The Notre Dame Fighting Irish have announced kickoff times for their home football games in 2026, which includes six contests at Notre Dame Stadium and one neutral-site game.
The Fighting Irish open the 2026 season on Sunday, September 6, against Wisconsin at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wisc. The game will air on NBC and stream on Peacock in primetime at 7:30pm ET.
Notre Dame’s home schedule begins in Week 2 on Saturday, September 12, when the Irish host Rice at Notre Dame Stadium in South Bend, Ind. Kickoff is set for 3:30pm ET on NBC and Peacock.
Two additional home games are also locked into 3:30pm ET starts on NBC and Peacock: Stanford on Saturday, October 10, and Boston College on Saturday, November 14.
The Irish will play three primetime home games in 2026, each kicking off at 7:30pm ET on NBC and Peacock — Michigan State on September 19, Miami (FL) on November 7, and SMU on November 21.
Kickoff times and television designations for Notre Dame’s road games at Purdue (Sept. 26), North Carolina (Oct. 3), BYU (Oct. 17), Navy in Foxborough, Mass. (Oct. 31), and Syracuse (Nov. 28) will be announced at a later date.
Notre Dame finished the 2025 season 10–2 in its fourth year under head coach Marcus Freeman. After not being selected for the 12‑team College Football Playoff, the Irish elected not to participate in a postseason bowl game.
2026 Notre Dame Home Football Schedule
* All times Eastern.
Sunday, Sept. 6
vs. Wisconsin – 7:30pm, NBC/Peacock
at Lambeau Field – Green Bay, Wisc.
Saturday, Sept. 12
vs. Rice – 3:30pm, NBC/Peacock
Saturday, Sept. 19
vs. Michigan State – 7:30pm, NBC/Peacock
Saturday, Oct.10
vs. Stanford – 3:30pm, NBC/Peacock
Saturday, Nov. 7
vs. Miami FL – 7:30pm, NBC/Peacock
Saturday, Nov. 14
vs. Boston College – 3:30pm, NBC/Peacock
Saturday, Nov. 21
vs. SMU – 7:30pm, NBC/Peacock
FOOTBALL SCHEDULES
A night game in South Bend on November 21—-going to be rather frigid.
ND likely prefers that vs. a bunch of southern boys from SMU. Even the early Nov night game will likely be a bit chillier than what most Miami players are use to.
And this helps out the B10 and NBC as many B10 teams don’t like to play late Nov night games and in fact, some B10 schools limit whether they may be played (limiting NBC’s options).
I fully support Big Ten teams for example Michigan that have no interest in playing games under the lights in late November.
Sorry to bring up Z-Man & I defiantly do not miss his post that he wants to see night games in late November in cold weather cities like Ann Arbor so he can watch players & fans get frostbites.
Dang, Dan! Z-man can’t a break with you! He caught a stray without even posting!
Sorry to be somewhat mean
FBS Schedules is excellent without Z-Man & I most Defiantly do not miss his laughingstock proposals which was a major distraction to this web page.
I apologize for attacking Z-Man so please forgive me.
So, no Peacock exclusive game, interesting.
Nor NBCSN for that matter
Apparently the ND-Purdue game is rumored to be slated for Peacock to fulfill the Peacock contractual agreement, despite being a Purdue/B1G hosted event.
Either Noon or 3:30PM kickoff would be fantastic for Peacock.
I wonder why they didn’t choose the 3:30 ET time spot? 2 good games at night on Sunday at the same time…
When can we expect the rest of the times for games to be released? Sometime this month?…
Short answer is because NBC wants to have a game on in some sport every Sunday night of the year. They seem to think that’s smart.
But I can’t say I understand why they didn’t announce the ND-Wisconsin game time long in advance, since we’ve long known NBC’s thinking, daring ABC to schedule Ole Miss-Louisville head-to-head.
It was May 29 last year.
Jon- Look for most of the other games to fall under that 6-12 day window during the season. The networks normally only release the first three weeks of their schedule for promotional purposes (a.k.a. upfronts) but the rest of the season falls under that 6-12 day window. So we won’t know the other game times until then. The exception might be the Purdue game which is rumored to be a Peacock exclusive game falling under the Big Ten/NBC media rights.
I’m really curious which will be the PSU White Out game this year, as they have to announce that game months in advance, so either has to be NBC’s first choice that week (that they pick before the season starts) or so bad that it isn’t likely to be a top 3 pick.
USC is the only top-tier opponent on PSU’s home slate this year, but it’s unlikely that NBC would be willing to lock USC@PSU before the season starts. And if they don’t, USC@PSU isn’t guaranteed to be a night game.
That leaves Wisconsin@PSU (likely shown on FS1).
Why are they trying to compete with an objectively better game week 1 on Sunday. Gonna make that Sunday afternoon kinda boring too
Objectively better? Nah, that’s a subjective opinion. ND and even Wisconsin traditionally have been bigger TV draws than those other 2 teams too.
But anyway, I’ll copy and paste:
Short answer is because NBC wants to have a game on in some sport every Sunday night of the year. They seem to think that’s smart.
But I can’t say I understand why they didn’t announce the ND-Wisconsin game time long in advance, since we’ve long known NBC’s thinking, daring ABC to schedule Ole Miss-Louisville head-to-head.
Easiest schedule in FBS. Only playing 4 winning teams from last year. A joke!
Where is Z man?
Earlier in year I warned Z-Man to please put an end to his laughingstock proposals for example: Racist Mason-Dixon CFP format, CFP games being played in cold weather cities like Green Bay, Cleveland & New York, Decreasing conference games & increasing rivalry games, Increasing CFB games on Thanksgiving Day which really belongs to NFL, Realignment idea that was none of his business & kept posting repeatedly with his proposals which became a major distraction.
I am very blessed & happy that Z-Man said bye, bye.