Notre Dame is coming to the ACC early; football arrangement still won’t start until 2014
Notre Dame will become an official partial member of the ACC on July 1 this year after coming to an agreement to leave the fractured Big East. The decision was described by the league as “amicable.”
That means the ACC will welcome Pittsburgh, Syracuse and Notre Dame this year, making it a 15-team league for most sports.
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However, it doesn’t have an effect on the Fighting Irish’s football arrangement with the ACC. Notre Dame will still begin playing five ACC schools per season starting in 2014, the same year Louisville joins the league as a replacement for Maryland.
It’s still unclear when Notre Dame will be on Virginia Tech’s football schedule for the first time, although with full non-conference slates in 2014 and ’16, a 2015 matchup would make sense. The Hokies are scheduled to play vs. Furman, at East Carolina and vs. Ohio State that year, with space to easily add a fourth non-conference game.
ACC commissioner John Swofford released this statement about today’s news:
“Our conference, schools and fans are delighted that Notre Dame will join the ACC on July 1, 2013. The addition of Notre Dame, Pitt and Syracuse, followed by Louisville in 2014, positions us extremely well with an outstanding collection of 15 member institutions.
“As was previously announced, our annual five games against Notre Dame in football will begin with the 2014 season. This not only will enhance our league’s already ambitious football schedules but also will provide terrific fan excitement.
“From a basketball perspective, the level of competition will be second to none. As we look towards the future, there’s no denying that ACC Basketball will continue to set even higher standards of excitement and excellence. The competition will be brutal, which is a great thing for our league and fans.”
March 12, 2013 - 11:32 AM
In 2015, I will believe it when I see ND on the Hokie schedule, with Ohio State already on it, Beamer will have a stroke if he has to play 2 big games in one year. More likely is VT will dump a non conference ” dog ” in 2014 or dump a Big 10 team in 2015,2016.
Note that the B1G-ACC men’s basketball challenge will only have 12 teams next season (doesn’t expand to 14 until the following year), and is using this year’s RPI rankings to draw the line, which means Wake, VT, and Clemson will all be staying home as the 3 (one more than before this news broke) ACC teams with the lowest RPI. VT had a shot of overtaking Wake in the RPI with a win on Thursday, but that would no longer matter. They are not in range of overtaking GT, the next lowest RPI.
Don’t be surprised if we don’t play ND in football until 2018, when Ohio St and Wisconsin roll off the schedule.
Folks, once Notre Dame starts its ACC games, it will play every team in the league in a three-year span (five games a year). That means the Irish HAVE to be on the schedule in either 2014, ’15 or ’16.
Andy, it has been reported that ND will play out the already-scheduled matchups it has with ACC teams, which throws a kink into the works. See http://www.bcinterruption.com/2012/9/13/3324752/acc-expansion-notre-dame-football-scheduling-model . If that holds, they will not be able to play every ACC team between 2014-2016 because too many of the 5 ACC slots per year are already taken up by BC, Syracuse, Pitt, Miami, and Wake in that timeframe.
The Chicago Tribune also reported this a few months ago:
“The Irish were expected to play every ACC team at least once in every three-year rotation, but ACC commissioner John Swofford told CBSSports.com that ‘that can change as we go through a cycle.’”
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2012-11-08/sports/chi-notre-dame-football-notre-dame-acc-open-football-scheduling-talks-20121108_1_notre-dame-acc-acc-officials-acc-commissioner-john-swofford
If any of this is wrong, I’d love to know, so if you have better information… I am very interested to see how the ACC and ND work this out.
Like you said, the matchups and the years haven’t been decided. But I guarantee the ACC will try to make the scheduling rotation work as closely to what was planned in the early going. And considering Frank Beamer’s age, my guess is the league would prioritize getting a ND-VT matchup done fairly soon in the rotation. It’s one school that the long-time coach has never faced.
Erick Green, ACC Player of the Year! Seems as the ACC media writers know a great player when they see one unlike the National media Gods. Congratulations to a very deserving Hokie and an unstoppable player.
We shall see… I’d love to see VT play ND in 2015, so I hope you’re right, but I’m not going to get my hopes up just yet.
