Notre Dame's kick times reveal contains one baffling NCAA misstep

With the times and networks of Notre Dame football's 2026 home games, as well as the Shamrock Series kickoff, the NCAA has one again demonstrated it's needs quite a bit of help dealing with schedules. Specifically the, the organization needs to figure out why it's so bad at season-opening weekends.

When the Irish got their schedule release, most fans focused on the lack of any home games that were Peacock exclusives. While that is indeed a good thing, most people overlooked the oddity of Marcus Freeman and Co.'s season opener against Wisconsin.

Marcus Freeman got Notre Dame football a marquee start before the schedule turned odd

The specific problem with Notre Dame's opener against the Badgers is that it's one of just two games on September 6. It's a side effect of that game kicking off on Sunday night.

There's absolutely nothing wrong with ND getting its own prime-time season opener. The Irish deserve to be all alone. Even if the Badgers might not be a prime-time opponent.

The issue is with the announcement that Notre Dame and Wisconsin kick off at 6:30 pm, both Sunday games kick off at the exact same time. Louisville and Ole Miss are the other game, which is not exactly a "nothing" game.

Marcus Freeman and Notre Dame football should not have to share that Sunday window

At this point, most Fighting Irish fans are likely asking why, after a full day of college football on Saturday, did the NCAA decide that Sunday would be emptyuntil both games are scheduled on that day kicked off.

There are no NFL games on September 6, so that's not why there isn't an afternoon game leading up to the prime-time game. The NCAA decided it didn't want to try to hold football fans' attention for most of another day. Instead, it wanted to force people to choose between watching Notre Dame-Wisconsin or Ole Miss-Louisville. It's the kind of miscalculation that simply seems like an attention to detail.

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