Notre Dame officially released the 2022 football schedule on Tuesday. The games had been set for a while, but we now have all of the dates officially set while we wait for start times/TV. We now also know that Marcus Freeman will coach his first regular-season game inside the Horseshow in Columbus, where he played his college ball with no game moved ahead of the September 3 showdown.
After perhaps the toughest game of the season to start the 2022 season, the Irish return home for back-to-back games against Marshall and Cal. Marshall makes their first trip to Notre Dame in what will be the home debut of Marcus Freeman. By that point, Freeman will have coached the Irish against two top-10 teams between the Fiesta Bowl and the OSU opener.
The bye week in 2022 comes after a road trip to North Carolina and before Notre Dame’s trip to Las Vegas to take on BYU in the Shamrock Series game for the year. Notre Dame last traveled to North Carolina in 2020 as part of their undefeated regular season. The BYU game marks the first time the Irish will ever play in Las Vegas.
Back-to-back home games await the Irish after their trip to Sin City – UNLV and Stanford. What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, but Vegas will be following the Irish back to South Bend with UNLV visiting Notre Dame for the first time the week after Notre Dame’s trip to Vegas.
Notre Dame wraps up October will a road game against Syracuse. As of now, we have the location listed as the Carrier Dome in Syracuse, but the last few times the two have played with Syracuse as the home team, the game has been played in Met-Life Stadium in New Jersey. Notre Dame last played at the Carrier Dome in the final game of the 2003 season – the beginning of the end for Tyrone Willingham.
Two of the next three games will take place inside Notre Dame Stadium. Clemson visits on November 5 for what will be an interesting game. Most felt the Tigers would rebound back to their recent dominant self in 2022, but Clemson already lost their AD and DC and might lose their OC. That’s a lot of change in one off-season.
Notre Dame takes on Navy in Baltimore for the first time since 2008 when the Irish nearly squandered a three-score lead in the fourth quarter because of multiple onside kicks by the Midshipmen. Notre Dame returns home for Senior Day and will host Boston College and former Irish QB Phil Jurkovec.
The season ends in California, as always, with Notre Dame’s first trip to the LA Colosseum since 2018 after the 2020 game was canceled due to COVID scheduling by the Pac-12. Notre Dame faces new USC head coach Lincoln Riley in this one.
Unlike some past years, this schedule is really constructed well with the tough games spread out. Ideally, you’d have liked for some sort of tune-up game before the Ohio State showdown, but the storyline of Marcus Freeman returning home for the first regular-season game of his career is pretty fantastic.
Kickoff times for Notre Dame home games should be released in the spring, but it would be a shock if Stanford and Clemson weren’t both night games with the others, likely normal kickoffs.
Make your Plan B preparations well in advance.
Ur welcome.