Goodbye BC, Michigan, Nebraska . . . hello West Virginia, Oklahoma, San Diego State.
Kevin White saw how Ohio State and Florida built their schedules, and he wants the same for Notre Dame. He hopes a new schedule will help Charlie Weis win a National Championship. Notre Dame’s Athletic Director is in the midst of the biggest overhaul of Notre Dame’s schedule in a generation. His stated goal is to play 7 home games, 1 “neutral site home game,” and 4 true road games. In addition, Notre Dame is contractually obligated to play 3 Big East teams (eventually), USC, and Navy. His other goal is to “balance” the schedule by playing 2-3 “tier-1″ teams per year, 5-6 “tier-2″ teams and 4 “tier-3″ teams. Tier One teams would be the USCs, Michigans, Tennessees, Oklahomas, Nebraskas, Alabamas, and Florida States of the world. Tier-2 would be the Michigan States, Purdues, Texas A&Ms, Boston Colleges, Syracuses, West Virginas, etc. Tier-3 would be the Vanderbilts, Dukes, Academies, and non-BCS schools.
The first result of these priorities is the elimination of BC from the schedule. ND fans and administration were already fed up with the Eagles after they vandalized the field and locker room during their last visit to South Bend, but their defection to the ACC appears to have sealed their fate. The Irish currently have no interest in renewing the contract with BC and they will replace them with a current Big East team, most likely West Virginia. The Irish are already scheduled to play Rutgers and Pitt in the coming years.
Meanwhile, Michigan requested Notre Dame to switch the location of their annual game so that they wouldn’t have to go on the road against OSU and ND in the same year. The problem with that, however, is that if ND complied, they would have to go on the road to play SC and Michigan in the same year. In addition, Michigan refuses to play ND after the second week of October (during the Big1T1en season). So, that series will end in the next few years as well, to be temporarily replaced by Big 12 power Oklahoma.
Meanwhile, Kevin White wants 1 “neutral” game per season. It appears that will begin in 2009 with a matchup against Washington State in the Alamodome of San Antonio. Future “neutral” sites include Giants Stadium, Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, the Cotton Bowl in Dallas, Fed Ex Field in Washington, the Citrus Bowl in Orlando, Quest Field in Seattle, and Soldier Field in Chicago. Opponents in these “neutral” games would not require a return trip by the Irish, so they are attractive candidates for the lucrative neutral-site games.
The end result of Kevin White’s changes have many Irish fans scratching their heads. Why are we playing WSU in Texas, as opposed to Texas, Texas Tech, TXAM, or TCU? Why are we halting a budding rivalry with BC? If ND is a true independent, why are they playing 3 Big East, 2-3 PAC-10, and 3 Big 10 schools every year but no SEC, no ACC, and only 1 Big 12?
Sadly, it appears gone are the days of the Irish playing traditional rivals like SC, Michigan, Navy, Purdue, MSU, and BC as well as the most challenging slate of random opponents in America like Tennessee, Texas, Florida State, Miami, Nebraska, UCLA. Almost every power school in America plays a weak out-of-conference schedule (with apologies to USC, Texas, Miami and Ohio State), but Kevin White’s vision of a “championship” schedule is misguided. If Notre Dame is going to win a national championship under Charlie Weis, they will have to earn it on the field, NOT by scheduling a weak slate of opponents.
July 23rd, 2007
I am going to really miss Michigan/Notre Dame every year. That’s a really great game most years. And although my feelings on BC’s move to the ACC are well-known on this blog, I wish that the Eagles would remain on the Irish’s schedule as well. West Virginia just doesn’t have the same cache.
August 4th, 2007
Looks like they retained Michigan after all. ND dropped BC due to pressure from the Big East. That is well documented.
I think dropping BC was stupid because it is the only possible football game between two major traditionally Catholic top-ranked universities and was popular among alumni of both schools n.b. ALUMNI not non-alumni Irish faithful.
(Despite Mike’s comment once again dredging up the vandalism accusation — BTW I was told by an ND assistant AD that it was not a big deal, was overplayed in the press, and they were really upset by the BC guys taking grass from the field — which begs the questions, don’t they have Field Turf salesmen in South Bend? and how come they didn’t bitch when FSU took turf for their grass cemetery in Florida?)