Syracuse Football: Notre Dame on board in ACC, to dismay of ‘Cuse fans

A lot of Syracuse football fans aren’t happy about Notre Dame joining the ACC for the 2020 campaign.

The Atlantic Coast Conference has unveiled a historic schedule for Syracuse football and other league participants in the 2020 stanza, assuming a fall season is able to get played amid the novel coronavirus pandemic.

Notre Dame, often a top-10 to top-20 team and one of the most iconic football brands nationwide, is giving up its long-time independence in the sport to become an ACC member in football for the upcoming term.

The Orange will head to the Fighting Irish as part of the ‘Cuse 2020 calendar that the ACC announced on Wednesday and did Syracuse football no favors, with a brutal slate of road duels that also includes making visits to Clemson and North Carolina.

When I penned a recent column about ACC leaders reportedly weighing a 2020 fall-season option that would entail Notre Dame linking up with the league for just this campaign, a bevy of ‘Cuse fans voiced their displeasure with this possibility.

These fans say that the Fighting Irish, which is a member of the ACC for many other sports besides football, shouldn’t have the ability to link up with Syracuse and other conference peers for only this sole stanza.

Critics believe that the ACC is providing Notre Dame with a lifeline for 2020, when for years the Fighting Irish has enjoyed flexing its independent football muscle, and that irritates Orange fanatics to no end.

However, an argument could get made that, yes, perhaps Notre Dame needed the ACC this year in football. But, on the flip side, maybe the league needed the Fighting Irish equally as much.

A lot of interesting tidbits to digest within the ACC’s newly proposed 2020 schedule for Syracuse football.

The Orange and other conference participants will compete in an 11-game schedule this fall, which entails 10 league match-ups and one non-conference bout.

The 2020 season’s first ACC encounters will transpire the week of Sept. 7-12, and the 11 contests will get played “over at least 13 weeks with each team having two open dates,” per the conference’s media release.

The Syracuse football non-conference foe is still undetermined. The ACC announcement adds that “all non-conference game opponents, selected by the respective school, must be played in the home state of the ACC institution, and all non-conference opponents must meet the medical protocol requirements as agreed upon by the ACC.”

For 2020, the league will have one division, instead of two. Notre Dame is eligible to play in this season’s ACC championship tilt, which will occur on Dec. 12 or Dec. 19 in Charlotte, N.C., and pits the top-two squads based on the highest winning percentage among conference games.

This is a key component to the league’s announcement, as all television revenue for the 2020 campaign, including the Fighting Irish’s home affairs that are broadcast on NBC, will get equally shared by all 15 ACC institutions.

Additionally, all 15 squads will remain a part of the conference’s bowl-selection process. If Notre Dame captures the ACC crown, it is eligible for the Orange Bowl, if the Fighting Irish is not picked for the College Football Playoff. The ACC says that its week-to-week game schedule and TV choices for the 2020 term will come at a later date.

"Here’s what Syracuse Director of Athletics John Wildhack had to say about the league’s plans for football and other fall sports. “We appreciate and are thankful for the dedicated efforts of so many people which resulted in today’s announcement. I’m particularly pleased for our student-athletes who have a clear path toward competing this fall and continuing their academic pursuits. It is incumbent upon all of us in the Syracuse Athletics Department to strictly adhere to the protocols we and the ACC have in place.”"