as of now, they also keep yearly dates with Navy, USC and Stanford

http://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/co ... story.html

Notre Dame has big-leagued enough folks over the years to make me quite critical of their intentions. I fully expect them to produce some dates, in the spirit of compromise, of course, that will benefit only the Irish by causing all sorts of strife within the ACC and their institutions' own schedules.

Like, will Georgia/Georgia Tech be threatened if it's GT's turn and ND only gives a certain date, or will ACC waive the fifth game if there is too much conflict. And when can I expect Notre Dame to play in Duke's stadium? Do they get a say in venues? It is a reality, if Notre Dame has the ultimate power of choice.

From what I read locally in a script conveying Clemson officials offering their expressions of joy over the move; the rotation would be 3 home; 2 away and then 2 home, 3 away the next yr. or visa-vera; 5 ACC teams play ND for two years, then the next cycle of 5 teams. ND would have to visit ACC schools home stadiums when their turn. I suppose the ACC fb home team could agree to play ND elsewhere (neutral site, for example) but the host ACC would have to agree to it.
ND did visit Wake Forest a couple of years ago as part of a series, and Grove Stadium is slightly smaller than Duke's---around 33k.

Cutter, you did bring up a point that I also wondered about regarding those ACC schools with permanent SEC rivalries that could be impacted with the ND scheduling.

The SC state legislature says Clemson and S. Carolina must play. Then there's GT/UGA and FSU/UF. There's some others, but more easy to sacrifice---example - Wake/Vandy (frequent in recent years), Maryland/WVU (gotten frequent). There's also the NC schools agreeing to rotate games with East Carolina.

I just don't see the 3 ACC/SEC games being interrupted at all. What MAY happen, for example, that in impacted years where such scheduling would become so acute; the schools agree to play the in-state rivalry games earlier in the year, rather than the last game of the season as tradition. Fans may not like it; coaches may prefer it; and it's better than not at all and would only happen certain years.

Cutter, you brought up an extremely important point. The ACC controls/oversees ACC in-conference scheduling, assuming there is flexibility in dates if 2 schools want to move a game to something like Thursday night for ESPN or make it earlier in the season. Notre Dame may make impossible demands, with narrowly offered dates. They already have produced a list of schools they shall not give up playing annually. Swofford and the ACC better have this factor thoroughly addressed in contract agreement. The ACC hopefully insisted the scheduling of the 5 ACC games each year comes FIRST over additional games ND schedules. ND is already pointing to long-term contracts with certain schools, and may use that as an excuse to delay and exclaim a need for exceptions.

No doubt, ND knows how to manipulate, and the ACC shall find out first-hand beyond establishing the guidelines for a honeymoon.

I wonder what the Notre Dame addition means for the 9-game conference schedule. Does it get scrapped? Florida St is not going to want to play 9 conference games, Notre Dame, and Florida all in one season. To me it seems that either the 9 game schedule has got to go or certain teams with high profile OOC rivalries (FSU, GT, Clemson) need to be exempted from playing Notre Dame.

The nine game schedule will not be scrapped. Only 1/3 of the teams will be facing ND each year and that on a rotating basis.

Forbes article discussing ACC/ND situation at http://www.forbes.com/sites/sportsmoney ... see-others

ND will be considered a OOC game

Whoa, whoa, whoa... I think you're reading to much into this "Notre Dame being manipulative" stuff.

I'm not a big ND fan (actually I root against them at every opportunity), but Notre Dame has unique scheduling issues due to their FB independence.

Notre Dame has to fill dates on essentially every fall weekend, and a lot of those weekends are during an 8-9 week period when teams play their "conference schedule".

In the ACC, it's know well ahead of time who will play whom & where in a given season, based on the pattern of their rotating schedule.
HOWEVER, the specific schedule (involving dates for the various conference games) is coordinated.by the ACC scheduler approximately 1 to 1-1/2 years in advance.
So Notre Dame needs to butt into a few of those 9 "intra-conference weeks", when Notre Dame has open dates,
and say "we need to have those 5 ND vs. ACC games on these specific weekends". The ACC schedule coordinator will designate the opponent for Notre Dame one those weekends.
When one of those games falls within the intra-conference weeks, only 12 schools will play ACC vs. ACC games,
1 will face Notre Dame, and the 14th team will play an OCC game or have a BYE.

I don't think there is anything sinister about this. It's all about integrating Notre Dame's schedule with the ACC's school's schedules.

