When I remember to do it, I like to rate the potential trap games on the Notre Dame schedule for our fair site on a scale of 1 to 10 Ackbars in honor of the greatest admiral in the history of the Rebel Alliance/Resistance. I failed to do it last year. Suffice it to say I would not have included Marshall or Stanford on my list of trap games. I guess that they didn’t look to be a trap at first is exactly what made them a trap?

In any case, the 2023 schedule kicks off this very weekend, so let’s take a look at the games that could be traps this year. In my infinite wisdom, I am only looking at two candidates, just because of the way the schedule falls.

@ Duke, 9/30

Where it falls for ND: Between Ohio State 9/23 and @ Louisville 10/7

Where it falls for Duke: Between @ UConn 9/23 and an open date 10/7

You could argue both Duke and Louisville constitute a two-week trap, both being road games that fall the two weeks between Ohio State and USC, the obvious standouts of the first half of Notre Dame’s schedule. But for consistency’s sake, we’ll limit our traps to one game.

And boy oh boy, does this Duke game scream ‘trap’. First of all, while the casual observer might say, ‘Well, it’s Duke,’ the informed college football fan knows better. The Blue Devils enjoyed a great first season under new coach and old ND friend Mike Elko last year, going 9-4. The schedule, granted, wasn’t the toughest, as they avoided Clemson and Florida State, but Duke didn’t lose a single game by multiple possessions in 2022, while handling several opponents. They’ve been recruiting well by their standards, not surprising considering the success Elko had in that area at Texas A&M. The school recently awarded Elko a contract extension, probably to keep him from being poached by Northwestern.

Not for nothing, they’re also the most recent team to defeat a team quarterbacked by Sam Hartman, having edged Wake Forest in last year’s regular-season finale. And wouldn’t it be nice if that remained the case headed into this game?

Regardless of the outcome of the Ohio State game, the Irish are sure to be physically and emotionally spent afterwards and will have to respond. I suppose the good news is that Marcus Freeman already knows what happens when his team fails to do that after playing Ohio State, so the coaching staff should, at least, be sharp.

Duke has designated this matchup its homecoming game. If Elko is able to author an upset of Clemson in the 2023 season opener, the Devils would likely be undefeated at kickoff here, which would make this probably the biggest home game in Duke history, for whatever that’s worth. There are traps left and right. I’m handing this one a perfect 10 Ackbars, especially if ND wins over the Buckeyes.

Pittsburgh, 10/28

Where it falls for ND: Between an open date 10/21 and @ Clemson 11/4

Where it falls for Pitt: Between @ Wake Forest 10/21 and Florida State 11/4

There are several reasons, on paper, this could qualify as a trap. The most obvious is that it is the only game ND plays between the USC game Oct. 14 and the Clemson game Nov. 4. It’s in the ‘dog days’ part of the schedule where the season hasn’t just started but it’s also not all that close to over. Pitt is a team that is almost never good enough to beat ND on the Irish’s better days, but almost always good enough to beat a team like ND if the Irish have a bad day.

However, there are also a few things working against this game’s trappiness. First, the open date. ND will have a week to decompress (and take finals, yippee) after the USC game, whatever its outcome. In general, trap games don’t fall after open dates. Second, given history, there’s at least a 25% chance Pat Narduzzi says something stupid about Notre Dame in the lead-up to this one that could serve as easy motivational material for the Irish.

And third, of course, is…Wait, this freaking guy again?

ND will, yet again, be playing against a team Phil Jurkovec is playing for. Jurkovec transferred to Pitt for his sixth and hopefully final season of college football. Jurkovec originally committed to, and even played two seasons for, Chip Long! How is this dude still here?

Anyway, Jurkovec (and C’Bo Flemister, another ‘how is this dude still here’ ND transfer on Pitt) probably doesn’t even know anyone left on the ND roster at this point, but that may not even matter. He launched a dumb Instagram post (now deleted) last year prior to the ND-BC game he didn’t even play in that might have set a world record for most annoying grudge except for the fact that this is college football and it’s built on annoying grudges. Marcus Freeman, who hadn’t even been DC at Cincinnati for a full game yet when Jurkovec first committed to the Irish, might or might not have subtweeted Jurkovec after ND’s bludgeoning win in which BC plainly did not want to be there. Hopefully, the issue comes up again enough to mitigate any potential bye-week rust or lack of focus.

Weird Jurkovec stuff aside, with Clemson on deck and this being a potentially tough opponent, I do think there are trap vibes here. I’m going to give this one 7 out of 10 Ackbars.