the program than any other program in the country. That testing that the city insisted on, despite the team being 99% vaccinated and asymptomatic, led to 44 players being put into health and safety protocols, which could include close contact tracing. It cost Cal their game at Arizona and forced their game against USC to be rescheduled. Head coach Justin Wilcox was visibly frustrated throughout the season and flirted with the Washington job amid a 5-7 season.

Wilcox is still at Cal, for now, but he needs to find a way to make his offense work. The Golden Bears have had strong defenses, but his failure to put together a competent offense has contributed to his 6-10 record over the last two seasons.

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