There's a budding trend of backing out of difficult non-conference regular season College Football games that several SEC big-name programs have recently partaken in.
The Alabama Crimson Tide already cancelled a home-and-home series with the West Virginia Mountaineers set for 2026 and 2027, and is likely about to do the same for their 2026/2027 series with the Ohio State Buckeyes.
The Georgia Bulldogs cancelled a 2026/2027 series with the Louisville Cardinals and a 2033/2034 series with the NC State Wolfpack. And for good measure, the Texas Longhorns cancelled a 2032/2033 series with the Arizona State Sun Devils.
The Notre Dame Fighting Irish might be the next casualty of losing a major home-and-home series with an SEC school.
Notre Dame writer predicts Texas series to be cancelled because of Indiana
Notre Dame Fighting Irish On SI's Nick Shepkowski sees the Longhorns coming for a 2028/2029 series with the Catholics next. Shepkowski made an interesting point about why Texas shouldn't be blamed for scheduling an easy opponent:
The defending national champion Indiana Hoosiers didn't challenge themselves at all during their three non-conference games.
"Based on recent news ... is it a sure thing that Texas follows through with the Notre Dame games as currently scheduled? When you look to place blame for it happening this way, perhaps look no further than this past season's national champion," Shepkowski wrote.
"Indiana played the likes of Old Dominion, Indiana State, and Kennesaw State in non-conference before rattling off a 16-0 run that resulted in winning the title. It's hard to argue with the formula, and although most fans of the sport hate the idea of fewer big-time regular season games on college campuses, the need to make the playoff simply carries that much weight.
"I'd hold my breath, Notre Dame fans."
Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian has pointed to the Ohio State game at the "Shoe" in Week 1 last season as a reason why Texas didn't make the 2025/2026 CFP field. That certainly doesn't sound like someone who's ready to sign off on his team playing the Fighting Irish, even if he's not guaranteed to remain in Austin until 2028.
It's understandable why SEC schools are making this decision, since losses are held against teams so heavily, perhaps more so than wins are rewarded.
It's also objectively awful to witness. These two things can unfortunately be true at once in this case.