With the announcement of Notre Dame playing ten conference games and getting to play in the title game of the ACC, the Fighting Irish can now take destiny into their own hands.
For years, us Fighting Irish fans have heard the same broken record “If Notre Dame was in a conference they wouldn’t win so many games”
Now it’s the Fighting Irish that can silence this criticism. Going hand in hand with this is the other “who do the Irish play?” With the set schedule the Irish could potentially play Clemson not once but twice, but I digress.
The Fighting Irish play big name rivals, Georgia Tech, Florida State, Pitt and Boston College. The most intriguing matchup is the the Boston College Game due to the fact that highly touted recruit Phil Jurkovic who never saw playing time at Notre Dame just transferred to Boston College. If he is granted immediate eligibility you can get the Fighting Irish will see him on the gridiron in Chestnut Hill!
Even though the Fighting Irish won’t see Wisconsin, USC and even Stanford doesn’t mean this will be an easy schedule! The task ahead of the Fighting Irish remains the same get to the National Title except this year it will be through an actual conference instead of being “independent”. The situation the Fighting Irish are in is unique but very special, since this could very well be a trial run for the Fighting Irish in the ACC.
Clemson remains on the schedule and the game against the Tigers should still be in November. The interesting part is that the Fighting Irish and the Tigers could play twice in the Month of November if Notre Dame can climb the mountain and get to the ACC Title Game.
The re-scheduling of the Irish’s opponents actually favors the Irish quite a bit. Their home schedule pits the more formidable opponents against them. The big three being Louisville, Florida State and Clemson. Not to be overlooked on the away side of things is Georgia Tech, Pitt, and North Carolina.
The Fighting Irish must take full advantage of the situation they now find themselves in! Getting to the title game even with one loss and winning the Title could easily propel them into the College Football Playoffs (if they are even played) and going unbeaten while beating Clemson twice would be even more impressive! This all would give the long time critics of the program a kick in the pants and silence them once and for all.
It’s very exciting times indeed and we can’t wait!
Go Irish!