[Bette]

Nevada, Washington, Washington State and Connecticut aren't exactly a murderer's row.
They are all playing Notre Dame this year, however, and are why nearly every season preview about the Fighting Irish mentions something about the schedule not being as challenging as in years past.
The NCAA rated the school's schedule as the nation's toughest in 1978, 1985, 1987, 1989 and 1995. As recently as 2003, the schedule was ranked third-hardest in the nation and in 2004 it was seventh.


Those days aren't likely to return any time soon. The Irish this year begin a new scheduling philosophy that calls for seven home games, four away games and a game at a neutral stadium that counts as a home game, meaning it will be aired by NBC.

Notre Dame faces scheduling challenges with 7-4-1 - College football- nbcsports.msnbc.com