New ACC decision moves Notre Dame football closer to permanent home

Notre Dame football needs the ACC

It’s a bitter pill to swallow for the many Irish fans who consider their Independence as cherished and irreplaceable, but the looming prospect of could-have-beens facing the Irish paint a grim picture: Notre Dame football needs the ACC.

When the Big Ten and Pac-12 announced that they would be playing only in-conference games for 2020, Notre Dame immediately felt the impact in the form of canceled games against Wisconsin, Stanford, and USC.

If all other FBS conference teams followed this move, would the Irish be left with a schedule of home-and-home games against the likes of Liberty and New Mexico State?

Among current FBS Independents, BYU is a respectable foe and the Army rivalry is a special series that dates back to 1913. If Notre Dame didn’t have its unique arrangement with the ACC, however — the Irish were already scheduled to play six ACC opponents, and most of its other sports compete in the conference formally — it would be left with the prospect of only six other teams against which to schedule games.

Consider that in 1978, the first year in which the NCAA split into Division I-A and I-AA, there were 32 schools competing as Independents at the top level. That number is now seven, with the addition of UConn this season after its ouster from the AAC.

Notre Dame’s national brand is equalled by perhaps no other college football team. Its unique NBC contract grants it flexibility, exposure, and status as one the nation’s best teams. But if the ACC’s football members had decided to pull the rug out from underneath the Irish, what would the 2020 campaign have looked like?

It’s unlikely that NBC would want to continue a media rights deal that features Saturday afternoons of the Irish taking on Liberty and UMass. Losing the possibility of playing treasured rivalry games against Michigan, Purdue, USC, Stanford, and Ohio State hurts — especially if the 2021 football season will be affected by the current pandemic.

What’s clear from today’s announcement is that Notre Dame football needs the ACC, one of NCAA football’s power conferences. And this need might extend beyond the 2020 season.