Notre Dame, Ohio State schedule series, boost playoff profiles

Notre Dame and Ohio State announced a home-and-home football series for 2022 and 2023, the first time the programs will meet since 1996. The future meetings

Notre Dame and Ohio State announced a home-and-home football series for 2022 and 2023, the first time the programs will meet since 1996. The future meetings will add a high-profile matchup to bolster both teams' cases for the College Football Playoff

But what stirred the pot was that the news broke just two days before Notre Dame and Michigan play Saturday for the last time in the foreseeable future. The programs effectively put a stop to the series in 2012, when Notre Dame exercised an opt-out in the contract.

"Any time you talk about Notre Dame and Ohio State meeting in a football game, that event is automatically going to have huge national significance," Irish coach Brian Kelly said in a statement. "For fans and alumni of the two schools, not to mention college football fans in general, these games will be great attractions."

Buckeyes coach Urban Meyer is a former Notre Dame assistant -- he actually was a first-year aide to Lou Holtz in 1996 when the programs last met in the regular season -- and Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith also played and coached at Notre Dame. The schools most recently met in the 2006 Fiesta Bowl.

The matchup continues both programs' efforts to maintain noteworthy contests aimed at increasing profiles for the College Football Playoff. Ohio State will play Oklahoma, TCU, Oregon and Texas in coming seasons. Notre Dame has future home-and-homes with Texas and Georgia, among others.

"Football games between Notre Dame and Ohio State make great sense from a strength-of-schedule standpoint," Notre Dame athletics director Jack Swarbrick said in a statement.

Notre Dame will travel to Columbus on Sept. 3, 2022 and then the Irish will host the Buckeyes on Sept. 23, 2023 in South Bend.

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