New ACC decision moves Notre Dame football closer to permanent home
By John Scimeca
The ACC’s decision to play a 10-game conference schedule includes Notre Dame football. Is the move a bad sign for the future of Irish independence?
The ACC recently announced that its teams, including Notre Dame, will play a 10-game conference schedule for the 2020 football season. One non-conference game is allowed for each school as long as the game takes place in the team’s own home state.
Unique to the 2020 season, Notre Dame’s football team will be among the 15 teams competing for a berth in the ACC championship game at the end of the regular season. There will be no divisions.
According to the new schedule, Notre Dame will face Florida State, Louisville, Duke, Syracuse and Clemson at home and Pitt, Boston College, Georgia Tech, Wake Forest and UNC on the road. The Fighting Irish have not determined the one non-conference opponent yet.
Notre Dame was scheduled to face Arkansas and Western Michigan at home and Navy on the road in an already-rescheduled game that was originally supposed to take place in Ireland. The status of these three games is now up in the air.
Though the circumstances surrounding the upcoming 2020 season are decidedly unusual, what’s the “big picture” impact on Notre Dame as college football’s premier and fiercely proud Independent?