Notre Dame sent serious warning for season finale

Because of an easy schedule, Notre Dame didn’t have much margin of error last season when they lost two games to eventual College Football Playoff programs Miami and Texas A&M.

Other than the Hurricanes and Aggies, USC was the only real threat on the schedule and team the Fighting Irish could beat to pad their resume. In the end, a win over the Trojans wasn’t enough to make the CFP.

With USC off the schedule this year, ND’s margin for error is much slimmer with only BYU, Miami, and maybe SMU being quality teams on the schedule.

Steven Lasson of Athlon Sports thinks the Irish could have a trap game during their season finale against Syracuse, and that could be a problem for head coach Marcus Freeman’s push to return to the CFP.

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“With a relatively manageable overall schedule, finding an obvious trap game for the Fighting Irish isn’t easy,” Lassan wrote. “A road matchup at BYU is one of the toughest contests on Notre Dame’s ’26 slate, so let’s look beyond that date for another game that could be tricky for coach Marcus Freeman’s team.

“Could the season finale at Syracuse present more of a challenge than most expect? The Orange have displayed an ability to punch above their weight under coach Fran Brown, and former Notre Dame quarterback Steve Angeli will be eager to get revenge against his former squad.”

Syracuse will come into that game motivated for payback after Notre Dame punished them in 2025. The Irish blew out Syracuse 70-7 on Nov. 22 as they tried to make a statement to the CFP selection committee.

Angeli didn’t play in the game due to injury, and Syracuse didn’t have a chance against a much better Irish team.

Notre Dame should get past the Orange this season, and they’ll need to make a statement in the game as the Irish battle for seeding in the CFP.

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