The Notre Dame Football schedule is a thing of beauty — but also an absolute nightmare. I’ve always loved the mix of schools from around the country, but some years it can feel a little stale. I think there’s an easy way to throw a little more flavor onto this meat, and you already know that I love a good barbecue.
When Notre Dame first started playing its ACC agreement, I have to admit that I was fairly excited about the schedule changing up a bit. The idea of more games against Clemson, Florida
State, Miami, Virginia Tech, North Carolina, and NC State was cool to me. Notre Dame’s dominance over its ACC opponents (55-12 since 2014) however, has made the schedule a little stale.
Despite Notre Dame’s lackluster schedule this season, the Irish slate does improve greatly over the next five years in terms of it being more interesting. Still, I do believe the Irish could (and should) add at least one Big 12 home and home series to its schedule for each season — and mix it up. Obviously, the Irish have BYU there, but there are still a number of games that could be scheduled as home and home matchups that would make things a little more interesting.
This move wouldn’t be out of a need for schedule strength or playoff resume (which I guess is the same thing) it would just be to make things, again, more interesting. Yes, I understand that games against Tennessee, Michigan, Oregon, Ole Miss, or whatever mid to top tier Big 10 or SEC team would be an even more interesting matchup — but I’m a realist. I think my proposal is perfectly fine, and puts the Irish in some fun spots.
Morgantown, West Virginia.
Lubbock, Texas.
Boulder, Colorado.
Cincinnati, Ohio.
Tuscon, Arizona.
Just spread it out, and be sure to play the teams in their ACTUAL stadium and not some Shamrock Series crap. All of this offseason talk about the postseason, media rights, and congressional legislation has made a lot of what has made college football fun — not nearly as fun.
This doesn’t have to be hard or some kind of crazy scheduling initiative/agreement with the conference itself — just sign up for a home and home with some random places Notre Dame doesn’t normally go to. Part of the perk of being an independent is doing things like this, so it should definitely be something Notre Dame should look into.
MANHATTAN KANSAS — I AM IN YOU!
