The Notre Dame football team is expected to have a massive 2026 season, as long as it takes care of its business. Knowing that, the team's schedule is a bit of a double-edged sword because it can't afford to lose many games. It can't afford to lose any games; it's supposed to win going away. New early odds from Vegas oddsmakers show the Irish are heavy, heavy favorites for their biggest showdowns this fall.
DraftKings released odds for 70 different games, which it termed "Games of the Year," and the Irish have four of them. Those four all have Marcus Freeman's squad listed as favorites by a touchdown or more. The Hurricanes are currently the only one of the four with a spread in single digits.
Notre Dame is -23.5 according to DraftKings against North Carolina for their tilt on October 3. The Irish are -10.5 against BYU on October 17 and -7 against Miami a few weeks later on November 7. The Irish are then picked to blow out the SMU Mustangs as 17.5-point favorites when the two teams face off on November 21.
Earlier this year, the Irish were already predicted to blow out the Wisconsin Badgers,s and the rest of Notre Dame's schedule is not particularly tough. In other words, should these spreads go all the way to the fall, they should be favored to win every game they play this season.
Marcus Freeman and Notre Dame football face huge expectations from early Vegas lines
Certainly, Marcus Freeman and Co. have to love going into this campaign considered as such a strong team. But there is always the chance they'll stumble at least once. These odds show there's even less margin for error than there already was. So far this year, most fans believed that if there were a team ND could lose to, it would be Miami. Now that they're slated to win by a touchdown, even a loss to a very good Hurricanes team could be a big strike against Notre Dame.
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