Re-Scheduling Options For Notre Dame and Wake Forest

Notre Dame has multiple options for rescheduling its game against Wake Forest, assuming it even happens

Notre Dame and Wake Forest will not be playing this weekend, and the two schools - along with the ACC - are looking to reschedule the game.

There are three questions that must be asked and answered. One, when will they be able to make it work? Two, how many teams will need to be involved in making it work? Three, how hard should Notre Dame work to get the game rescheduled during the regular season?

So what are the best options?

OCTOBER 3 RE-SCHEDULE UNLIKELY

The first option that comes to mind is playing the weekend of October 3, which happens to be the first bye week for both teams. That would simply mean pushing things back a week, but based on the reason for the original postponement, a one-week postponement doesn’t fix Notre Dame’s current problem.

Unless the current circumstances change (e.g., there is some sort of testing error that created false positives), or the rules regarding time out for contract tracing change, every player that is out due to contact tracing can’t return until October 5 at the earliest. Depending on when players test positive there’s a chance that some could be reinstated prior to October 3, but the odds are strong they wouldn’t have enough practice time to be ready to play.

Right now, based on what we know, it would seem highly unlikely that Notre Dame and Wake Forest are able to reschedule to October 3.

NOVEMBER MOVE AROUND

There’s another scenario that could work, but it might not be ideal for Notre Dame.

Wake Forest’s second bye week is November 7, the weekend the Irish are expected to host Clemson. The following weekend the Irish are slated to travel to Boston College before their second bye week, which is the weekend of November 21.

Both Clemson and Boston College have byes the week after playing Notre Dame, which means the ACC could push both Clemson and Boston College back a week, and then slide Wake Forest into the now open November 7 date.

There are a few problems with that for Notre Dame. While it makes sense logistically, it creates a much tougher scheduling situation for Notre Dame. Notre Dame is slated to play every weekend from Oct. 10 to Nov. 14, a stretch that includes home games against Florida State, Louisville and Clemson, and road games at Pittsburgh, Georgia Tech and Boston College.

Make this move and you add Wake Forest and a road game against North Carolina into that stretch. The end of that stretch is made more challenging by the fact the North Carolina game is slated to be a Friday game. That worked well for Notre Dame when it had a bye the weekend prior, but it’s brutal if they make this move.

Notre Dame’s bye week would basically be back-to-back weekends on Sept. 26 and Oct. 3. The problem is Notre Dame likely won’t be able to practice this week, which makes it a wasted bye week in many regards.

Not only would this get rid of Notre Dame having a bye during this stretch, it would also give both Clemson and Boston College byes the week prior to playing Notre Dame instead of the week after, as originally scheduled.

Perhaps it’s the most logical move, but it’s not a great move for Notre Dame.

DECEMBER 12 … IF NEEDED

When the ACC announced a flexible date for the title game it was likely due to a potential need to reschedule games for the weekend of Dec. 12. It is situations just like this with Notre Dame that the flex schedule was made for.

This would be the ideal move for Notre Dame. It would keep its Nov. 21 bye week, which helps keep a needed break in the Irish schedule. It also eliminates giving two tough opponents (Clemson, Boston College) byes the week prior to playing Notre Dame.

Keeping the December 12 date open could be needed for Notre Dame. As I pointed out in my earlier column, not making up the Wake Forest game could create a win-percentage problem for Notre Dame that could keep it out of the league title game.

Keeping with the example I used in that article. Let’s say Notre Dame loses to Clemson but beats North Carolina, and North Carolina wins the rest of their league games. Clemson would be one title game team, and North Carolina would be the other in this scenario because it would have a better in-conference win percentage.

Let’s say Notre Dame has one fewer loss than North Carolina or whatever other team is in third place by the end of the regular season. Notre Dame would then have a better win percentage and would get the title game berth, but there is no way the ACC would allow Notre Dame to get the berth in this scenario …

And if we’re being fair, they shouldn’t allow Notre Dame to get in under these circumstances, they should make the Irish earn it against Wake Forest on Dec. 12.

Now, if Notre Dame is undefeated or a one-loss team in a league filled with a bunch of three-loss teams then the game wouldn’t need to be made up.

Those are the three scenarios that make the most sense for Notre Dame. We’ll eventually find out which decision the league and Notre Dame decide, but if I had a vote on Notre Dame’s behalf, I’d vote for the Dec 12 weekend.

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