The ACC released its full 2019 schedule on Wednesday and something interesting jumped off the page with regards to Notre Dame and its five ACC opponents next year. They all either have a bye week before their Notre Dame game or play a FCS opponent. Essentially, the ACC has given each of the five extra time to prepare for the Irish next fall. Neat.
Here’s a quick look at who each of the five faces the week before taking on Notre Dame.
- 9/2: vs. Louisville (Season Opener)
- 9/28: vs. Virginia (Old Dominion)
- 11/2: vs. Virginia Tech (BYE)
- 11/9: @ Duke (BYE)
- 11/24: vs. Boston College (BYE)
That’s umm, something. Of the five ACC opponents for 2019, only Virginia has to play anyone the week before they play Notre Dame. To be fair, Notre Dame also has extra time to prepare for Louisville since it is the season opener.
It’s interesting that the ACC decided to schedule this way since they originally decided to give Notre Dame a relatively easy slate of games when the games were originally announced years ago. Notre Dame misses out on Clemson, Florida State, Miami, or even NC State. None of the ACC’s current top power programs are on the 2019 Notre Dame schedule.
Notre Dame also gets four of their five ACC games at home this season as well after only facing two ACC foes in their home stadiums in 2018. That’s seven home games to three road games against the ACC in a two year period. Perhaps some at the ACC realized this and and wanted to level the playing field a bit.
In a vacuum, Notre Dame should win each of these games based on what they did in 2019 versus what each of these programs has coming back, but while they all will enjoy easy weeks before facing Notre Dame, the Irish have a much tougher gauntlet of games the week before their ACC games. Notre Dame plays:
- @ Georgia the week before hosting Virginia
- @ Michigan the week before hosting Virginia Tech
- vs. Virginia Tech the week before traveling to Duke
- vs. Navy the week before hosting Boston College
Of the five ACC opponents on the slate in 2019, Virginia Tech is the only one that Notre Dame played in 2018 as well. The Irish traveled to Blacksburg in October and blew out the Hokies 45-23. Notre Dame has played all but Louisville at least once in the last three seasons: Virginia (W, 2015), Duke (L, 2016), Boston College (W, 2017), and then Virginia Tech last last fall. Notre Dame last played Louisville in 2014.
While Notre Dame was 5-0 against the ACC during the regular season in 2018, they haven’t exactly dominated in these games since the agreement with the conference went into effect in 2014. Notre Dame is 18-7 in the 25 regular season games they’ve played against the ACC in the last five seasons. They are 18-8 when counting the 2018 Cotton Bowl loss to Clemson in the College Football Playoffs.
- 2014: 2-2 (losses to Louisville & Florida State)
- 2015: 5-1 (loss to Clemson)
- 2016: 2-3 (losses to Virginia Tech, Duke, & NC State)
- 2017: 4-1 (loss to Miami)
- 2018: 5-1 (loss to Clemson in Cotton Bowl)
This past season was in fact the first time that Notre Dame navigated its regular season slate of ACC unblemished. They came close in both 2015 and 2017 but lost a game in each season.
The 2019 set of ACC games certainly looks like the Irish can make it two years in a row without losing a regular season game to the ACC. If they take care of business next season, the fact that these five teams all either have a bye week or essentially have a bye week shouldn’t matter. On paper, Notre Dame should beat them all even though three of the five have beaten Notre Dame at least once in the last five years (Louisville, Duke, & Virginia Tech).
All that said, it is more than a little suspicious that ACC just so conveniently has given all five of their programs extra time to prepare for Notre Dame in 2019.
ND can also expect the usual screw jobs by ACC refs, too.
Everyone’s out to get ND. Yadda yadda yadda.
Yes, they are. Things are as they should be at ND right now.
BGC ’77 ’82
A medicated coach who isn’t leaving or embarrassing the school, the bank account in great shape, a fanbase placated for at least a year or two.
Pretty sweet.
A whole lot better off than some schools who pay way more, but have fan bases that know they are not getting what is being paid for…in some cases a self medicated or alcohol soaked coach who does embarrass the school from time to time.
