The Notre Dame Fighting Irish have added games against the Stanford Cardinal and Kent State Golden Flashes to their future football schedules, according to announcements from the schools Wednesday.
Notre Dame and Stanford have agreed to extend their Legends Trophy Rivalry for two additional seasons. The Fighting Irish will travel to face the Cardinal at Stanford Stadium on November 27, 2027, with the return game slated for October 14, 2028 at Notre Dame Stadium.
Notre Dame and Stanford first met on the gridiron in 1924 at the Rose Bowl and have faced each other 40 times overall. The Irish have won three consecutive games against the Cardinal, including a 42-20 triumph last season, and currently lead the overall series 25-14.
The two schools are scheduled to meet this season at Notre Dame Stadium on Saturday, October 10. The game is slated for a 3:30pm ET kickoff on NBC.
Notre Dame has also added a home contest against Kent State on October 2, 2027. The game will mark the first-ever meeting between the two schools on the gridiron.
The Fighting Irish, who play as an FBS Independent, now have 12 games scheduled for the 2027 season. In addition to Kent State, teams scheduled to visit South Bend include Purdue, Auburn, Virginia Tech, Navy, BYU, and Georgia Tech.
Road opponents for Notre Dame in 2027 include Michigan State, Wake Forest (in Charlotte, N.C.), Clemson, Stanford, and Duke.
Notre Dame’s future games against ACC opponents, including in 2027, are subject to change.
UPDATE (4:55pm ET)
Notre Dame will pay Kent State a $1.3 million guarantee for their game in 2027, according to a copy of the contract obtained from Kent State University via a state open records request.
Football Schedules
Meh. Double meh.
Do you know if these games are part of the ACC scheduling arrangement with ND, or are they seperate like the Clemson v ND series?
I get why ND wants to play Stanford annually, but with longtime rivals Michigan and USC removed from the schedule for the foreseeable future, they really should try to lock Miami down for a long-term series instead of another mediocre program. It would be a natural season ending game for both teams.
Why should ND schedule anybody difficult when 11-1 will get them in the 24-team league playoff? Which, let’s be candid, will probably be en route to a 32-, 40- or 48-team playoff in two or three years.
Honestly, the only reason would be to be able to charge more for season tickets. There are a lot of Domers, but I doubt ND would be able to charge as much (or get as much in donations) if the home slate is 100% patsies.
BTW, while I’m in favor of a 24-team playoff, I don’t want to see CFP expansion past that (nor do I see more than that).
Actually, another reason:
While NBC traditionally has been VERY hands-off on ND’s scheduling (because they get ND home games at a discount; they probably need only to average 1.5mm viewers per ND home game to break even), if the Domers truly never schedule a top opponent again, NBC will step in and tell the Irish to either beef up their schedule or to expect less money.
Notre Dame football schedule is far from easy.
Plenty of good opponents
Notre Dame with very light schedules anymore. Ara Parseghian has to be rolling over in his grave.
Hawaii Dave: I’m anything but a ND fan, but this is just a dumb ignorant take. When Parseghian won his natty in 1973, ND faced in the regular season all of 2 teams that were ranked when they played: #6 USC (at home) and #20 Pitt. The rest of their schedule was all 3 military academies (LOL) + Northwestern + Purdue + Rice + MSU + Miami (when they were a lightweight program).
Compare with 2026 when ND will face 3 teams (projected to be) ranked (according to FB schedule).