Notre Dame made it through a brutal 2015. Now it's time to contend for a Playoff spot

Redwood Forrest

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With only one projected top-15 opponent on the schedule, thanks to projected regression for Stanford and Michigan State, the Irish could follow last year's "only lose to top-10 teams" recipe into the Playoff.

Still, the home-road splits and a conservative No. 11 projection suggest this will be another season of heartburn and close games. Five Notre Dame contests are projected to finish with a one-possession margin
.

http://www.sbnation.com/college-foo...re-dame-football-2016-preview-schedule-roster

Notre Dame has three games they must win, IMO, to have a shot at the playoff. If they can avoid an opening game upset with Texas, that is. Miami might give them trouble and they are playing at Texas and USC. My stats show 10 - 2 for the Golden Domers and I will go with that with losses to Texas and USC.
 

81usaf92

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Apr 26, 2008
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With only one projected top-15 opponent on the schedule, thanks to projected regression for Stanford and Michigan State, the Irish could follow last year's "only lose to top-10 teams" recipe into the Playoff.

Still, the home-road splits and a conservative No. 11 projection suggest this will be another season of heartburn and close games. Five Notre Dame contests are projected to finish with a one-possession margin
.

http://www.sbnation.com/college-foo...re-dame-football-2016-preview-schedule-roster

Notre Dame has three games they must win, IMO, to have a shot at the playoff. If they can avoid an opening game upset with Texas, that is. Miami might give them trouble and they are playing at Texas and USC. My stats show 10 - 2 for the Golden Domers and I will go with that with losses to Texas and USC.
If they don't blow it against Texas I can see them as 1 loss team, but that's assuming they don't dork up against teams they shouldn't. But 10-2 would be the safe bet

Sunday
Sep. 4

at Texas Longhorns
Darrell K Royal - TX Mem. Stadium, Austin, TX
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Saturday
Sep. 10

Nevada Wolf Pack
Notre Dame Stadium, South Bend, IN
3:30pm ET
NBC
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Saturday
Sep. 17

Michigan State Spartans
Notre Dame Stadium, South Bend, IN
7:30pm ET
NBC
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Saturday
Sep. 24

Duke Blue Devils
Notre Dame Stadium, South Bend, IN
3:30pm ET
NBC
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Saturday
Oct. 1

at Syracuse Orange
MetLife Stadium, East Rutherford, NJ
TBA
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Saturday
Oct. 8

at NC State Wolfpack
Carter-Finley Stadium, Raleigh, NC
TBA
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Saturday
Oct. 15

Stanford Cardinal
Notre Dame Stadium, South Bend, IN
7:30pm ET
NBC
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Saturday
Oct. 22
---
OFF
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Saturday
Oct. 29

Miami (FL) Hurricanes
Notre Dame Stadium, South Bend, IN
3:30pm ET
NBC
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Saturday
Nov. 5

Navy Midshipmen
EverBank Field, Jacksonville, FL
11:30am ET
CBS
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Saturday
Nov. 12

Army Black Knights (Shamrock Series)
Alamodome, San Antonio, TX
3:30pm ET
NBC
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Saturday
Nov. 19

Virginia Tech Hokies
Notre Dame Stadium, South Bend, IN
3:30pm ET
NBC
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Saturday
Nov. 26

at USC Trojans
LA Memorial Coliseum, Los Angeles, CA
 

KrAzY3

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There's some luck involved here, but Notre Dame really milks the whole, make your schedule look better than it really is thing sometimes.

They have Miami, Texas, and Virginia Tech, all notable names in terms of being football powers, but they haven't really shown it on the field lately. Then they follow the, we're scheduling P5s! thing, with the mighty Duke, Syracuse and NC State. Navy and Army are great to schedule to, they have names that far exceed the difficulty they present as opponents. So, a schedule full of recognizable names but I'd agree that they stand a good chance against it.
 

81usaf92

TideFans Legend
Apr 26, 2008
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There's some luck involved here, but Notre Dame really milks the whole, make your schedule look better than it really is thing sometimes.

They have Miami, Texas, and Virginia Tech, all notable names in terms of being football powers, but they haven't really shown it on the field lately. Then they follow the, we're scheduling P5s! thing, with the mighty Duke, Syracuse and NC State. Navy and Army are great to schedule to, they have names that far exceed the difficulty they present as opponents. So, a schedule full of recognizable names but I'd agree that they stand a good chance against it.
What?!?!? Notre Dame's schedule is way harder than ours. How dare you say Notre Dame milks their schedule when they play past powers and non FCS teams while the majority of the SEC teams schedule FCS teams.

On a serious note, Notre Dame has a lot of fluff in their schedule these past two years.
 

Isaiah 63:1

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...Then they follow the, we're scheduling P5s! thing, with the mighty Duke, Syracuse and NC State...
Notre Dame is scheduling those schools (plus Miami and Va Tech) not because they belong to just any P5 conference, but because they're ACC schools. Notre Dame's 2013 agreement with ACC, becoming a conference member in every sport but football, requires them to play an average of five ACC schools per year for 12 years, and play each member school at least four times in that span. Their schedule may indeed sound more challenging than it is, but the names on it are not there for the reason you're suggesting.
 

TideEngineer08

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Jun 9, 2009
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Yeah the whole ACC deal makes it seem like they're schedule is tough but it's not, really. In fact, the ACC deal is a great one for them. There are a total of 2 legit, difficult programs in the ACC today. Florida State and Clemson. They will avoid those 2 most seasons, probably never face them in the same season.

As for this year, they lost a lot of key players. They've recruited well, but we'll see just how well this season. I am very impressed with both QBs though.

Texas, Michigan State, Stanford, and USC are all losable games. Then Virginia Tech and Miami will not be guaranteed wins but they are in South Bend. Other than that, there is a lot of fluff, but I'm not seeing 10-2 or 11-1 as a sure thing. NC State on the road could be tricky as well.
 

KrAzY3

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Notre Dame is scheduling those schools (plus Miami and Va Tech) not because they belong to just any P5 conference, but because they're ACC schools. Notre Dame's 2013 agreement with ACC, becoming a conference member in every sport but football, requires them to play an average of five ACC schools per year for 12 years, and play each member school at least four times in that span. Their schedule may indeed sound more challenging than it is, but the names on it are not there for the reason you're suggesting.
I'm fully aware of the ACC agreement, I've commented on it several times.
Army, Navy, Nevada, those are all there voluntarily, as is Texas, USC, etc...

The main underlying point I'm making, which I will continue to make is merely scheduling a P5 team doesn't do anything special for your schedule, obviously... some pretend that you can just schedule P5 teams and it does something magical, all it necessarily does is make them vaguely more familiar to fans.
 

selmaborntidefan

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The more cupcakes you consume, the more likely your artificially fattened schedule may kill you with just ONE episode of diabetic ketoacidosis.
 

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