Notre Dame, Cal Announce Addition to 2022 Irish Home Schedule
Notre Dame is getting closer to filling out its 2022 schedule after announcing with Cal on Monday that the Golden Bears will travel to South Bend in 2022 for a one-game series in Notre Dame Stadium on September 17, 2022. It will be the first meeting between the schools since 1967.
The financial details of the deal between the schools are fascinating, with Notre Dame paying Cal $1.9 million for making the trip from the west coast to Indiana for the early season matchup. Cal, likely motivated by the $1.9 million and opportunity to play in Notre Dame Stadium, had to move a game against UNLV to accommodate the scheduling.
The payout for Cal is more than some other recent payouts for one game agreements with schools like Marshall ($1.25 million also in 2022) and Cincinnati ($1.2 million in 2021).
Mark your calendars ?
AdvertisementWe’re headed to South Bend! pic.twitter.com/kSOV1YjKog
— Cal Football (@CalFootball) January 27, 2020
While the game will be the first meeting between the schools since 1967, it will be the fourth meeting overall. Notre Dame has won all four prior meetings. In the most recent meeting in 1967, #1 ranked Notre Dame beat Cal 41-8 at Notre Dame Stadium under Ara Parseghian. Ara led the Irish to a 48-6 victory at Cal the year before as well. In a very random bit of trivia, Joe Kuharich led the Irish to a win over the Marv Levy coached Bears in 1960. Levy would later go on to coach the Buffalo Bills to four straight Super Bowl losses in the late ’80s/early ’90s.
With Cal added to the 2022 slate, the Irish have just two more open spots to fill. Notre Dame hosts Marshall, Navy, Clemson, Stanford, and Boston College in addition to Cal while traveling to Ohio State, USC, North Carolina, and Syracuse.
Depending on how things shake out here the next two seasons, that could be a rather daunting schedule with Ohio State and Clemson not showing any signs of slowing down. By then, USC will likely have a new head coach and perhaps one that will make USC more of a problem than they have been under Clay Helton. Cal and North Carolina are also both programs that have been improving in recent years.
Of course, a lot can change in two years, and schedules have a way of evening out by the time the games roll around.
Frank Vitovitch has been Co-Owner and Editor in Chief of UHND.com since joining forces with Kyle Flavin in 1999. Since that time, he has written over 2,000 articles covering Notre Dame football, recruiting, and basketball. He also works with all staff and external writers on all articles published on UHND.com. Frank's love for Notre Dame football started at a young age watching Rocket Ismail give opposing coaches ulcers in the late 1980's. By day Frank works in marketing and holds a degree in Digital Media from Drexel University. Frank's work has been cited by online/print editions of NBC Sports, ESPN, and Sports Illustrated and has been quoted on air by ESPN's Collin Cowherd. He's conducted interviews with Notre Dame legends Rocket Ismail, Randy Kinder, Lee Becton, Reggie Brooks, Michael Stonebreaker, and Ned Bolcar among others over his 20+ years of covering Notre Dame football. He's also been published in the print edition of USA Today Sports Weekly and the USA Today College Football Preview multiple times. Other Published Works/Citations for Frank Three Reasons Notre Dame Will Beat Alabama - USA Today Notre Dame Suspends WR Kevin Stepherson, RB C.J. Holmes Indefinitely - Bleacher Report Notre Dame / Ohio State Fiesta Bowl Preview - Eleven Warriors Brace Yourself: The Fighting Irish are Relevant Again - Sports on Earth Interviews with the Enemy: A Q&A with Frank Vitovitch of UHND - Yahoo! Sports Five Good Minutes: Notre Dame Football Preview With UHND.com - BC Interruption Vicious Electronic Questioning with UHND - MGO Blog
So many errors in this article…
“While the game will be the first meeting between the schools since 1967, it will be the fourth meeting overall.” Notre Dame has won all four prior meetings.” So the 2022 game is the fourth meeting overall but somehow we have won four prior meetings.
“Levy would later go on to coach the Buffalo Bills to four straight Super Bowl losses in the late ’80s/early ’90s.” Some fact check might help you…Bills lost 4 straight Super Bowls in the 90’s (1990-1993).
God we have a weaker schedule then Alabama. Can we at least put someone on the schdule worth watching
Clemson, USC, and Ohio State in the same year is weak? Did you bother to look at the actual schedule or just blindly complain when you saw “Cal” in the headline?
Yep pretty safe to say there will be no playoffs in 2022
It’s always dangerous to predict how tough a schedule will be more than a year or two in advance. We thought this past season would be tough but a lot of our opponents underperformed.
But 2022 Clemson might be in a downward spiral (I know, doubtful…but it does happen) and Cal may be a top 10 team. Look at Temple a few years back. We happened to play them in a year they were a top 25 team. No one expected that when they were scheduled.
It’s why I usually don’t bother looking too closely at schedules more than a year from now.
Rick – how many non-SEC teams have a STRONGER schedule than BAMA, or Tennessee, or LSU, or Georgia, or Texas A&M, or Auburn, or South Carolina, or Florida, etc? There are about 110 to chooses from – I wondered if you could list a few. Thank you.
BGC ’77 ’82