Notre Dame Miami football game 2020 getting closer to reality
With the ACC continuing to move towards playing 10 conference games plus one non-conference game in 2020 a Notre Dame Miami football game is beginning to look like a reality.
The Notre Dame and Miami football teams have not played since the Hurricanes exhilarating 41-8 victory at Hard Rock Stadium in 2017. The Hurricanes and Fighting Irish are not scheduled to play again until 2024 in South Bend. The uncertainty of the 2020 season could create a special one-game meeting this fall.
Brett McMurphy of Stadium reported on Friday that Notre Dame could become part of the ACC for football just for the 2020 season. Notre Dame is currently scheduled to play six games against ACC foes in 2020. If the Fighting Irish play 10 games against ACC opponents in 2020 their games would count in the conference standings.
McMurphy reported that it is unknown if Notre Dame would be eligible for the ACC Championship Game or the ACC’s Orange Bowl bid. One of the focuses from the ACC and SEC is to preserve the four instate rivalry games between Florida and Florida State, Clemson and South Carolina, Georgia-Georgia Tech and Louisville-Kentucky.
Should that become a reality the prevailing thinking is that teams would move to a 10 game conference schedule with the remaining teams adding a new non-conference game against a team from the ACC, Big XII, or SEC. The Big 10 and Pac 12 have already announced that they will play conference only schedules in 2020.
ACC’s top scheduling model is 10 league games plus 1 nonconference foe, sources told @Stadium. In this format if Notre Dame plays 10 ACC teams, results would count in ACC standings, sources said. Unknown if ND could earn ACC’s Orange Bowl bid. This needs ACC presidential approval
— Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) July 24, 2020
If Notre Dame does add for more ACC games in 2020, it seems like a certainty that Miami would be one of the four teams to play the Fighting Irish. It that is the case the logical site for the game would be in South Bend with Miami currently a hotspot for the Coronavirus. Who Miami would add in non-conference is unknown.
The Hurricanes would home games against Temple, Wagner and Alabama-Birmingham to begin the season. Temple was an intriguing game with Manny Diaz the Owls head coach for 18 days in December 2018 and Miami defensive end Quincy Roche transferring from Temple after the 2019 season.
Latest on Power Five schedules, per Hotline sources: ACC planning on 10+1 model with official announcement as early as tomorrow; Big Ten going w/ 10 conference games & announcement likely next week
— Jon Wilner (@wilnerhotline) July 24, 2020
(oh, and that laughing in the background? it's the virus)
Future Miami Football schedules
Roche was the 2019 American Athletic Conference Defensive Player of the Year after recording 19 tackles for loss and 13 sacks for the Owls. West Coast College Football writer Jon Wilner was the first to report the ACC 10 plus one model. The Miami football team is scheduled to open against Alabama in 2021 in Atlanta.
Miami Hurricanes Football
Miami has home and homes against Texas A&M in 2022 and 2023, Florida in 2024 and 2025 and South Carolina in 2026 and 2027 as other SEC programs on their schedule in the future. The Hurricanes do not have any future games scheduled against Big XII opponents. A few options would create intriguing matchups for Miami.
Oklahoma was a big rival of Miami with three huge games between the Sooners and Hurricanes from 1985-87. Texas would be a big intersectional matchup as would Georgia. Miami played LSU in 2018 in the Tigers’ first game with Joe Burrow at quarterback so that seems unlikely. One other matchup would create intrigue.
New Miami offensive coordinator Rhett Lashlee held the same position under current Auburn head coach Gus Malzahn with the Tigers and Arkansas State. Lashlee also played under Malzahn in high school as a QB. Expect that to be a matchup in later years as long as Lashlee stays at Miami.
Auburn is scheduled to play North Carolina on September 12 in Atlanta. Part of the ACC, Big XII, SEC conference schedules plus one non-conference game plan is to keep matchups between teams in those three conferences intact. Expect the Tar Heels and Tigers to keep that game intact.
dark. Next. Miami football would be excited to play ND in 2020
Miami Notre Dame seems almost guaranteed to happen if the Fighting Irish are part of the ACC for the 2020 season. The best fit for Miami in their one non-conference game to be added seems to be Baylor after all the other teams are matched up. Lashlee has taken some of the Bears offense and integrated it into his own.