ACC Gives Notre Dame Shelter from the Covid Storm

At first glance, it seems obivous who's bringing the glam to this match.

But then again ...

Yes, Notre Dame is a national college football icon based on past glories.

However, in that light, so is Army, Yale, and the University of Chicago, where Amos Alonzo Stagg became a gridiron legend. So did Jay Berwanger, the first Heisman Trophy winner.

 

Well, what have the Irish done lately, especially in comparison to the ACC?

Only four of their 11 national titles happened after the NBC Peacock invented living color, and none of them occurred in the post-Ramones era.

So, as this year from hell continues to make 2020 the most novel year in peacetime sports, if there's gonna be a college football season at all, Notre Dame will be playing it because the ACC took them in.

 

Like a good conference member, the Irish will play a 10-game slate with the option to schedule one non-con that must happen in its home state.

They can't choose from the likes of traditional rivals USC, Stanford, or a Big Ten program, as those circuits are staying in-house. They were due to play Wisconsin this season, but that game's gone the way of the dodo bird.

The ACC went equal-opportunity for them, serving up ...

• Five clubs that were sub-.500 in 2019, and
• Five clubs that had winning records last season.

If they finish first or second in the league's this-year-only non-divisional schedule, Notre Dame will get a shot at the championship. They're also eligible for the ACC's Orange Bowl berth.

 

That's one way of imagining how they've landed this season.

The flip side, though, is if they're gonna make it to the BCS Promised Land, Odds are they'll have to beat Clemson twice and, if not the Tigers, beat Louisville twice. At least one of that pair will surely be in the ACC money when all is said and done this season.

Tall order, either way.

Meanwhile, the conference didn't have to think too long or hard about what this particular national brand could do for them.

 

Notre Dame agreed to put its $15million NBC broadcast rights revenue on the table, so that actually does work out to a cool $1mil per member.

So the Irish bring their aura to the East Coast on a full-time basis and find a harder path to a 12th national title in the process.

But at least, if anyone's gonna play 11 games in this season conducted in the shadow of Covid-19, at least they're gonna be one of them. In another season of expectations burdened by a past that looms over them, for Notre Dame, that's good enough right now.