Notre Dame still seeking answers on 2020 schedule
Notre Dame knows it will not be traveling aboard to open its 2020 football season in Ireland against Navy.
And the school is continuing its ongoing preparations to host scaled-down home football games in the fall, with Notre Dame leaders consistently saying early games may feature only students and potentially faculty and staff in attendance.
Yet the Fighting Irish do not yet have a clear visual for how fully their modified schedule iteration will resemble its original slate. Notre Dame’s initial 2020 campaign was set to feature a trip to Ireland against Navy to globally kick off the college football season and five contests – Duke, Wisconsin, Pittsburgh, Georgia Tech and USC – in NFL venues.
Now, myriad options are being discussed for the Irish to fill out their fall campaign.
“I think those are all under consideration; those are not my decisions to make,” Brian Kelly said of potential schedule modifications Tuesday in a Zoom video call with reporters. “I was answering a question of what are the things that are kind of in flux right now. One of the things we have to keep in context of what our schedule looks like is, what happens in the Big Ten and what happens in Pac 12?
“Those are two impactful games that influence our schedule (vs. Wisconsin at Lambeau Field and vs. USC at Los Angeles Coliseum), maybe Western Michigan. Because we feel pretty whole [from a schedule standpoint]. That, coupled with the venues, become schedule issues that Jack Swarbrick is going to have to negotiate and work out. The NFL is talking about capping attendance in stadiums. So, questions come up like, ‘Does it make sense to go to an NFL stadium that seats 60, 70, 80,000 and have 25 or 30,000 in it and impact the gate to a level where you can’t afford really to be there?’. Because it becomes a losing proposition.
“I suggested that those are more things that have to be worked out before we can say, ‘This is the schedule.’ We’ve got a couple months but I think these are things that people should keep an eye on that still need to be massaged.”
Among the last regal independents, Notre Dame, with athletics director Jack Swarbrick at the helm, has worked at length to secure its 2020 slate in an uncertain time as every facet of society adjusts to the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Fighting Irish and ACC sources have maintained confidence that their five-game agreement will be fulfilled this fall; SEC staff members have told Irish Sports Daily that, as of now, the league is optimistic of maintaining its 12-game schedule. Big Ten members have acknowledged that league has discussed a potential 10-game, league-only schedule for 2020.
"We're hopeful. We don't have anything you tangible,” Kelly said of keeping Notre Dame’s schedule as close as possible to its original form. “You know as much as we do. Certainly, Jack has had some conversations. We don't have anything to tell you publicly that is confirmation from the Pac-12 and Big Ten that these games are definitely going to happen.
"Once we do, we're going to make it public. We want that to be binding.”
Though Kelly was in agreement with the Irish’s opportunity to open their season abroad, Notre Dame’s 11th-year head coach admits preparations – particularly in uncertain times – become easier with the first game against Navy now set for September 5 in Annapolis, Maryland.
“I think it will be an easier transition for us to go to Annapolis than making the trip to Ireland,” Kelly said. “I will say, if we weren’t obviously in this pandemic, the trip was not a difficult trip. There is a lot of moving pieces, but we were comfortable making the trip if it was in a normal circumstance. But moving it to Annapolis will be a pretty easy situation for us.
“Now, we’re going to enter into some situations relative to testing (for COVID-19) the week of the game. We’ve got to work through those things. That’s a whole new lifestyle for us. So we’ve got to figure that out. It will be an opener for us, and we’re excited about it.”