Notre Dame is a huge name nationally, but Alabama defeated Notre Dame soundly for the national championship earlier this year.
It will remain to be seen if this move helps the ACC, and in what ways, but it will be good for the teams in the ACC and for the fans.
It will be great to see Notre Dame in Lane Stadium, something we older Virginia Tech fans would never have imagined happening.
We older fans have witnessed changes in our program that were thought to be impossible, and actually never even thought about ever happening.
Let’s go Hokies !!!
It’s crazy to think that Notre Dame will be playing each ACC school, under the “arrangement” as I see it, more often than schools in the opposite divisions will be playing each other. In other words, Notre Dame and VT will be playing each other more often than VT will be playing Clemson or Florida State.
Correct me if I’m wrong on this one.
Andy, I think you are right on the VT-ND matchup. It’ll happen pretty quick, but it’ll be on the road, I’m sure.
What really perplexes me is how the ACC schools will balance schedules with this. Theoretically, for ND to play every ACC school every 3 years means you have to spread the home/away games.
There will have to be a lot of games ditched, or moved out in the future. I don’t see Frank Beamer agreeing to play Ohio State or Wisconsin and ND in the same season, and that is what is in that time horizon.
Also, this ‘every team every 3 years’ means the series get spread out. You go to ND one year, and they return it 3 years later, or vice versa. The logistics of this thing is going to be a tough to work out, since teams all want at least 7 home games.
That said, I still think we see ND in the ACC for football in about 4-5 years. I don’t think the ACC is as stupid as the BE was – look what it got that conference – with all of its special exceptions. Truth be known, it could already be set, its just that nobody knows about it.
Appears Notre Dame is coming closer to being a full member of the ACC.
The ACC relationship with Notre Dame to me still seems kind of like being half liked. Amicable relationship is being polite at best.
Will be interesting to see how Swofford and company ward off the still ongoing other conference suitors for them while getting ND full ACC. Pick up a solid new 16 member soon for the ACC.Might put some pressure on ND.
Other Tony…Beamer had both Alabama and Nebraska on the schedule in 2009, try again…or then again don’t waste our time with the same old argument that VT doesn’t play anybody…or is it that VT only plays ONE somebody a year…is that the argument now?
I agree with the other Tony. There is noway vt will play 2 top opponents in one year. It’s all about the 10 win seasons. I am not a Va. fan, but they are really trying to beef up their schedule. Why can’t vt. They are playing opponents that you have heard of.
The people I talk with are not happy ND was admitted without the football. Perhaps now with the admission of Miami, VT, BC, ND, Louisville, Pitt, and Syracuse and the loss of Maryland the landscape has changed. This is no longer the Tobacco Road ACC of the past but a true Big East conference and even Swofford, the cause of this, should get use to it.
Of course the Catholic schools leaving the Big East could become the ACC (all Catholic Conference).
Life has changed and money, not good sense, rules. The landscape and true rivalries of college sports has changed and will never be the same again. I’m not sure any of this is for the best.
Eagle, don’t you mean that UVA will be losing to opponents that we’ve heard of?
#12 Rich, your argument might be legitimate if you knew what Nebraska’s record was when the contract was signed. Since you skip around that, I’ve got to say you’re going on image, not on reality.
CR, Nebraska was 8-4 season and ended up being ranked 24th in 2005. The contract for the home and home series was signed in the spring of 2006. Prior to that they had only had two years since 1968, where they were unranked, 2002 and 2004.
Notre Dame’s arrangement with the ACC is like a marriage of convenience…for them. Notre Dame is the pretty lady with the cats and the money that the ACC (middle-aged man) has always dreamed of having. However, the lady will only be around the house 2 or 3 nights a week while still partying with her old friends (USC, Michigan St., etc) while expecting the man (ACC) to take care of her cats and pay the bills. The man will reluctantly do so because this is the lady that he always wanted. There will be future animosity with the relationship, but the man is screwed. Meanwhile, the lady leaves the house, blows a kiss, and says, “see you on Saturday! Oh, and don’t forget to feed the cats!”
George, you can’t walk on water till you get out of the boat. Win or lose, Va. is trying to beef up the schedule. Same old song every year. Wait til next year.