When looking at the 2021 schedule and trying to find its hardest matchups, most Notre Dame Fighting Irish fans look to the middle stretch of the season, which contains matchups against the Wisconsin Badgers, Cincinnati Bearcats, USC Trojans and North Carolina Tar Heels. And they are right to do so - the past performance of those teams makes it easy to anticipate a tough contest. We know those games are going to be hard.
But in the wild landscape of college football, it’s often the team you don’t expect - the underdog, the wild card - that sneaks up on you.