Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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UNDER THE DOME ter this season, and the longtime rivalries with Purdue and Michigan State will be scaled back because of conference re- alignment. Notre Dame will not play any Big Ten team in 2015, but the Spartans return to South Bend on Sept. 17, 2016, and will host the Irish on Sept. 23, 2017. The Boil- ermakers return in 2020 and '21, and then from 2024-26. • Big 12 — Notre D a m e c o m p l e t e d a 2012-13 series with Okla- homa. Next year it hosts Texas in the opener on Sept. 5, 2015, and plays at Austin on Sept. 3, 2016. Another series with the Longhorns is slated for 2019-20, but with Georgia added in 2019, there might be some movement. • Pac-12 — Along with Navy, the series with archrival USC and Stan- ford will continue so that California, an important recruiting territory, can be visited annually. That left the SEC to add. " A s o u r f o o t b a l l schedules evolved with the start of our Atlantic Coast Conference com- petition in 2014, we had future games slated with top-drawer opponents in virtually all the major conferences," Swarbrick said. "One exception was the Southeastern Confer- ence, so we are pleased now to be able to check that box. These will be two contests that will have great national ap- peal, in part because our only previous matchup came in a bowl game." That postseason meet- ing occurred on Jan. 1, 1981, when No. 1 Georgia clinched the national title with a 17-10 victory over No. 6 and 9-1-1 Notre Dame, which had been ranked No. 2 before los- ing 20-3 at USC in its reg- ular-season finale. The Irish outgained Georgia 328-127 in total offense, but the Herschel Walker- Irish Want To Move 2019-20 Texas Series There is a fine line to walk for a college football program between having a quality strength of schedule rating to qualify for the four-team College Football Playoff and, at the same time, not "overscheduling." Notre Dame might be walking that tightrope. Notre Dame's addition of playing at Georgia on Sept. 21, 2019 might be creating a bit of an overscheduling problem for the Fighting Irish. That same year it is slated to open at Texas on Aug. 31. Furthermore, it plays at Stanford, hosts USC, and the possibility exists that top programs such as Florida State, Miami or Clemson could be among the five ACC opponents that season. Notre Dame senior associate athletics director for media and broadcast relations John Heisler has con- firmed that the school hopes to move the 2019-20 series with Texas to later years in an effort to create the most variety and balance possible in any given year. From 2016 and then moving forward, Notre Dame is locked into eight games: five with the ACC, Navy, Stanford and USC. Only four others can be scheduled in a 12-game season. Six have to be at home — plus the off-site Shamrock Series game. Ironically, Texas' new director of athletics is Steve Patterson, formerly of Arizona State. At ASU, Patterson held firm to not allowing Notre Dame to back out from the scheduled Nov. 8 game this year in Tempe after conference realignment forced some changes. — Lou Somogyi