So much for the revamped football schedule.
It’s back to the drawing board for Notre Dame when the Mid-American Conference, of which Western Michigan is a part, canceled all bankruptcy sports on Saturday. That leaves a gap on September 19 on the Irish schedule after the Broncos remained in their original place to visit Notre Dame Stadium when the ACC unveiled its updated lead on Thursday.
Western Michigan on September 19 and at Wake Forest on September 26 were the only two games on the original 2020 schedule that remained in the same spot after the revision. Notre Dame had chosen to hold his game with the Broncos over a 94th straight year of taking over the Naval Academy, in part to avoid a cancellation fee with Western Michigan. The difficulty of adjusting future schedules with Navy also added to the decision.
Now the Irish have a hole that probably can not be filled by the Midshipmen, who are transitioning from playing the Irish by planning a Sept. 7 match with Brigham Young. The Navy will visit Tulane after Sept. 19 in a battle of attendees at the U.S. Conference. BYU could be a potential option, as the independent football university continues to look for games to schedule.
Monday’s game of the day against BYU is currently the only game scheduled by the Cougars in September. BYU played games against Utah State and Houston in October, and Boise State, San Diego State and North Alabama in November. BYU’s Oct. 24 game scheduled against Northern Illinois will also need to be changed, as the Huskies are members of the MAC.
Another option for Notre Dame is to stay at the 10 ACC games and leave the weekend of September 19 as a third bye. The other notices of Notre Dame are on October 3rd and November 21st. BYU is scheduled to play Utah State on Friday, October 2 and North Alabama on November 21.
With the way things are trending in college football, it makes more sense to just stick to the 10-game ACC scheme … than is even possible.
