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Indiana doesn’t want that smoke with Notre Dame. So be it.
The recent cancelation of the home-and-home between the Hoosiers and the Irish did open the door for Notre Dame to renew its rivalry with USC, but it also took what looked to be a juicy intra-state matchup off the future schedule.
Curt Cignetti doubled down on that cancelation by inviting the Irish to play in a 2-for-1 because of the lack of conference affiliation. Notre Dame will instead keep things moving.
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5 Notre Dame Home-and-Home Series to Replace Indiana
What we do know is that beginning in 2029, the Irish only have, at most, eight Power Conference matchups lined up in a given year. History tells us that the program will be willing to get to 9-10 such games each year, barring a philosophical change.
So what does that mean? It means we can play matchmaker and get the ball rolling for these five headliner home-and-homes.
They could be played over the course of the next decade without canceling any other matchups while keeping both teams within their ideal number of Power Conference games in a given season. It would also respect the current ACC schedule agreement that Notre Dame has … which is why you won’t see ACC foes on this list.
1. Texas Tech
When – 2029 at Notre Dame, 2035 at Texas Tech
Why it would work – Texas Tech is the program that came out and essentially tried to bully Texas into playing a non-conference game this year after Steve Sarkisian made a not-so-subtle jab at the Red Raiders’ schedule. In other words, Texas Tech is prepared to take on the world.
That could include Notre Dame. Joey McGuire’s squad has an opening for a Power Conference foe as soon as 2029, but then not again until 2035.
The only tricky thing to figure out would be if Texas Tech would be willing to play a road game in 2029 – the Irish already have 6 true road games that season – and then wait another six years for the return trip to Lubbock.
But if that could be agreed upon, these teams would face off for the first time in nearly a century in what would be just the second meeting between the two. For the sake of the Irish, scoring a single point would be an improvement from last time.
2. Penn State
When – 2030 at Notre Dame, 2031 at Penn State
Why it would work – It’s wild that these teams have met so infrequently since Penn State joined the Big Ten three decades ago. Of course, one of those meetings punched a ticket to the national championship in a thriller two years ago. But renewing a rivalry with traditional powers would get the nostalgic college football juices flowing.
Whatever non-conference scheduling model that Penn State operated under during the Playoff era is now in the rearview mirror because James Franklin is gone.
The Lions don’t have a single non-conference matchup lined up after the 2028 season, so there’s plenty of availability to schedule just their second home-and-home with the Irish in the 21st century.
Plus, let’s not forget that back when Notre Dame won its last national title in 1988, it did so thanks in part to a win in its annual matchup against Penn State. There seems to be a not-so-coincidental trend with the Irish facing Penn State and competing for a national title.
3. Ole Miss
When – 2030 at Ole Miss, 2031 at Notre Dame
Why it would work – Much has been made about the future of SEC teams scheduling premier non-conference matchups because of the arrival of the 9-game conference slate in 2026.
After a somewhat lackluster non-conference slate during the Lane Kiffin era, Ole Miss appears to be one of the SEC teams that’s somewhat on the fence in that matter.
But as long as Ole Miss doesn’t use that 9-game conference schedule as an excuse to start punting on those matchups, this would be a unique, intriguing showdown. These teams have only met twice, most recently in 1977 when Ole Miss stunningly handed Joe Montana and the eventual national champs their only loss.
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Revenge game? Sure, why not. Both programs have bucket-list football experiences that would attract visiting fans, and as we’ve seen under Marcus Freeman, Notre Dame has recently shown to be much more capable of taking on elite SEC foes than it was throughout the 21st century.
Even though this would give the Irish a 10th Power Conference matchup with the aforementioned Penn State home-and-home in those seasons, this would still be within those traditional scheduling parameters. The two most recent Sugar Bowl champs would be wise to make this happen.
4. Oregon
When – 2032 at Oregon, 2036 at Notre Dame
Why it would work – Let’s pretend that Oregon and Notre Dame won’t have some epic postseason showdown in the coming years. That would mean that by 2032, these teams will have gone 50 years since they last faced off.
For two elite programs, that’s far too long. They’ve only met twice, with the most recent meeting coming in a 13-13 tie back in 1982.
While I’m not in the business of assuming that all current head coaches will still be at their respective jobs for these matchups, Freeman and Lanning are somewhat synonymous with one another.
Both of them took over top-tier programs as first-time head coaches in 2022, and both have done everything but win a national title.
For all I know, that’ll come to a head this season with a championship at stake. But just in case it doesn’t, let’s get these programs on the field and let their fan bases argue over who utilizes the color green best.
5. LSU
When – 2033 at Notre Dame, 2034 at LSU
Why it would work – The Brian Kelly Bowl! Duh. While Kelly obviously wouldn’t be on the LSU sideline, a matchup against the team that the former Notre Dame coach left Sound Bend for would instantly be one of the premier non-conference matchups of the year.
These teams have a somewhat bizarre habit of facing off in bowl games. Three times that happened in the last two decades, but they haven’t had a home-and-home since 1997-98.
While the aforementioned Kiffin has typically opted for light non-conference slates, it’s worth noting that LSU currently has a Power Conference foe lined up in six of the next seven seasons, including a home-and-home with Utah in 2031 and 2032 that Kiffin hasn’t stepped in and canceled yet.
Kiffin has been among the loudest in the “9-game SEC schedule is a different beast” camp, so perhaps it’s not in the cards for LSU to add a non-conference game of this magnitude.
Then again, we probably shouldn’t assume that Kiffin will still be calling shots at LSU well into the 2030s.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com/college/notredame as No Indiana? No Problem. Notre Dame Could Line Up These 5 Headliner Home-and-Home Games.
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This story was originally published August 17, 2026 at 8:07 PM.