Notre Dame doesn’t usually announce any scheduling news until the entire season’s slate is set. But here’s guessing athletic director Jack Swarbrick was fine making this one exception.
Just two days before Notre Dame and Michigan will play their final scheduling meeting, Notre Dame and Ohio State announced a scheduling agreement for the two schools to play a two-game series in 2022 and 2023. This will be the first regular-season meeting for the two teams since 1996.
“I am excited we are able once again to bring these two programs together on the football field,” Swarbrick said in a release. “Football games between Notre Dame and Ohio State make great sense from a strength-of-schedule standpoint. In addition, with (Ohio State athletics director) Gene Smith having both played and coached football at Notre Dame--and with (Ohio State head coach) Urban Meyer having served as an assistant football coach at Notre Dame--there are some obvious, high-profile connections between our two institutions.”
Ohio State and Notre Dame last met in the Fiesta Bowl following the 2005 season, with the Buckeyes beating Charlie Weis’ Irish 34-20. Ohio State leads the series between the two Midwest powers 3-2, a surprisingly rare event considering the geographical footprint the two programs share.
“Any time you talk about Notre Dame and Ohio State meeting in a football game, that event automatically is going to have huge national significance,” Irish head coach Brian Kelly said in the same release. “For fans and alumni of the two schools, not to mention college football fans in general, these games will be great attractions.”