Syracuse Football: Sure, let’s bring Notre Dame into the ACC for 2020
By Neil Adler
Media reports indicate that Notre Dame may become an ACC member for just the 2020 campaign, and of course Syracuse football would love a rematch.
Atlantic Coast Conference officials are supposed to reveal their plan for Syracuse football and the rest of the league by the end of this month, and an abundance of alternatives, models and options have surfaced across the Internet of late.
One of the newer possibilities involves Notre Dame, which is an ACC participant in many sports but a long-time independent in football, becoming a “quasi-league member only for the 2020 season,” according to CBS Sports and multiple other media reports.
Under that scenario, Notre Dame, the Orange and the remainder of the ACC would have an 11-game slate that would feature 10 conference contests and one non-conference encounter.
From the CBS Sports article, it’s unclear whether the Fighting Irish would prove “eligible to play in the ACC Championship Game or receive the ACC’s automatic berth in the Orange Bowl as a potential league champion.”
You’ll remember – or perhaps, like me, you’ve intentionally forgotten at this juncture – that in 2018, Syracuse football suited up versus Notre Dame in a top-15 battle at Yankee Stadium.
Unfortunately, the No. 3 Fighting Irish would crush the No. 12 Orange, 36-3. However, the ‘Cuse having an opportunity to maybe avenge that ugly loss sounds like an enticing prospect.
Then again, even if this particular model is adopted by ACC leaders, there is no guarantee that Syracuse football and Notre Dame would end up going toe to toe.
Separately, in an announcement that at least temporarily would seem to keep open the possibility of collegiate football getting played this fall, the NCAA’s board of governors on Friday said it would continue discussions in August about fall championships, rather than taking any immediate action.
Some recent media reports said that if the NCAA board elected to cancel fall championships at its Friday meeting, that could prove a big-time domino in football ultimately getting halted, at least during the fall calendar.
That’s because if the NCAA believes it’s unsafe to hold fall championships in sports other than football, then the optics may not look so good for football leaders to hold their own bowl docket and four-team playoff.