Much has been made of just how easy Notre Dame’s 2026 schedule is supposed to be. Many, many words have been written about how slim their margin for error is if they want to get back to the College Football Playoff. Despite all of that, and there being a decent argument that there really aren’t a ton of premier opponents, the recent release of the pre-season ACC media poll shows that the Irish schedule might not be as bad as analysts and onlookers claim.
There’s been plenty of talk about the Miami Hurricanes and how they’re easily the best team the Irish will play this year. That still could be the case, but if the media poll is any indication, the SMU Mustangs won’t be far behind the ‘Canes.
On Tuesday’s release, the ACC media ranked Miami as No. 1 in the conference, and SMU was ranked second. In other words, Notre Dame is playing the top two teams in the ACC this season. Suddenly that schedule isn’t quite so weak, eh?
NEW: 2026 College Football ACC Preseason Media Poll👀
— On3 (@On3) July 28, 2026
Do you agree?🤔https://t.co/OA01VyGRoD pic.twitter.com/hMXGfmHp4K
Notre Dame football faces the ACC’s top two teams, complicating the soft-schedule narrative.
“SMU has truly emerged as a perennial year-by-year College Football Playoff candidate under head coach Rhett Lashlee. It has won nine-plus games in three consecutive seasons, and appeared in the CFP in 2024,” On3’s Daniel Hager wrote about the rankings release and an SMU team that often gets overlooked. “The Mustangs return star quarterback Kevin Jennings as they once again look to push for the top of the conference. Across four seasons at the helm, Lashlee has led the program to a stellar 38-16 record.”
That’s the good news from this media poll. The bad news is that the ACC reporters also underlined just how weak the weakest part of the Irish schedule is. Syracuse, North Carolina, Boston College, and Stanford are the other four conference schools on the Golden Domers’ slate this year. They’re ranked 14th, 15th, 16th, and 17th in the poll, respectively.
That obviously shows that, yes, there are some truly bad teams on Notre Dame’s schedule this season. It’s not like essentially every team has some cupcakes on the horizon, though. With Miami, SMU, and BYU all looking like teams who could upset the apple cart, things won’t be quite the cakewalk some would love people to believe.
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