This move is long, long overdue.
Tag: acc
People are saying that the loss by Florida State opens the door for Clemson to make a BCS bowl again. I disagree. I think it makes the road Clemson has to travel to reach a BCS bowl harder. If FSU had run the table, it could have gone to the national title game and then, maybe, Clemson would have been the ACC’s non-title BCS representative. Now, Clemson has to hope that FSU loses another game. Sadly, I do not see that happening.
Additionally, as the linked article points out, the FSU loss means the ACC is getting hammered in the national media:
> We’re not even midway through October and the ACC found a way to fade into irrelevance again. This conference is a bigger tease than Notre Dame joining the ACC. And the ACC could use the Irish right now. You’ve heard of Clemson “pulling a Clemson?” Nope. Not this year. It’s the ACC pulling an ACC. At least last year Clemson made it to 8-0 before losing on the road to Georgia Tech. No. 3-ranked Florida State couldn’t even make it through its first road ACC game…
Ouch[^fn1]
[^fn1]: Really, was the “pulling a Clemson” shot necessary?
Categories
Notre Dame, the ACC, and Scheduling
Some more of the details related to the scheduling:
> The arrangement will obviously be unusual. Notre Dame will play close to a full ACC schedule – the full members of the conference play eight league games – but not be part of the league. Notre Dame could go 5-0 in games against regularly scheduled ACC foes but wouldn’t claim the conference championship, at least officially.
[Dan Wetzel explains why this is important](http://sports.yahoo.com/news/ncaab–notre-dame-protects-treasure-football-schedule-in-move-to-acc.html) to Notre Dame:
> As other conferences grew in size – the SEC expanded to 14 teams, the Pac-12 and Big 10 went to 12 – so too did the threat that the Irish couldn’t just pick and choose opponents, especially in October and November, as they always have. The other conferences might go to nine league games (as the Pac 12 already does), eliminating one slot for a tough non-conference opponent. Earlier this year, the Big Ten and Pac-12 set up a scheduling agreement that concerned Notre Dame – although it later fell apart when the Pac-12 pulled out.
> Notre Dame currently must schedule all of its 12 games per year. This drops to seven games with the ACC scheduling the other five. ACC teams will likely be featured during the more challenging dates later in the season. It’s a far easier task.
Even though I would have preferred an arrangement where Clemson got to play Notre Dame every year, knowing the Irish will be on the Clemson schedule in the very near future is pretty exciting.
*Except football,* That is a pretty exception when Notre Dame is concerned.