Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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8 NOV. 7, 2026 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED UNDER THE DOME NOTABLE DATE CHANGE FOR NOTRE DAME-KENT STATE GAME IN 2027 Notre Dame has faced marquee opponents to open the season in five of the last six seasons, many of them on the road. Navy was the lone Group of Five opponent, as the Irish faced the Midshipmen in Dublin, Ireland, in 2023. Otherwise, the Irish played at Florida State in 2021, at Ohio State in 2022, at Texas A&M in 2024, at Miami in 2025 and at a neutral site against Wisconsin earlier this fall. In the true road games during that stretch, the Irish went 2-2. Notre Dame hasn't had its sea- son opener at home since 2020, when it played Duke. The drought will end in 2027. F BSc h e d u l e s.co m re p o r te d Oct. 20 that the Irish will open the season against Kent State on Aug. 28, 2027. The game was previously scheduled for Oct. 2, which was announced back in May. It will be the first time the teams have played. The report points out that this game will be played during Week 0 — the weekend before Labor Day weekend — which will become Week 1 moving forward. Notre Dame will pay Kent State $1.3 million to play the game, according to the game's original contract, per FBSchedules.com. — Mike Singer Women's Basketball Debuts At No. 13 In AP Poll Notre Dame women's basketball coach Niele Ivey has been adamant this offseason that three-time All- American Hannah Hidalgo has taken her game to the next level. Given a wildly ambitious Irish non- conference schedule, the 5-foot-7 point guard will need to help elevate her teammates' play to live up to or exceed the No. 13 ranking the Irish received in the Associated Press preseason poll, which was released Oct. 20. Notre Dame is scheduled to play all four teams in the top four of the poll — No. 1 South Carolina, No. 2 Con- necticut, No. 3 Southern Cal and No. 4 Duke — and a total of seven games against the top eight. The Irish will also face No. 7 Louisville twice and No. 8 Vanderbilt. The Irish have three other top-25 teams on their schedule: No. 12 North Carolina, No. 24 West Virginia and No. 25 NC State. Notre Dame opened the season for real Nov. 1 in Rome, Italy, against Vil- lanova, a team that was in the "also receiving votes" part of the poll. The Irish started slowly last season, going 12-8 before clicking late and finishing 25-11 with a run to the NCAA Tournament Elite Eight and a final ranking of No. 9 in the AP poll. "I think we have more depth in different positions," Ivey said of her newcomer-heavy squad. "And so, just having more versatility, more size, more athleticism, I think that's going to help us come together maybe quicker. But they're going to be in the fire, so they have to learn very fast. "We have a great practice squad, and they're really pushing us to our limit. And I think that's helping us. But, yeah, this group has to — they have to learn in real time. And so I can never pre- dict when that's going to happen. That's my prayer, that we can be consistent and we can find our groove earlier than we did last season." — Eric Hansen Niele Ivey's Fighting Irish enter the season ranked No. 13 in the preseason AP poll and face a schedule featuring seven games against teams ranked in the top eight. PHOTO BY MICHAEL MILLER Football Injury Report On Oct. 26, Notre Dame fifth-year cornerback DJ McKinney was ruled out for the game against Navy Oct. 31 due to a right ankle injury. A few days later, head coach Marcus Freeman told reporters that McKinney would miss an extended period of time, but is expected back at some point this season. The Irish also listed senior tight end Cooper Flanagan (left ham- string), junior defensive end Loghan Thomas (right shoulder), junior linebacker Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa (left thumb) and sophomore cor- nerback Mark Zackery IV (concussion) as questionable for the Navy contest. Notre Dame ruled out Flanagan before the BYU game due to the same injury. While Viliamu-Asa played a season-high 36 de- fensive snaps against BYU, he missed the Stanford game Oct. 10 be- cause of his thumb injury. Junior safety Brauntae Johnson remained out with the left foot injury he sustained against Wisconsin Sept. 6. Coming out of the bye week, the Irish were still without senior offensive linemen Charles Jagusah (left humerus) and Chris Terek (right knee), sophomore defensive lineman Christopher Burgess Jr. (left tibia) and freshman defensive lineman Tiki Hola (right knee). They have missed every game this season. Jagusah, Terek and Hola also did not participate in fall camp. — Kyle Kelly 2027 NOTRE DAME FOOTBALL SCHEDULE Date Opponent Aug. 28 Kent State Sept. 4 Purdue Sept. 18 at Michigan State Sept. 25 Auburn Oct. 9 vs. Wake Forest* Oct. 30 at Clemson Nov. 6 Virginia Tech Nov. 20 Navy Nov. 27 at Stanford TBA BYU TBA at Virginia TBA at Duke * Duke's Mayo Classic in Char- lotte, N.C. Fifth-year cornerback DJ McKinney was ruled out for Notre Dame's Oct. 31 matchup against Navy after suffering a right ankle injury in the loss at BYU Oct. 17. PHOTO BY MICHAEL MILLER