ACC Sports: What if Notre Dame joined in football?

Notre Dame, why not?

Before we delve into the ACC with Notre Dame, why would Notre Dame not want to join the ACC?

There are three main reasons.

1. Money

This is the first and utmost reason any school does anything in athletics. Sometimes it is about honor, as Texas A&M claimed, but it is usually about the money. Bigger conferences have it, smaller ones want it.

What makes Notre Dame so unique is that as an independent they don’t have to share that money with anybody else.

Above I mentioned that the Fighting Irish are receiving $15 million a year from their deal with NBC.

As a member of a conference, they would be required to share that. In the ACC that would lead to less than a million a year for Notre Dame from the network.

Not financially sound, right?

The counter argument to this comes in the form of the ACC Network. In the past, the ACC didn’t have this and therefore could not compete with the NBC money.

The ACC network changes that and the Irish would actually stand to make more now in the ACC than they would as an independent.

2. Scheduling

Another reason the Irish might not want to join the ACC is the freedom of scheduling. Notre Dame gets to set all 12 games of their schedule.

Only three other schools get to do that.

That freedom allows for Notre Dame to play such high profile games as USC, Michigan, Stanford, and Navy. Those games bring in huge ratings, which brings in more money and helps in recruiting.

In the ACC their options would be limited.

The counter argument here is a little more tricky. The initial response, is that Notre Dame already plays five games a season against the ACC, so what is three more?

Are Temple, Miami (OH), and Georgia any better than say Virginia Tech, Georgia Tech, and Louisville? Probably not, but it all depends on the year.

It also depends on the division. Notre Dame might be more inclined to play in the loaded Atlantic where Florida State, Clemson, and Louisville are regulars, versus the Coastal where mediocrity seems to reign.

Additionally, Notre Dame’s inclusion probably pushes the ACC schedule to nine games. Is a matchup against Duke better than USC, Stanford, or Michigan State?

3. Championships

Outside of money, this is what matters the most to a school.

This is probably the thing biggest in the ACC’s favor but at the same time has worked against the conference as much as anything. Despite being independent, Notre Dame has traditionally kept itself in the National title conversation.

Without a conference championship and a schedule that is fully loaded, the Irish present one of the best cases every year to the committee to pick them.

Despite not being in a conference Notre Dame played in four BCS games and one national championship from 1999 to 2014.

Not great numbers, but still better than all but two ACC schools, Virginia Tech and Florida State (Miami has also been to four, but all with the Big East).

On the flip side, Notre Dame has finished in the top 25 in the final CFP rankings once. They did finish eighth in 2015. They were even in the top four as early as week 11 but were quickly passed over the following week despite winning.

If Notre Dame ever makes the top four as an independent this becomes moot, however until they do, it would seem, that the Fighting Irish best chance is to win a conference.

It is something that 11 of the 12 playoff participants have done (Ohio State is the lone exception, the controversy over that pick only intensified after they were crushed 31-0 by Clemson).

So assuming Notre Dame gets past the cons and looks at the pros, there would definitely be some changes coming to the ACC. So what would they be?