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The news about the cancellation of the October game between the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and the Wisconsin Badgers hit fans pretty hard. The Big 10 is moving to a “conference-only” schedule for 2020, and that obviously does not include the Irish.
Voices of opposition instantly cried foul as they pointed to travel as something that didn’t make sense. What’s the big deal about Notre Dame playing Wisconsin just two states away when the Iowa Hawkeyes will have a haul to play the Maryland Terrapins or Rutgers or even the Penn State Nittany Lions?
Quite simply, it’s about control — but not that ridiculous New World Order FEMA control that people love to talk about. It’s about a standard in doing things a certain way in terms of safety and testing and all of that. Big 10 conference mandates don’t apply to Notre Dame in football.
This line of thinking is important as we begin to think about the next step. The next step for the Irish is a simple one... an all-ACC schedule for 2020. With 6 opponents already on the slate, and already members and partners with the ACC it’s the easiest path to ensuring a “full” schedule.
ACC football also expected to play conference-only games, sources told @Stadium. Last month, ACC commish John Swofford told @Stadium if Power 5 schools played conference-only schedules that ACC would assist Notre Dame with as many games as it needed
— Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) July 9, 2020
While the Big 10 was the first to take such measures on Wednesday, we should expect other conferences to follow suit over the coming days.
I also expect the ACC (once they do) to have the same type of reasoning as the Big 10 — control. Because of this, the ACC would likely request Notre Dame ONLY play schools from the ACC. So, yeah, that wookie life debt with the Navy Midshipmen would end (at least for this year).
So what might an ALL-ACC schedule look like? Well for starters it likely won’t have 12 games, but rather 10. OFD reader cfarris182 offered this suggestion:
- Sept 05: Bye
- Sept 12: Miami Hurricanes
- Sept 19: @ Boston College Eagles
- Sept 26: @ Wake Forest Demon Deacons
- Oct 3: Bye
- Oct 10th: Syracuse Orange (I picked them because they have a bye that week right now)
- Oct 17: @ Pittsburgh Panthers
- Oct 24: Bye
- Oct 31: Duke Blue Devils
- Nov 7: Clemson Tigers
- Nov 14: @ Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets
- Nov 21: Louisville Cardinals
- Nov 28: @ Florida State Seminoles
That’s a fine arrangement, but I do take issue with one thing. While I agree that the first week would be a bye (I guess) I don’t think there will be another bye in the season. I think the powers that be will want to get the season over as soon as possible. Seeing as how it’s a conference thing, all games can be moved around however they see fit for a 10 game schedule for all.
There’s still the issue of conference championship games, the bowls, and the college football playoff — but that’s probably for another time.
What do you think? If they can make this work, would you be fine with this for one season to actually HAVE a season?