30 days until Notre Dame football: Ranking each month on the schedule

BlueandGold.com will release a countdown article highlighting a significant Notre Dame football statistic every day until the 2024 season opener at Texas A&M at 7:30 p.m. ET on Aug. 31 in College Station, Texas. Today, there are 30 days until the Irish and Aggies kick off at Kyle Field.

Fall camp began Wednesday morning. And now, Notre Dame will play a football game this month.

To celebrate the occasion, here’s every month (with August and September combined into one) on the 2024 Fighting Irish schedule ranked from easiest to most difficult.

3. October

• Oct. 12: Stanford
• Oct. 19: at Georgia Tech (Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Ga.)
• Oct. 26: Navy (MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J.)

It would be a disaster the Irish lost a game in October. Georgia Tech has the potential to be a solid team and make a respectable bowl game, but a team with Notre Dame’s aspirations can’t lose to the Yellow Jackets.

Stanford is making progress under second-year head coach Troy Taylor , but the Cardinal is still at least a year away. The Irish played about as poorly as they could have possibly played in the first half last season in Palo Alto, Calif. and still won comfortably. Notre Dame shouldn’t have an issue with Navy, either.

2. August/September

• Aug. 31: at Texas A&M
• Sept. 7: Northern Illinois
• Sept. 14: at Purdue
• Sept. 21: Miami (OH)
• Sept. 28: Louisville

Texas A&M, on the road, in the southern August heat, is a difficult matchup. Throw in Aggies head coach Mike Elko knowing senior Irish quarterback Riley Leonard like the back of his hand and this is likely Notre Dame’s most difficult game.

And then… the Irish don’t leave the state of Indiana the rest of the month.

Northern Illinois, Purdue and Miami (OH) should all be easy wins. Louisville will be a good team and could be a dark horse for the Atlantic Coast Conference title, but after what happened last season, Notre Dame is not letting the Cardinals enter South Bend and leave with a win.

1. November

• Nov. 9: Florida State
• Nov. 16: Virginia
• Nov. 23: Army (Yankee Stadium in Bronx, N.Y.)
• Nov. 30: at USC

Sandwiching gimmes against Virginia and Army, Florida State and USC are tough matchups for Notre Dame.

While the Seminoles are not the same team that began the season 13-0 in 2023, they reloaded in the transfer portal enough to be a more than dangerous opponent. At USC, the Trojans made significant improvements to the back end of their defense. Plus, the home team in the Notre Dame-USC rivalry is 9-1 in its last 10 games.

If the Irish survive Texas A&M, they might not be seriously challenged until November. But the season’s final month includes two tough tests.

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