Exactly one week ago, Notre Dame released its 2021-22 nonconference schedule. Now, we know when and how often the Irish will be playing every ACC opponent as the full schedule now is available. In fact, every team in the conference had its schedule unveiled in a special on the ACC Network. Why they couldn’t have just released everyone’s schedule at the same time is anyone’s guess, but ultimately, that doesn’t matter as much as the mere release of the schedule.
As you’ll see below, the Irish will have a home-and-home with six conference opponents. The remaining eight opponents will be split evenly at one location or the other. One conference game will be played in the middle of the nonconference schedule, and it will be ACC opponents from the last week of 2021 on except for the game at Howard on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Here are the games that really will count toward a return to March Madness, so plan accordingly: