For the second straight season, the Notre Dame football team leads the entire country in projected wins according to FanDuel Sportsbook. The expectations from Vegas this year are even higher than they were a year ago. That's hardly a surprise considering that the Fighting Irish schedule is, on paper, quite a bit easier than it was in 2025.
Notre Dame has the over/under for its win totals for the regular season at 11.5 this fall. In other words, if the Fighting Irish hit the "over," they'll be 12-0. What sticks out more than that is how much better Marcus Freeman's odds are for that kind of season compared to the other usual powerhouses.
Notre Dame is tied for the highest projected win total in the country and is tied only with Texas Tech. It's not a coincidence that the Red Raiders are also at 11.5, considering they might have the weakest Power 4 schedule in the country.
Texas Tech's non-conference schedule is FCS Abilene Christian, Oregon St (2-10), and Sam Houston (2-10). That trio of games is worse than any three games someone could pull off of the Irish schedule. In fact, looking at the Fan Duel projected win total, there is a three-game stretch that will make or break the season, where ND plays three teams projected to win 8 or more games this fall.
Notre Dame football opponents' projected win totals
- Wisconsin 6.5
- Michigan St 3.5
- Purdue 3.5
- UNC 4.5
- Stanford 3.5
- Miami 10.5
- BYU 8.5
- SMU 8.5
- Boston College 3.5
- Syracuse 4.5
Obviously, outside of their games against Miami, BYU, and SMU, the 2026 slate is laid out for a lot of wins. Only Wisconsin is currently the only other team projected to win even 6 games.
As far as some notable other powerhouses' projected win totals, Indiana and Oregon join Miami in that next tier at 10.5 for their over-under. The tier below them, the teams set at 9.5, include Ohio State and Georgia, among a few others.
Last season, Notre Dame's over-under was set at 10.5, and it finished 10-2, as an illustration of how accurate FanDuel has been in the past.