Slap the Sign
Fansided

ACC was fun for Notre Dame football, but Independence returns in 2021

By Daniel Morrison

SOUTH BEND, INDIANA - NOVEMBER 07: An end zone pylon displays the Notre Dame and ACC logos at Notre Dame Stadium during the game against the Clemson Tigers at Notre Dame Stadium on November 7, 2020 in South Bend, Indiana. (Photo by Matt Cashore-Pool/Getty Images)
SOUTH BEND, INDIANA - NOVEMBER 07: An end zone pylon displays the Notre Dame and ACC logos at Notre Dame Stadium during the game against the Clemson Tigers at Notre Dame Stadium on November 7, 2020 in South Bend, Indiana. (Photo by Matt Cashore-Pool/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
1 of 2
Next
Notre Dame football dominated ACC play in 2020. (Photo by Matt Cashore-Pool/Getty Images)
Notre Dame football dominated ACC play in 2020. (Photo by Matt Cashore-Pool/Getty Images) /

The Notre Dame football team dominated ACC play in 2020, but a return to their Independent ways will return for the 2021 season and beyond.

For Notre Dame football, it will be one season in a conference and one trip to a conference championship game. Not too bad. After all, there’s plenty of programs that have been in a conference for decades and never won, or even made a conference championship game.

Still, hopefully, this first season is the last one for Notre Dame in a conference. After all, it took a worldwide pandemic to force the Irish into a conference for the 2020 season.

Of course, it is out of a proud tradition that Notre Dame has remained Independent for so long. They’ve done so in the face of criticism from the majority, who feel that the Irish need to join a conference to fit the mold of most modern college football programs. This season has even proved that being in the ACC full-time would be the easier option.

The Irish wouldn’t have to go unbeaten to make the College Football Playoff, and even if they fell short of the Playoff, their conference would have a New Year’s Six Bowl tie-in for them. Just last season Notre Dame went 10-2 in the regular season, and it landed them in the Camping World Bowl, but a 9-4 Virginia team went to the Orange Bowl as an automatic bid.

Maybe it would have been easier for the Irish to take the ACC money long term, but for now, it’s just going to be a one-season foray. Most fans and the administration will choose their Independence instead of being in the ACC out of tradition and a sense of normalcy, but Notre Dame didn’t always want to exist as an Independent.

In fact, in their early days, the Notre Dame program wanted to join the Western Conference, which is now known as the B1G 10.

Home/Notre Dame Football