Nick Shepkowski
February 7, 2024 11:01 am ET
We’re already nearing a month since Notre Dame ended the 2023 season with a dominating 40-8 win over Oregon State in the Sun Bowl. It’s a long way to go still but the first steps towards the 2024 college football season have been taken.
So far this off-season things have gone well for Notre Dame. A stellar recruiting class was brought in, the transfer portal did wonders for the roster, and there is excitement regarding the hires on the coaching staff.
One reason for optimism entering 2024 for Notre Dame fans is the schedule the Irish will play. It has some big names but in terms of a usual Notre Dame schedule it’s a lot more Irish-friendly than some in recent memory.
So how do things shape up for the Irish entering 2024? Here is an initial look.
Aug. 31: at Texas A&M
Tom Hauck /Allsport
Location
Kyle Field (College Station, Texas)
Series Record
Notre Dame leads the series 3-2
Setting the way-too-early stage
The storylines will be a plenty for what could be Notre Dame’s most challenging game of 2024. New Irish quarterback Riley Leonard taking on his old head coach Mike Elko in what we’d guess will be a prime-time game.
Sept. 7: vs. Northern Illinois
Location
Notre Dame Stadium (Notre Dame, Indiana)
Series Record
Never met
Setting the way-too-early stage
Notre Dame’s home season opens with a tune-up type game against Northern Illinois. The Huskies have gone a combined 19-20 over the last three seasons but did go 7-6 and win the Camellia Bowl this past season.
Sept. 14: at Purdue
Matt Cashore-USA TODAY Sports
Location
Ross-Ade Stadium (West Lafayette, Indiana)
Series Record
Notre Dame leads 57-26-2
Setting the way-too-early stage
The former annual rivals meet in West Lafayette for the first time since 2013. Purdue is coming off a rebuilding year that saw them go just 4-8 under their new head coach Ryan Walters.
Sept. 21: vs. Miami (Ohio)
Trevor Ruszkowski-USA TODAY Sports
Location
Notre Dame Stadium (Notre Dame, Indiana)
Series Record
Indiana leads the series 1-0
Setting the way-too-early stage
Two home games and two MAC opponents to start the year for Notre Dame. After getting blown out at Miami (FL) last season, the Red Hawks went on to go 11-3 overall and beat Toledo to win the MAC championship.
Sept. 28: vs. Louisville
Jamie Rhodes-USA TODAY Sports
Location
Notre Dame Stadium (Notre Dame, Indiana)
Series Record
Series tied 2-2
Setting the way-too-early stage
There shouldn’t be an excuse for being emotionally exhausted for Notre Dame like there was at Louisville last year. Louisville has been extremely busy in the transfer portal as they’ve added 17 players from it at last count.
Oct. 5: Off Week
Michael Reaves/Getty Images
Thanks to a Miami (Florida) scheduling error, Notre Dame currently has three open slots for the 2024 season. The first, and a very likely bye week for the Irish, will come in the first weekend of October.
Notre Dame does still have one more game to officially schedule as of posting.
Oct. 12: vs. Stanford
D. Ross Cameron-USA TODAY Sports
Location
Notre Dame Stadium (Notre Dame, Indiana)
Series Record
Notre Dame leads 22-14
Setting the way-too-early stage
Stanford was a disaster again in 2023 and doesn’t figure to be a whole lot better in 2024. Can Marcus Freeman avoid the mid-October game where the Irish lay a complete egg though? It happened in 2023 at Louisville and 2022 against Stanford.
Oct. 19: at Georgia Tech
Hyosub Shin / Hyosub.Shin@ajc.com
Location
Mercedes-Benz Stadium (Atlanta, Georgia)
Series Record
Notre Dame leads 30-6-1
Setting the way-too-early stage
Notre Dame makes their first trip to one of the new gems of NFL stadiums, a trip that was supposed to take place in 2020. Georgia Tech is coming off a 7-6 season under new head coach Brent Key who helped guide them to their first bowl win since 2016.
Oct. 26: vs. Navy (New York)
Matt Cashore-USA TODAY Sports
Location
MetLife Stadium (East Rutherford, New Jersey)
Series Record
Notre Dame leads 80-13-1
Setting the way-too-early stage
Notre Dame was dominant over Navy to start 2023 as the Midshipmen wound up going 5-7, again missing a bowl game. The Navy football program hasn’t been the same since the pandemic, going just 16-30 in that time.
Nov. 2: Currently an Off-Date
Jim Dedmon-USA TODAY Sports
Notre Dame is currently scheduled off to be off on Nov. 2 and seeing as the biggest home game of the year comes a week later I would assume those in charge will try and keep this date open.
Nov. 9: vs. Florida State
USA TODAY SPORTS
Location
Notre Dame Stadium (Notre Dame, Indiana)
Series Record
Florida State leads 6-5
Setting the way-too-early stage
Florida State loses star quarterback Jordan Travis but will bring plenty of talent to South Bend in early-November. Former Clemson quarterback D.J. Uiagalelei, who the Irish have twice beat in South Bend, is expected to be the starting quarterback for the Seminoles in 2024.
Nov. 16: vs. Virginia
Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports
Location
Notre Dame Stadium (Notre Dame, Indiana)
Series Record
Notre Dame leads 4-0
Setting the way-too-early stage
Virginia struggled in Tony Elliot’s second year as head coach, going just 3-9. That did however include wins over both North Carolina and Duke in the second half of the season.
Nov. 23: Off Week
Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports
Notre Dame’s third current off-week is the second to last week of the year. There have been rumors that the Irish will play Army in Yankee Stadium but there are reportedly complications with Army rearranging their schedule. It remains to be seen who Notre Dame’s 12th game will be, when it will be, but we can say fairly safely that it isn’t going to be against a big-time opponent.
Nov. 30: at USC
Matt Cashore-USA TODAY Sports
Location
Los Angeles Coliseum (Los Angeles, California)
Series Record
Notre Dame leads 49-37-5
Setting the way-too-early stage
USC was perhaps the most disappointing team in college football in 2023. How do they handle losing the likely top-overall pick in Caleb Williams? Will they struggle as they enter life in the Big Ten or could losing Williams to the draft end up being addition by subtraction?
