Future Notre Dame Scheduling—A Note to Jack Swarbrick

A common point for bashing of Notre Dame is the schedule they play.  Some call it soft, some call it arrogant and most simply do not understand it.

So for starters, I would like to cover the history.  For most Irish fans only three teams are considered considered Must-Haves.  They are:

University of Southern California:  USC is the rival.  This series goes back to 1926, minus a few years during WWII.  For the most part, both schools have a tremendous amount of respect for each other.  This is THE game for both schools during the regular season. 

Michigan: Michigan is the enemy.  This series goes back to 1887 and is a natural series due to the close proximity for each school.  This series only has 36 games but all signs point towards this being an annual tradition going forward.

U.S. Naval Academy:  Navy is the friend.  Not many people know the reason why Navy is on the schedule every year and why Navy will remain there.  During WWII, Notre Dame had a large drop in enrollment.  Almost to the point it caused the school to close.

The U.S. Naval Academy gave Notre Dame a helping hand by moving thousands of young men to Notre Dame for officer training during the war.  Out of respect, friendship and dare I say love...this game will always be played.

A little more history....

Outside of these three schools, Notre Dame tries to keep schools like Purdue (Shillelagh Trophy), Michigan State (Megaphone Trophy), Boston College (Holy War), Pittsburgh, and Standford on the schedule on a regular basis.  Other notable series include Penn State, Georgia Tech, Miami (FL), and Nebraska. 

A large reason for some of these series to happen was due to schools like Penn State, Miami, Georgia Tech, Pittsburgh and Michigan State being independent schools.  As we all know, Notre Dame is the last standing independent out of this group.

The unique relationship between Notre Dame and the Big East...

I am not going to go too much into this because it has been hashed out ad nauseum in other posts and comments.  I will say that Notre Dame is required to play three Big East schools every year. 

I will also point out that, regardless of what Big East fans have to say, nobody is holding a gun to the Big East to allow Notre Dame this unique opportunity.  It is mutually beneficial. 

I also think it could lead to some great opportunities...

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