Notre Dame has hosted two top-10 matchups since 2018, beating No. 7 Stanford then and No. 1 Clemson last year. Back in 2018, the thought that a top-10 tilt in South Bend would soon feature not only Cincinnati but a favored No. 7 Cincinnati (3-0) would have been nearly incomprehensible, even if the Bearcats went 11-2 in 2018 and finished the year in the top 25.
Cincinnati has won 34 of its last 40 games, not quite the pace of the Irish going 37-5 since the start of the 2018 season, but by no means have the Bearcats come out of nowhere in 2021.