Notre Dame Football: Will The Shamrock Series Return?
Notre Dame set to pause the Shamrock Series.
Notre Dame will take a one year break from the Shamrock Series in 2017. Jack Swarbrick stated that because the Campus Crossroads project will be completed in August of 2017, they would like to have as many home games in the newly renovated stadium as possible.
While that serves as a helpful alibi, the real truth may reside in Notre Dame’s home slate in 2017 (the Shamrock Series games are Notre Dame home games moved to another location).
Notre Dame’s home slate in 2017 is:
- Temple
- Georgia
- Miami (OH)
- USC
- Wake Forest
- North Carolina State
- Navy
Even if the Crossroads project wasn’t scheduled to be finished, which one of those schools agrees to a Shamrock Series game? NC State? It wouldn’t be Georgia unless it was in Atlanta- and who in the hell would want that anyways?!
If we fast forward to 2018, Notre Dame’s home schedule has:
- Ball State
- Syracuse
- Stanford
- Florida State
- Pitt
With two games left to schedule- WHERE IS THE SHAMROCK SERIES GAME?
Seriously. Notre Dame and Jack Swarbrick have a serious challenge on their hands when it comes to scheduling future Shamrock Series games.
If they are to do more like this year’s version of Army in San Antonio, why bother? Notre Dame doesn’t want to pawn off its premiere home games like a Georgia and a Florida State, and even if they agreed to it, why are they intentionally making it harder to win that game?
As much as I like the concept of the Shamrock Series, you have to wonder if it has run its course. With the ever changing landscape that is college football, it may be for the best, but if Notre Dame wants it bad enough they’ll round some poor schmuck up.
Still, regardless of anything else, you have to wonder how and why Notre Dame would want to take a game away from its newly renovated stadium and all that comes with it both financially and the welfare of the team.
Will the Shamrock Series return? Yeah, probably- but maybe not.