Below are my rankings of Notre Dame’s 2013 opponent’s. If there is a consistent theme to the schedule it’s that for the second consecutive year, Notre Dame will be facing tough defenses throughout. In 2012 ND faced six teams who finished in the top 20 for overall team defense, including three of the top four.
With another top 25 defense joining the schedule (Arizona State) expect another season of close and relatively low scoring games. From worst to first, below are my rankings:
12. Navy: Navy gets the nod over Temple based on timing. When Notre Dame faces Navy in early November they’ll have spent the previous week preparing Air Force’s triple option. Depth is also a concern. By November teams are banged up with injuries and service academies are thin on talent to begin the season. Like Air Force, Navy’s best players wouldn’t crack ND’s two-deep. This makes Navy winning three out of four from 2007-2010 all the more remarkable.
11. Temple: Not much to say about Temple other than it’s nice to have an opening week gimmie. So with the 2013 season less than 100 days out, here are the first weekend games I’ll be watching:
• UNC vs. South Carolina (Thursday night) – South Carolina has really made the opening night game their thing.
• Boise State vs. Washington: Only included because I have a thing for Boise State.
• LSU vs. TCU: LSU should be 10-12 point favorites. Take TCU and thank me later.
• FSU vs. Pitt: Pitt will probably be double digit underdogs as well. Pick ‘em straight-up.
• UGA vs. Clemson: Lots of talent but not a lot of coaching.
• V-Tech vs. Alabama: It’s hard to say the SEC doesn’t play outside their conference when arguably the four best SEC teams have marquee matchups in week one.
10. @Air Force: The real challenge with Air Force will be getting up to play a game at altitude in a small stadium, the week after USC. Did you know Air Force has the second highest elevation of any stadium in college football? The Air Force game will also be the first non-nationally televised ND game since they played at Air Force in 2006. Find a good sportsbar. 
9. @Purdue: Trap game. @Purdue is the week after arguably the most important game of the season at Michigan. The ND game means everything for Purdue players and fans. It will most likely be Purdue’s only sell-out and nationally televised game all year.
Purdue’s new head coach is a complete unknown. Regardless, he inherits a team that should have beaten the only two undefeated teams in the FBS in 2012 (Ohio State and Notre Dame). Under Hope, Purdue annually struggled in the recruiting rankings, but turned out a handful of pros along their lines. I think Purdue surprises some folks in 2013, hopefully ND is not one of them.
8. USC: A primetime game vs. USC only being the #8 toughest speaks to the difficulty of ND’s schedule. But ND is due for a blowout win against USC and I sense this is the year. Unless Haden botches the next head coaching hire, USC may never be worse than 2013-2014 as sanctions and bad coaching are not a recipe for college football success.
Of course this could be a Bob Davie/Wayne Fontes type season for Lane Kiffin. A season where USC wins just enough to justify another year. Unless USC can beat ND or UCLA, 7-5 is probably not good enough for USC fans so Kiffin will have to find eight wins on a tough schedule. Don’t bet on it.
7. @Pitt: I like what I’m seeing from Paul Chryst. Turning down the Wisconsin job and kicking your best player off the team sends a message. Chryst is also developing a massive offensive line like he had in Madison which is the right blueprint for a Pennsylvania school. With Penn State more or less on sanctions till the next decade, Chryst can turn Pittsburgh into the dominate college football team in the state.
As for this fall, the timing is good however, with ND coming off two weeks of playing service academies and Pitt coming back from a road trip at Georgia Tech.
6. BYU: Perhaps the most underrated win of 2012 for ND was beating BYU with Golson on the sidelines. In 2012 BYU finished with the #3 ranked defense in the nation. Most of that defense returns including their all-American linebacker. BYU is well coached with a mobile QB who moves the chains. There aren’t a lot of playmakers on offense but BYU stood toe to toe with ND last year so any intimidation factor is gone. This will be a battle.
5. ASU (Cowboys Stadium): Lots of folks are high on Arizona State after Todd Graham went 8-5 in his first season. ASU returns 15 starters, loaded up on JUCOs, and is predicted by many to win the Pac-12 South. ND also gets Arizona State the week after Oklahoma so the letdown factor is in play.
After playing Army, Maryland and Miami in the first three years of the neutral site games, ASU will be the first big test of the so-called “Shamrock series” games.
4. Michigan State: MSU somehow hung onto their defensive coordinator Pat Narduzzi so expect another top 10 defense. Last season, State finished with the #4 ranked defense in the land. We didn’t see much from State’s highly touted QB in 2012, but college QB’s traditionally make a big jump between their sophomore and junior years.
MSU plays nobody in their opening three games (Cent. Mich, USF, and Youngstown State) so they’ll come into South Bend highly ranked.
3. @Stanford: Year three is the proving grounds for college football coaches. Thus far, Shaw has exceeded expectations following Harbaugh. Will he continue Stanford’s dominate run or slowly fade like many coaches do starting year three? Shaw exhibits an NFL demeanor on the sidelines and with the bulk of Stanford’s starters now having played exclusively under Shaw, will they bring the same intensity we saw from Harbaugh’s teams?
Expect a more talented but less physical Stanford team than past years. I’d be surprised if this is the top ten showdown most are predicting. As for timing, ND benefits from getting Stanford on the road during Thanksgiving break which means about a third of the crowd will be Irish fans.
2. @Michigan: Michigan regressed in year two under Hoke. Big Blue scored four less points per game than 2011 and gave up three more per game. This concerns me a little bit if I’m a Michigan fan because historically the great coaches see their teams improve from year one to year two.
Saban, Meyer, Stoops, Chip Kelly, Brian Kelly, Jim Harbaugh, Pete Carroll, Lou Holtz all saw their average margin of victory improve in year two. That said, Hoke enjoyed such a successful first season that it was nearly impossible to duplicate the success given the talent level at Michigan. The rule is also far iron clad as Carr’s ’96 squad actually regressed before going undefeated in 1997. And there is no doubt Hoke is recruiting talent that hasn’t been in Ann Arbor since the late 90s.
The timing of this game is ideal for both teams. It will be the first big weekend of the fall, in front of 115,000 fans, it’s what college football is all about. But like Shaw, the question mark about Hoke headed into year three puts them a spot behind…
1. Oklahoma: Coaching and timing are the two reasons for Oklahoma being in the top spot. With a national title and a handful of runner-up finishes, Stoops is by far the most decorated coach ND faces in 2013. Oklahoma also gets a week off before traveling to South Bend, whereas ND comes off a three week stretch of Michigan, Purdue and Michigan State.
Expect a resurgence from Oklahoma in 2013. Blake Bell is a poor man’s Tebow who will win a lot of games over the next two seasons. Oklahoma was humbled in Norman last season and the trip to South Bend will be their first true test of 2013. This should be the toughest game of what appears to be a very difficult schedule.
The ACC Report 