Notre Dame football, the ACC, and bye weeks... a tradition like no other

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish are no longer member of the ACC in football. The one year BONUS PLAY has ended, and the Irish return to their Independent schedule with the ACC five game affiliation.

In 2021, Notre Dame plays:

• @ Florida State Seminoles
• @ Virginia Tech Hokies
• North Carolina Tar Heels
• @ Virginia Cavaliers
• Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets

Nothing strange there with the heavy ACC Coastal slate, but there’s also the new ACC tradition of making sure there are as many bye weeks as possible for its members before they play Notre Dame.

In all, three of the five opponents have a bye week before they play Notre Dame (NC, VT, UVA) and a fourth is the season opener (FSU).

When we first noticed this trend a few years ago, we mostly rolled our eyes and shook our heads at the blatant way they tried to get a perceived advantage over Notre Dame. After four years and a 23-1 record in the regular season against ACC opponents... it’s just funny that they continue to do it.

The Boston College Eagles are the only ACC team to have more than one ACC opponent in 2021 coming off of a bye with two, so maybe this is just ACC anti-catholic scheduling (yes, that’s mostly a joke).

So, as we’ve seen over the years, ACC opponents don’t really have much of an edge coming off of a bye against Notre Dame — but that doesn’t mean they don’t want to keep trying.