On Tuesday, the ACC and Notre Dame announced dates through the 2025 season. Previously, Notre Dame and the conference set the dates for the first three years of the agreement. Now dates have been set for the remaining 12-years of the partnership between the conference and Notre Dame.
Good news for Boston College is that the Eagles were one of the few ACC schools to get five Irish games out of the ACC's deal with Notre Dame. The Eagles and Fighting Irish will square off in 2015, 2017, 2019, 2022 and 2025. Notre Dame will make the trip to Chestnut Hill on September 16, 2017 and again during the 2025 season, while Boston College will travel to South Bend to take on the Irish on November 23, 2019 and during the 2022 season.
The fifth game will be played next season on November 21, 2015 at Fenway Park as part of the Irish's Shamrock Series of games.
The four ACC schools that ended up with five games out of the deal were BC (2 home, 3 "road" with one at Fenway Park), Syracuse (3 "home" with two in the Meadowlands, 2 road), Pittsburgh (3 home, 2 road) and Wake Forest (2 home, road). Interesting that Notre Dame and the ACC didn't use one of those extra scheduling slots to stage extra marquee matchups with programs like FSU and Clemson; opting instead to maintain more traditional rivalries with BC and Pittsburgh.
Every other ACC school gets 2 home games and 2 road games out of the deal.
The gaps in the series are pretty favorable towards BC, with games every other season starting in 2015, and games every three seasons starting in 2019. The series also doesn't interfere with BC's home-and-home scheduled with Ohio State in 2023 (9/9 in Columbus) and 2024 (9/2 in Chestnut Hill); that is, if that series ends up getting played at all.
The ACC, no doubt working with the conference's TV partners, also went ahead and designated Louisville (2019) and Florida State (2021) home games against the Irish as the league's mandated Labor Day Monday home games.
With Notre Dame on the books for five of the next 11 seasons, the Eagles only need a non-conference opponent from a Power 5 conference in 2018, 2020 and 2021 to satisfy the conference's new strength of schedule scheduling requirement that kicks in starting in 2017.
I like having the 2017 home game a little earlier in the year on the schedule, but don't like going to South Bend so late in the year in 2019. Hate having to go on the road for a huge non-conference game the week before the end of the regular season (which, if the ACC's scheduling model holds, will be a road trip to Syracuse over Thanksgiving weekend). Ending the 2019 season with back-to-back road trips is pretty brutal.
Overall, pretty happy with the deal as it relates to BC. Leave your initial thoughts below.
2014
1. Notre Dame vs. Syracuse (MetLife Stadium), 9/27*
2. North Carolina at Notre Dame, 10/11
3. Notre Dame at Florida State, 10/18
4. Louisville at Notre Dame, 11/22
2015
1. Notre Dame at Virginia, 9/12
2. Georgia Tech at Notre Dame, 9/19
3. Notre Dame at Clemson, 10/3
4. Notre Dame at Pittsburgh, 11/7
5. Wake Forest at Notre Dame, 11/14
6. Notre Dame vs. Boston College (Fenway Park), 11/21@
2016
1. Duke at Notre Dame, 9/24
2. Notre Dame vs. Syracuse (MetLife Stadium), 10/1*
3. Notre Dame at N.C. State, 10/8
4. Miami at Notre Dame, 10/29
5. Virginia Tech at Notre Dame, 11/19
2017
1. Notre Dame at Boston College, 9/16
2. Notre Dame at North Carolina, 10/07
3. N.C. State at Notre Dame, 10/28
4. Wake Forest at Notre Dame, 11/04
5. Notre Dame at Miami, 11/11
2018
1. Syracuse at Notre Dame, 9/22
2. Notre Dame at Virginia Tech, 10/13
3. Pittsburgh at Notre Dame, 10/20
4. Florida State at Notre Dame, 11/10
5. Notre Dame at Wake Forest, 11/17
2019
1. Notre Dame at Louisville, 9/2 (Labor Day)
2. Virginia at Notre Dame, 9/28
3. Notre Dame at Georgia Tech, 10/19
4. Virginia Tech at Notre Dame, 11/02
5. Notre Dame at Duke, 11/09
6. Boston College at Notre Dame, 11/23
2020
1. Notre Dame at Wake Forest
2. Notre Dame at Pittsburgh
3. Duke at Notre Dame
4. Clemson at Notre Dame
5. Louisville at Notre Dame
2021
1. Notre Dame at Florida State, 9/6 (Labor Day)
2. Notre Dame at Virginia Tech
3. North Carolina at Notre Dame
4. Notre Dame at Virginia
5. Georgia Tech at Notre Dame
2022
1. Notre Dame at North Carolina
2. Notre Dame at Syracuse
3. Boston College at Notre Dame
4. Clemson at Notre Dame
2023
1. Notre Dame at N.C. State
2. Notre Dame at Duke
3. Notre Dame at Louisville
4. Wake Forest at Notre Dame
5. Notre Dame at Clemson
6. Pittsburgh at Notre Dame
2024
1. Miami at Notre Dame
2. Notre Dame at Georgia Tech
3. Florida State at Notre Dame
4. Virginia at Notre Dame
2025
1. Notre Dame at Miami
2. N.C. State at Notre Dame
3. Notre Dame at Boston College
4. Notre Dame at Pittsburgh
5. Syracuse at Notre Dame
* - Designated ‘home' game for Syracuse
@ - Designated ‘home' game for Notre Dame