By that model, tute79, ND would indeed have the upper hand. They present the dates to the ACC that they have available. Frankly it should be somewhat the other way around or at least mutual give and take. The needs of one takes precedent over the needs of 5 for each given season? Each ACC institution has their own conference games to schedule with each other plus their own OOCs', some of which, to the affected schools, are just as important for scheduling as ND's desired dates with USC, Navy, Stanford, and whomever else they plan to play outside the ACC. Sure ND has contracts with Michigan, Texas, etc. But so do ACC full members with their respective opponents.

If ND and the ACC have not discussed and agreed upon a format already; they should have. It's the obvious question.

I'm thinking Notre Dame read the writing on the wall, and figured out that they need to join a football conference.
If they stand pat as an independent, they will wind up on the outside looking in.

The ACC was the most appealing match.

No matter who they joined, they face a back-lash from a certain contingent of alumni who have this irrational "independence jag"....

The ACC presidents aren't stupid and Swofford is quite shrews. The ACC isn't likely to be setting themselves up to be manipulated.
Look at how the expansions were carried out. There were no media leaks until agreements were announced.

So this deal got serious back when Notre Dame and ACC Presidents were meeting a few months ago, ostensibly about Orange Bowl possibilities.
In reality, it ws immediately after the new [don't call it the BCS] playoff structure ws settled.

I think (and this is ONLY MY GUESS), that Notre Dame has agreed to come aboard for all sports, but for political reasons, it has to be a phased approach.
They have some FB contracts in place going forward for a decade or two, and need some time to subtly back away from some anual rivals and get to a point where
They are at only 3-4 non-ACC opponents booked for a given year. At some point, Notre Dame may then sign on for a full 8-9 ACC games.
I see USC and Navy continuing as annual rivals, with Michigan, MSU, Purdue, Stanford, Army moving to something like an every 3 year rivalry.
Yeah, they might like to recruit in Texas, but face it, Texas feeds the entire Big XII.
In the ACC, Notre Dame can continue to recruit their traditional hunting ground of western PA, and also have plenty of recruiting exposure along the entire
east coast, but prinicipally in talent-rich Florida.

Absolutely, tute79. If the ACC did not believe Notre Dame would eventually come onboard as a FULL participant, I don't think the accommodation would have been extended in the manner that was done.

Although ND has been vocal after the announcement that they can continue their fb independence and tradition, appeasing fans and boosters in the process; it's also a set-up if they end up having to embrace conference fb as well for the future. The prize in that case for the ACC, they would have complete ND fb. It's not an assurance, but an obvious expectation.

The ACC HAD to have the idea and "wink" that ND would transition their fb into the ACC over time. Was it a deception? I am sure neither of the parties shall intentionally "leak" information on that aspect of the discussion anytime real soon. The ACC did bend from their "all-in" stance. It seems there needed to be added motive for the shift that reached beyond 5 rotating games each year, coupled with the decision to massively enhance exit fees. Of course, the bowl situations, play-offs, etc., factored into the decision.

According to SI article,after this round of conference realignment kicks in the ACC will replace the BE as the strongest top to bottom NCAA D-1 BB conference.Link at http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/w ... ID=4003003

UNC, Duke, Florida State, Notre Dame, Syracause, Pitt as the heavyweights.
N.C. State, Wake Forest, Clemson, Maryland as the contenders.

Pretty damn strong.

Purdue expects Notre Dame's ACC move
to have little effect on football series


I wouldn’t expect (Wednesday’s) announcement to affect us,” athletic director Morgan Burke said in a statement released by the university. “We have a longtime relationship with Notre Dame involving many of our programs, and we expect it to continue.”

The schools have an agreement to play annually through 2021, but only the 2013 and 2014 games have signed contracts.

Purdue and Notre Dame have played every season since 1946.

http://www.indystar.com/article/20120913/SPORTS0602/120913021/Purdue-expects-Notre-Dame-s-ACC-move-little-effect-football-series

[FONT=Arial Black]History Lesson:
UND Football vs. ACC Football[/FONT]


Let’s look back at Notre Dame’s football history against current and future ACC teams.
•Boston College: 12-9
•Clemson: 1-1
•Duke: 3-1
•Florida State: 2-5
•Georgia Tech: 27-6-1
•Maryland: 2-0
•Miami: 16-7-1
•North Carolina: 16-2
•North Carolina State: 0-1
•Pittsburgh: 46-20-1
•Syracuse: 3-3
•Virginia: 1-0
•Wake Forest: 1-0

In total, the Irish have compiled a 130-55-3 record (.699 winning percentage) in 188 games against this group of teams.

Virginia Tech, one of the conference’s perennial football powerhouses, is the only ACC squad that Notre Dame has never met on the football field. It will be an exciting day, when the Fighting Irish and Hokies finally play – whether in Blacksburg, Va. or right here at Notre Dame.

http://ndfootball.wordpress.com/2012/09/12/history-lesson-irish-vs-acc/