Notre Dame to ACC in everything but football

And the ACC will become the Big East. This is a terrible deal. Notre Dame isn't an actual ACC football member, but gets access to the ACC's bowl bids? Jesus. That's worth getting a home game with notre Dame once a decade?

 

They should be able to work in the annual/traditional rivals. Maybe BYU and Air Force go away.

It will make it harder to schedule series vs. Ohio State, Nebraska, Texas, etc.

 

When has Notre Dame ever scheduled directional schools? They haven't. That won't change. Everything Notre Dame does is to protect and grow its football brand, and that includes scheduling.

 

Not sure how accurate this is but this link lists ND's future schedules through 2021 and they already have several ACC games scheduled:

http://www.nationalchamps.net/NCAA/future_schedules/notredame_future.htm

2013: Pitt
2014: Pitt, Syracuse
2015: Wake, Pitt, Syracuse, BC
2016: Miami, Pitt, BC, Syracuse
2017: Miami, Syracuse
2018: BC
2019: BC

2014 and 2015 only show 11 games and neither year includes Michigan State.

Also interesting that the three road games at Syracuse are all listed as at the Meadowlands.

 

I bitched a little while ago, but I could see this working out in the long run if the "4 superconferences" thing plays out. If so, you'll have to be in one to make the playoff, so that would force ND's hand.

This should solidify the ACC (raid protection) and definitively kill off the Big East as a rival to become a superconference. It's pretty obvious that the SEC, Big 10 and the PAC-10 have three spots locked up...it's between the ACC and the Big 12 for the other. This does make the ACC stronger in that regard.

 

The ACC bowl tie-ins aren't great. Adding ND to the lineup can only help improve future tie-ins. And it's ND, so it's not like it's going to steal a playoff or Orange Bowl bid for a good FSU or VT.

 

It's only the non-BCS bids they are a part of. ND has to get into the BCS/playoff on its own but, if it doesn't, the ACC bowls can opt to take ND instead.

 

Looking at those future schedules, they shouldn't need to drop UM, MSU & Purdue to make things work for the ACC in the near term.

If they're serious about keeping their traditional rivalries intact, Temple and Akron could come off the sked pretty easily to make room for ACC teams in 2014 and 2015. After that they've got plenty of open dates to work with.

 

And ND already worked out a possible tie-in opposite the ACC in the recent Orange Bowl reorganization. The best non-playoff team in the ACC is locked into the OB against ND or an the highest leftover at-large after Rose and Champions Bowls.

 

Don't the Irish play Southern California every year? ;D

 

Penn State fans think the ACC would welcome them as the 16th school.

http://bwi.rivals.com/showmsg.asp?fid=36&tid=157767442&mid=157767442&sid=890&style=2

The material is endless with these idiots.

 

And Western Michigan a few years ago -- in a game that seriously pissed off a lot of fans. The future Akron/Temple games aren't making people very happy either. A large chunk of ND's fan base has to travel pretty far to attend a game. They don't want to spend all that money to watch them play crap teams. There have been several games in recent seasons (Duke in 2008 for one) where their sell-out streak has been complete bullshit. Akron and UMass are going to severely test that streak in the coming years. Wake Forest will test it this year and any future Duke games will also be trouble.

I think another reason ND wanted this agreement was to try to force decent home games later in the year. Up through mid-october, ND's schedule is pretty good. Late October and November, they are mostly body bag games. I imagine the 5 games deal with the ACC will include demands that teams like Clemson, GA Tech, FSU, Miami, VATech, etc. come to ND in late October/Early November. A steady diet of Wake, Duke and Maryland in November is going to be trouble.