LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — There is a short list of hot-button topics for University of Louisville football and basketball fans:
Paying Bobby Petrino $14 million not to coach the football team.
Chuck Smrt and his strategy of contesting the NCAA investigation that resulted in vacating the 2013 men’s basketball title.
The current two-game losing streak to Kentucky in football and three-game losing streak to John Calipari in hoops.
Time to grow the list: Notre Dame.
To be precise, assisting Notre Dame through this challenging novel coronavirus pandemic by inviting the Irish to play a 10-game Atlantic Coast Conference football schedule this fall without requiring ND to sign up for full-time ACC membership.
Just suggesting this is a possibility will inspire allegations that I brush my teeth with Lou Holtz toothpaste.
But I believe that would be the collegial thing to do.
The ACC and the Irish have already been dating for seven years, since they struck a deal that allowed (or required, depending upon your perspective) Notre Dame to compete in every sport but football or hockey beginning with the 2013-14 season.
Don’t force a marriage. Commit when both sides are ready. Assist Notre Dame in these stressful times because ACC football will benefit, too.
The Irish were ranked in the Top 12 in the final Associated Press poll in four of the last five seasons. Phil Steele ranked Notre Dame No. 9 in his 2020 yearbook. Playing Notre Dame generates publicity and competitive value. Louisville welcomed a record crowd, 58,187, when the Irish visited Cardinal Stadium last September.
If ACC schools decide the current arrangement is no longer working in a few years, then move on.
That’s not what you will hear from the Notre Dame attack dogs, who were in full-throated disapproval when this idea started floating Friday. The meltdown was fast, furious and overdone.
Notre Dame is overhyped, overvalued and overbearing. The Irish haven’t won anything significant since Rocket Ismail was on campus. The ACC has leverage. USE IT!
Make the Irish squirm and then blink. In? Or out? Decide.
That’s not the way the ACC has operated to this point, maneuvering ahead of the Big Ten (the league where the Irish actually fit and belong, for the record).
Step one was bringing the Irish in from the Big East and other sports during the 2013-14 season, one year before Louisville made the move to the ACC. A win/win for ACC and Notre Dame basketball.
Step two was working with the Irish to have six ACC teams (U of L, Clemson, Wake Forest, Georgia Tech, Duke and Pittsburgh) on the schedule this season.
Another win/win for ACC and Notre Dame football.
Helping Notre Dame this season would be the sensible next step to convince the Irish to fully commit to conference play in football, a concept the Irish have resisted the way they once resisted bowl games and night games. Change is not a calling card of the program.
Notre Dame is different than other ACC football-admission candidates. The Irish come with a 29-year national TV contract with NBC, 11 national championships, seven Heisman Trophy winners and a fervent international fan base.
The Irish are also famously allergic to giving up their independent status — except this year. This year Notre Dame (and NBC) have been scrambling for quality scheduling opportunities since the virus erased games against Wisconsin, Stanford and USC from the ND schedule. A game with Navy is no longer a lock to be played.
That leaves the Irish with eight games: Six ACC opponents (including Louisville’s trip to South Bend, Indiana Nov. 21), Arkansas and Western Michigan.
Eight games when other Power Five teams appear determined to play at least 10 and maybe 11 is a bad look. Good luck trying to make the national playoffs. Even Brian Kelly won't be able to spin that.
Word has circulated since Friday that the ACC is considering throwing the Irish a lifeline. The idea is to give Notre Dame the opportunity to add three or four ACC opponents to the six (including Louisville) the Irish are scheduled to play.
Several outlets reported that one proposal the presidents of ACC schools will consider this week is a reworked schedule with 10 ACC games and one non-league contest.
If that happens, it would mean Louisville would hold its eight ACC opponents as well as its November games against Notre Dame and Kentucky. Western Kentucky and Murray State would likely exit the schedule, while the Cards could add Pittsburgh, Miami, North Carolina, Georgia Tech or Duke.
Notre Dame would get its scheduling lifeline — without being required to commit to being an ACC football member in 2021 and beyond.
I don’t have a problem with that.
Toss the Irish that lifeline. It’s the reasonable next step in the ACC/Notre Dame relationship, perfectly collegial in these difficult times.
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