Notre Dame, Auburn will finally meet after agreeing to home-and-home that starts in South Bend in 2027: Report
- - Notre Dame, Auburn will finally meet after agreeing to home-and-home that starts in South Bend in 2027: Report
Andy BackstromNovember 6, 2025 at 12:08 AM
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Notre Dame and Auburn have agreed to a home-and-home in 2027 and 2028, according to ESPN's Pete Thamel, who reported Wednesday that the series will start two seasons from now in South Bend.
The 2028 matchup will reportedly take place in Auburn, where the Fighting Irish will get their latest taste of SEC flavor. They opened last season with a game in College Station. This season, in addition to completing that home-and-home with Texas A&M, they made the trip to Arkansas to play the Razorbacks for the first time in program history.
2027 will mark another first, as Notre Dame and Auburn have never shared the gridiron before.
While the Irish cling to their independent status, they remain dependent on marquee non-conference matchups, which are increasingly rare in college football.
Auburn fits the bill. Although the Tigers are still searching for their first winning season since 2020, their fan base is among the most fervent in the sport.
Thamel reported Wednesday that discussion of the Notre Dame-Auburn series played a part in Auburn's decision to move its game against Baylor next season to a neutral site. That decision resulted in at least a $4 million payout, according to Thamel.
In its fourth season under head coach Marcus Freeman, Notre Dame is once again in the thick of the College Football Playoff conversation. The Irish have won six games in a row after suffering back-to-back one-score losses to start the 2025 season. They came in at No. 10 in the first CFP rankings.
Auburn, meanwhile, fired Hugh Freeze last weekend, bringing his stint as head coach to an abrupt end after his less than three seasons in charge of the program. Following a 3-0 start that made the Tigers the No. 22 team in the AP Top 25, they've dropped five of their next six games and far out of the polls.
Notre Dame has found something in Freeman, whereas Auburn will start the 2026 campaign with its fourth head coach in the past seven seasons.
Regardless, the programs' histories are rich, and they'll be on full display during their home-and-home series in 2027 and 2028.
Source: “AOL Sports”
