It's no secret that the 2026 Notre Dame football schedule isn't nearly as hard as it has been in the past. That doesn't mean that there is nothing to be gained from even the easiest part of the schedule. The first six games don't offer the Fighting Irish much in the way of competition on paper, but that doesn't mean there aren't some things the team will need to prove and some benefits that an easier stretch won't provide.
Marcus Freeman and his crew know that every game means everything. They likely need to go undefeated to make the College Football Playoff. However, if they lose to Miami or BYU, there's still a chance they could back into the field. The first six games, however, are must-wins.
Notre Dame's early schedule offers opportunities
- September 6: Wisconsin (in Green Bay)
- September 12: Rice
- September 19: Michigan State
- September 26: at Purdue
- October 3: at North Carolina
- October 10: Stanford
Those six games don't include a bowl team in 2025. Notre Dame needs to take care of business, and blowout wins would be nice. But there's also a utility to these games. First and foremost, CJ Carr and the offense can use the soft early schedule to find a flow.
With Jeremiyah Love and Jadarian Price both off to the NFL, the offense will rest more on the shoulders of Carr than it did in 2025. While Aneyas Williams should step into the starting running back spot, there's no guarantee he'll be as effective as his predecessors, at least not at first. The passing game will be much more important.
While the Fighting Irish have plenty of talent in the wide receiver room, there are also plenty of unknowns. Mylan Graham and Quincy Porter both came to South Bend from Ohio State, and both are very talented. Still, they're both unproven. Using the first six games to figure out who will be "the man" or "the men" among the receiver corps will prove useful in the second half of the season when BYU, Miami, and SMU offer more difficult opposition.
Notre Dame defense can make sure and find its footing early
The first three games of the Chris Ash era were not great defensively. In fact, there were plenty of fans who thought that Freeman made a massive mistake when he hired Ash as the new defensive coordinator. Even when they won, against Purdue, the Irish allowed a ton of points.
Ash's defense also let Texas A&M's offense cut through it like a hot knife through butter in the 41-40 loss that likely cost them a CFP shot. This year, the road will be quite a bit easier in the first six games. Notre Dame will have a chance to figure out any changes to the scheme and any players at new positions.
With the second half of the schedule being quite a bit harder than the first half (something that isn't usually the case for Notre Dame), Chris Ash can fine-tune his defense in hopes of going 6-0 despite trying new things.
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