Notre Dame Football: Why didn’t Navy make the 2020 schedule?

Many assumed Notre Dame football would feature Navy as its out of conference game in 2020, but Thursday’s schedule reveal proved otherwise.

Notre Dame football has a football schedule, thanks to the Atlantic Coast Conference. On Thursday, the conference released the schedule for all of its teams, providing a little clarity to some of the questions that still needed answered.

For Notre Dame, one major part of the new schedule that is a little perplexing is the omission of Navy.

Because the ACC issued restrictions that its teams may play one out-of-conference game in a state that houses an ACC school, that took away the possibility that Notre Dame would be able to play at Navy’s campus in Annapolis, Maryland, as was originally scheduled. But many thought that the Irish would bring Navy to South Bend, and the fact that isn’t what happened is at least a little perplexing.

Likely, the Irish and Midshipmen thought about rekindling the rivalry, but one major snafu could have been that Navy wouldn’t have wanted to play in South Bend three straight seasons.

Notre Dame has been the home team in odd-numbered seasons, while Navy was the “home” team in even-numbered years. One might ask why the Irish and the Midshipmen didn’t simply flip-flop that arrangement.

But it’s not that easy.

Since Notre Dame and Navy have each other on the schedule for basically the rest of forever, it’s safe to say that both schools have used that game as a cornerstone for the planning of the rest of their schedules. Simply switching who hosts could throw a wrench into future schedules. It’s also worth mentioning that when the Irish play “at” Navy, they usually play at a neutral site–those games and those locations are arranged years ahead of time.

This is pure speculation, of course, but I’d bet that Notre Dame was unwilling to flip-flop to play at Navy in 2021, while Navy was unwilling to make the trip to South Bend three years in a row. At the end of the day, it was easier logistically for Notre Dame to keep Western Michigan on the schedule as originally schedule. The Irish will see Navy in 2021.