BGC ’77 ’82
“A whole lot better off than some schools”. Notre Dame Football.
This is how far the mighty have fallen…..and still, you’re oblivious.
Wall Street dreams of finding bullet-proof perpetuities…..they’d kill to get a piece of this.
HEY back to stupidity dopey davey, talk about coaches embarrassing schools. What about your coach of the year WILLIE TAGGART, you told us about what a great job he would do at FLA. ST 5-7 record!! You told us how great the ” simplistic velocity ” offense would be, they just hired a new OC!! You praised what a great job he did ( 7-5 ) at Oregon, they won 9 games this year when he left!! And finally your favorite coach is being sued by 2 former players at Oregon!! dopey dave you need medication, take 2 laxatives and clear out your brain!!
David,
The People’s Republic of Wall Street has done exactly that – creating “bullet proof perpetuities” by legislation without regulation…they are too big to fail (self-proclaimed) and if their insiders and cronies start to lose big money irretrievably, the masses will always bail them out with “no judicial review” as the Fed Chairman (Extortionist-in-Chief) worded it in the actual legislation 10 years ago. What did you once call that David?…”the elegant truth of the marketplace”…or some such prattle. We Curmes like to call it what it is…”the truth – upside down.”
BGC ’77 ’82
As soon as Jurkovec takes over Notre Dame will not lose another game until He declares for the draft. Rest easy my friends.
2019 is not a good year to project ND as a playoff team. We will be a mix of experience and no experience guys, and we should just shoot to still be in the discussion after the Michigan game. If we are, it would mean that we beat two of these three; Louisville, Georgia or Michigan on the road. IF – a big IF – that happens it would be a decent position for us to be in on Halloween!
BGC ’77 ’82
to me your either good enough or your not.Ohio State has beaten Michigan like 10 straight years and 15 out of 16 with half of those games at Michigan.Alabama has beat LSU and Georgia many times in a row.AsLou used to say the schedule isn’t that tough the better you are.
“In a vacuum…based on what they did in 2019”? I think your brain must’ve been sucked out of your head by that vacuum! THE 2019 SEASON HAS NOT HAPPENED YET! But hey, we’re all NotAdame fans, here. GoIRISH!
It makes perfect sense to me. You’re playing an opponent you only play every three or four years. It’s not like playing someone from your conference, so why not take a week-off to prepare for someone who are not that familiar with who is also a top program. Smart, is what it is.
ND did not blow out Virginia Tech….it was a 2 score game with 5 minutes to go in the game.
Who said they did?
The author of the article. The term “blew out” is always taken by nearly everyone that I know precisely that way.
You should read it.
@ Georgia? last time at home they outnumbered us, can’t imagine coming out of there with a W.
@Michigan? revenge factor, probably our second loss. Oops, not gonna get us to the final 4.
But that’s OK to most ND fans, because they don’t seem to have a burning desire to stop the new “tradition” of losing big games.
Once we do suffer our second loss, the remainder of the season becomes meaningless.
But who knows maybe Kelly plays wide-outs with speed, maybe he prepares DB’s equal to the starters who can step up to his “next man in” boast, maybe Book adds distance to his accurate throws, maybe, hopefully.
Should be 5 easy wins but it is a significant advantage to having an extra week off to rest and prepare. two of the five games will probably be nail biting wins. Wonder if we will hear Michigan and New Mexico fan base complain that the Irish have a week off before playing them. 2019 is a Daunting schedule and will require the stars to line up to run that schedule unscathed.
The team we play as our home opener has less than 20% wins since the first home opener in 1930. The trick, when you open on the road, is to get to the home opener without losing. Opening on the road can be an instant trap game…they could be thinking about it all summer long, as Texas had been when we opened in Austin. This is why I will be going to the Louisville game…I’ve never been in that stadium, and it is not that far. “Fac Brats” In the House!
BGC ’77 ’82
Dare I say it?
“We hold these truths (re: ND) to be self-evident”, be it the scheduling of Quite Old Dominion, or byes before ND, or Burgy’s recalcitrant recurring implications that it ain’t so!
You’ve never said anything. Why start now?