Notre Dame football schedule 2025: Analyzing the Fighting Irish’s path back to College Football Playoff

Notre Dame is fresh off an impressive run to the College Football Playoff National Championship, taking full advantage of the first year of the 12-team format while marching to Atlanta as the No. 7 seed. As the calendar turns to the offseason, all of the focus now is centered entirely on whether the Fighting Irish will run it back in 2025. 

With how coach Marcus Freeman has recruited and developed talent — Notre Dame has improved its win total in each of their three years under his guidance — the Irish certainly project as one of the top teams in college football next season. CBS Sports’ Dennis Dodd ranked Notre Dame No. 6 in his way-too-early Top 25. 

Now we know the path that Notre Dame will have to take back to the postseason as the Fighting Irish recently their entire 2025 slate of games this past week. Given that Notre Dame is an independent, the regular season is its only chance to build a résumé for the selection committee to consider. 

Notre Dame 2025 football schedule: 

Notre Dame stacked its 2025 schedule with marquee games against power conference opponents and some recent contenders from the Group of Five level. The Fighting Irish have to face off against two SEC teams, two Big Ten teams and six ACC teams in 2025. 

Their schedule seems especially front-loaded. They open the year on the road against a potential preseason top-10 team in Miami. That contest will give an early indication of either team’s standing, though, as Notre Dame demonstrated with its loss to Northern Illinois in 2024 that early season results aren’t the be all, end all for a season. 

Notre Dame will have plenty of chances to stack strong wins after that Miami game, and in short order. The Irish host a possible top-15 team in Texas A&M on Sept. 15 and travel to Arkansas on Sept. 27. A home tilt against historic rival Purdue is sandwiched between those two SEC clashes. 

So, in the first month of the season, Notre Dame has to play two likely ranked opponents and three schools from either the SEC or the Big Ten. That’s a prime opportunity to stack meaningful wins and immediately bury any questions about strength of schedule — a hot-button topic anytime the College Football Playoff is discussed. 

Notre Dame’s showdown against Boise State the first weekend of October is particularly interesting. The Broncos won 12 games in 2024, captured the Mountain West championship and earned a first-round bye in the College Football Playoff. They retained plenty of talent during the winter transfer window, though they lost All-American running back Ashton Jeanty to the NFL Draft and are shaping up to be a Group of Five front runner once more. 

Staying in the Group of Five ranks, Notre Dame also hosts a Navy team that won 10 games, capped by a victory against Oklahoma in the Armed Forces Bowl, in 2024. The Midshipmen return star quarterback Blake Horvath, who finished the 2024 campaign with 30 total touchdowns. 

Games against USC and Syracuse also stand out as significant challenges later in the year. The Orange, especially, blew out all expectations by posting a 10-3 record in their first year under coach Fran Brown. Given Brown’s reputation as a recruiter, the expectation is that Syracuse will continue to improve every year. 

Overall, in 2025, Notre Dame has to play four teams that won at least 10 games last season and nine that qualified for the postseason in some capacity, be it the College Football Playoff or a bowl game. All five of its away games come against Power Four opponents. 

It’s not going to be an easy road back for the Irish. That first month presents a tremendous hurdle, and Notre Dame’s record in that four-game stretch will likely define what kind of team the Fighting Irish are in 2025. 

But scheduling such a challenging slate does come with some upside. Freeman’s squad should have plenty of leeway as it navigates the path — so much so that, at the bare minimum, a 10-win Notre Dame team seems like a virtual lock to make the 12-team College Football Playoff field.