Notre Dame Football missed a big opportunity in ACC scheduling

A big scheduling opportunity was missed for Notre Dame football.

How big would a grudge match with the Miami Hurricanes be for Notre Dame football fans? It could have been huge this year.

This week, for the third time already, ESPN’s College Gameday will be held from a Miami football game. They’ve been to Miami at Clemson, Florida State at Miami, and now Miami at Clemson. This is largely due to a renaissance that Miami has gone through on offense.

Finally, they’ve modernized and have their offense and found a not just competent, but talented quarterback in D’Eriq King. The Hurricanes are one of the great stories of the 2020 season. It’s just a shame they won’t be playing Notre Dame.

The “Catholics vs. Convicts” rivalry dates back to the Terry Brennan era, but it didn’t truly become a rivalry until the 1980s. That’s when Miami was “The U” and Notre Dame was trying to find itself under Gerry Faust.

Well, they didn’t figure it out under Faust, and the Irish learned to hate the Hurricanes in 1985 when Miami ran up a 58-7 score.

Lou Holtz was brought in to take Notre Dame back to an elite level, where Miami was firmly perched. Well, it took a couple of seasons, but the Irish got there, beating Miami 31-30 en route to their 1988 National Championship. It was one of the all-time classic games in college football history.

Since that series of games ended in 1990, the two programs have only met four times, while both have experienced falls from grace. Notre Dame, immediately following Holtz’s departure, fell off a cliff as a program into the ranks of the mediocre. Under Brian Kelly, the Irish have restricted the program, regaining perennial top-10 status.

Miami held on a bit longer but really hasn’t regained their old shine. Sure, 2017 and the invention of the turnover chain were fun, but that was largely a blip on the radar. Still, even in the 2017 blowout loss to Miami, you could feel the legacy of those 1980s match-ups in the air.

ALSO READ: Canes football is a long way from Catholics vs Convicts

So, when Notre Dame committed to playing a full, 10-game ACC schedule, it was naturally a little disappointing not to see Miami added on. In a normal season, the ACC deal forces Notre Dame to pick and choose between traditional rivals. Is there a spot for Michigan? Can we fit in Purdue? When was the last time we played Michigan State?

Of course, there are some traditional rivals still in the ACC. The Boston College game is great, while Pitt is infuriating. There’s even some decent history with Georgia Tech. It would just make for a more exciting schedule if they could fit more rivalry games onto the slate.

It’s even more disappointing now that Miami is flashing a return to form. It would have been an incredibly exciting game, and much more enjoyable than a game against Wake Forest or Duke. There’s an outside shot that the two end up as the two teams in the ACC Championship Game, but with Clemson lurking that is a longshot.