Hoosiers Now

ACC First Conference to Release New Schedule, Includes Notre Dame

The ACC released its new 10-game conference schedule and, for the first time, Notre Dame will be a part of it and be able to compete for a league title. Will the Big Ten be next?

Tom Brew

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — The Power 5 conferences have spent most of July deconstructing football schedules, but on Wednesday, it was the ACC that was the first league to start putting things together.

The league announced a 10-game conference schedule, and is also allowing each league team to play one nonconference game. They'll play that 11-game schedule over 13 weeks, and have an ACC championship game in mid-December in Charlotte. The other four conferences, including the Big Ten, haven't made any schedule announcements yet. The Big Ten has said it will play a conference-only schedule.

The big news in the ACC's announcement is that Notre Dame is part of the full schedule. The Irish, who have always cherished its independence in football but plays in the ACC in all other sports, will play 10 league games and be eligible to win the conference title for the first time.

The Irish already had six ACC teams on their schedule, so they've added four more in this new format — Florida State and Syracuse at home, and Boston College and North Carolina on the road.

Here is Notre Dame's 10-game ACC schedule:

  • Home Games: Clemson, Duke, Florida State, Louisville, Syracuse.
  • Away Games: Boston College, Georgia Tech, North Carolina, Pittsburgh, Wake Forest.

Notre Dame and the league really needed to work together because as leagues chose to circle that ranks and play conference games only, the Irish lost half of its schedule. The ACC came to the rescue, but it's a win-win for both of them.

“Today’s decision was made after months of thoughtful planning by numerous individuals throughout the conference,” ACC Commissioner John Swofford said in a release. “The Board’s decision presents a path, if public health guidance allows, to move forward with competition. Our institutions are committed to taking the necessary measures to facilitate the return in a safe and responsible manner. We recognize that we may need to be nimble and make adjustments in the future. We will be as prepared as possible should that need arise.”

The ACC's one rule about the nonconference games is that they all need to be played at home. The second caveat was that it had to be against an in-state opponent, which likely doesn't work for Notre Dame.

The ACC's decision was its way of firing another salvo at the SEC, which would have to agree to play the four in-state rivalry games that are the cherry on top of their already-tough schedules. The games — Florida State vs. Florida, Georgia Tech vs. Georgia, Clemson vs. South Carolina and Louisville vs. Kentucky — are the final game of the regular season every year.

Notre Dame has always loved its independence because it has its own TV contract with NBC. This year, that money is being added to all of the ACC television contracts and split evenly among all 15 teams.

There will be just one division this year in the ACC, which means there will be no Coastal or Atlantic Divisions in 2020. The two teams with the highest win percentage will play for the league title.

It's going to be interesting to see if the Big Ten does the same thing. Prior to the decision to play a conference-only schedule, Indiana had nine league games scheduled, it's usual six Big Ten East opponents, plus Purdue, Wisconsin and Illinois. A fourth Big Ten West team would be added to get to 10.

Related stories

  • PAT FORDE COLUMN: ACC makes shrewd move with schedule reveal being first out of the box. CLICK HERE
  • BIG TEN CHANGES: The Big Ten announced that they will play only conference games this fall, to try to keep COVID-19 in check. That means no Indiana games with Western Kentucky, Ball State and Connecticut. CLICK HERE 
  • CONFERENCE PUBLISHERS WEIGH IN: What's the verdict on the Big Ten's decision to only play conference football games this season? CLICK HERE
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Tom Brew
TOM BREW

Tom Brew is an award-winning journalist who has worked at some of America's finest newspapers as a reporter and editor, including the Tampa Bay (Fla.) Times, the Indianapolis Star and the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. He has covered college sports in the digital platform for the past six years, including the last five years as publisher of HoosiersNow on the FanNation/Sports Illustrated network.

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