Why Notre Dame Is Scheduling Mid-American Conference Foes
Why is Notre Dame scheduling Mid-American teams like Ball State more frequently?
Doesn’t that go against the principle of “to be the best you have to play the best” that Knute Rockne espoused?
Maybe — but even Rockne’s first consensus national champion at Notre Dame in 1924 began the season against Lombard and Wabash.
Doesn’t Notre Dame want attractive games for its NBC contract? Remember when it originally had Miami (Ohio) on the schedule to open the 1997 schedule, but then cancelled it to put a bigger name on the slate (Georgia Tech) for the rededication of Notre Dame Stadium.
That’s true too … but times change, and Notre Dame has had to as well. When the stadium was expanded in 1997, Field Turf or even a video board were still considered a potential desecration, but now they have become added elements to "keep up with the times.".
Other than continuing its annual rivalry with Navy that began in 1927 and has since remained uninterrupted, Notre Dame seldom ventures outside of playing a team from a major league, or the Power Five — ACC, Big Ten, Pac-12, SEC and Big 12 — as it is known today.
As a football independent, albeit a partial member in the ACC, the modus operandi of its schedules has emphasized a slate laden with teams from such leagues. The military academies have been the prime exception.
That began to change in 2008 under then Notre Dame athletics director Kevin White.
Two years earlier in 2006, the Fighting Irish for the first time began 12-game regular-season schedules on a yearly basis, and the realization crystallized that going through a 12-game gauntlet with only Power Five teams would not be conducive to championship aspirations.
So in 2008 and 2009, Notre Dame opened their seasons against non-Power Five teams San Diego State and Nevada, respectively.
By 2010, Mid-American Conference winner Western Michigan was added, and in 2015 the Fighting Irish schedule began a string of what will now be annual one-game visits from teams in lower-level leagues:
• Massachusetts of the MAC in 2015 (62-27). Former Irish head coach Charley Molnar served as the head coach for the Minutemen during their first two seasons in the Football Bowl Subdivision in 2012-13, but was let go after a pair of 1-11 campaigns. UMass ended up leaving the MAC after the 2015 campaign and has competed as an independent ever since.
• Nevada of the Mountain WestConference in 2016 (39-10), with current Notre Dame special teams coordinator and recruiting coordinator Brian Polian the head coach. Polian was realistic going into the contest, with the prime purpose to pick up a $1 million payday for the school to make the trip.
“If we were supposed to beat Notre Dame we wouldn’t be in the Mountain West,” he said after the game.
• Last year it was Miami (Ohio) of the MAC, a 52-17 sacrificial lamb coached by former Notre Dame assistant Chuck Martin (2010-13).
• This year it is Ball State of the MAC, a first-time opponent for Notre Dame. The Cardinals ended 2017 on a nine-game losing streak, behind only UTEP (12) and Kansas (11).
• In 2019, the Irish have games scheduled on Sept. 14 versus New Mexico — currently coached by 1997-2001 Irish head coach Bob Davie — and on Oct. 5 against MAC member Bowling Green. That might be a way to compensate for some overscheduling that season with road games at Louisville, Georgia, Michigan and Stanford.
• Western Michigan is on the docket for 2020, while Toledo comes aboard in 2021.
The SEC in particular has made scheduling into an art form because of the potential of a 13th matchup with the conference title game.
For example, Alabama this year strategically has Arkansas State, Louisiana and The Citadel — the tune-up the week before facing Auburn — on its slate. Auburn likewise has Liberty scheduled the week before Alabama, with Alabama State earlier in the season.
Georgia opens with Austin Peay, has Middle Tennessee two weeks later and plays UMass the week before its rivalry game with Georgia Tech. Clemson, which has been in the College Football Playoff three straight years, opens with Furman and Georgia Southern, with Texas A&M in between.
Thus, interspersing games against MAC or Mountain West foes is a first step to allaying some degree of difficulty in the schedule. Next probably would be not relinquishing a home game for the sake of the Shamrock Series — as the Irish did this year with Syracuse on Nov. 17 by moving it to New York City.
The move by the administration the week before playing archrival USC rankled head coach Brian Kelly, but it’s not his call, as it more likely would be for a Nick Saban at Alabama.
“Going to New York and then going to L.A. to play USC is not the easiest way to run the table,” Kelly told Blue & Gold Illustrated for its 2018 Football Preview. “Most of the teams in the SEC are playing a I-AA [Football Championship Subdivision] team that is getting paid to come into their stadium before the last game of the year for a reason.”
Likewise, there is a reason why the MAC has become more prevalent on Notre Dame’s present and future schedules.
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