Agreement in Despair: Should the Irish Reconsider Their ACC Affiliation?
- Ruben Kelly Ysasi
- 22 hours ago
- 9 min read
The nightmare scenario happened. Notre Dame was left out of the College Football Playoff in favor of Alabama and Miami. The result isn't what anyone associated with Notre Dame wanted, but the Irish were never truly in control of their own destiny. The issue? Their once-thought allies became one of the very elements campaigning against them. Let's take a look at the how and why.
Photo by Arav Patel
Following the loss to Texas A&M, Notre Dame needed a lot of help to get into the playoff field. Throughout the season, that possibility became greater and greater. Miami, once the No. 2 team in the nation, dropped two games midseason to Louisville and SMU. Teams began dropping left and right, making the path easier and easier for the Irish, but something happened that caught the eye of college football fans around the country.
In late November, the ACC Football X (formerly Twitter) account began openly promoting Miami over Notre Dame. Not subtly. Not indirectly. But through direct posts and graphics pushing the Hurricanes as the ACC’s playoff representative, despite Notre Dame being a conference affiliate whose 24 varsity sports compete under the ACC banner. To many, it felt like the league was intentionally choosing a side. And that side wasn’t Notre Dame.
For a program that has long walked a tightrope between football independence and partial conference membership, this moment felt like a crack in the foundation. Internally, shock gave way to frustration. Externally, fans and analysts questioned why a conference that benefited enormously from Notre Dame’s brand, viewership, and scheduling agreements would publicly campaign against them at the most crucial moment of the season.
Notre Dame athletic director Pete Bevacqua didn’t hide his distraught. “We were mystified by the actions of the conference,” he said following the announcement of the final playoff rankings. Bevacqua made it clear that the incident went beyond a simple social media misstep. He referred to the ACC’s behavior as causing “permanent damage to the relationship between the conference and Notre Dame,” a striking statement from the leader of a program known for its diplomatic steadiness.
The Irish didn’t get the help they needed on the field, but the off-field dynamic may have hurt even more. In the end, Notre Dame wasn’t simply competing against other programs; they were competing against the very league many assumed was standing beside them.
The ACC Agreement, and Why Notre Dame Must Reevaluate Everything
To understand the weight of this moment, it’s essential to understand what the ACC affiliation agreement actually is. Notre Dame is not a full football member of the ACC, but it is tied to the conference through a unique and complex partnership. The Irish play five ACC opponents each season, share revenue from the ACC’s media rights package, and compete in the conference for 24 other varsity sports. In return, the ACC receives a substantial boost, from TV ratings to brand prestige to increased national exposure. The Irish have participated in the league since 2014, and gave up multiple historical rivalries by doing so (Michigan and Michigan State).
The relationship has always been presented as mutually beneficial. Notre Dame gets scheduling stability and a home for its Olympic sports, while the ACC gets the viewership and national reach that only Notre Dame can provide. In 2020, when the pandemic forced Notre Dame to temporarily join the ACC for football, the league enjoyed its highest ratings in years, cementing just how valuable the Irish brand is to the conference.
But all of that rests on trust.
When the ACC Football X account began openly campaigning for Miami, it violated the spirit of that trust. Notre Dame was already fighting an uphill battle for a playoff spot, and seeing the one conference they are affiliated with actively push another team into the field felt like a betrayal. Instead of neutrality, or even basic professionalism—the league appeared to take a stance. This exposed the deeper issue: Notre Dame fulfills its obligations to the ACC, but the ACC did not show the loyalty traditionally offered to an affiliate partner. If the conference is willing to publicly undermine Notre Dame at the season’s most critical moment, what message does that send about the long-term stability of the relationship?
For many within and around the program, the answer is becoming increasingly clear—Notre Dame must reconsider whether remaining in the ACC alignment is still in its best interests.
Getting out of the agreement would be complicated. The ACC’s grant-of-rights structure is notoriously restrictive, and separating Olympic sports would require careful negotiation. But the playoff snub, and the ACC’s public behavior, may accelerate conversations that previously felt distant or theoretical.
“But what we were surprised by and disappointed by was how the ACC conference really went on a social media campaign, in my opinion, attacking our football program,” AD Pete Bevacqua stated in his press conference yesterday. Bevacqua would go on to further discuss the benefits the ACC receives by Notre Dame being in the conference, exclaiming: “An interesting stat, since 2014 when we started our football relationship with the ACC, if you look at stadiums, ACC stadiums sell out roughly 20% of the time when Notre Dame goes to an ACC site its 90% of the time. When you think about ratings for ACC football games, when they play Notre Dame, there is a tremendous lift.”
Notre Dame has options. They can remain fully independent in football while seeking a new conference for the rest of their sports. They can leverage their unmatched national brand to pursue better arrangements. They can even push for structural changes within the ACC itself.
What is no longer an option is pretending that the relationship is functioning as intended. Notre Dame has fiercely guarded its football independence for over a century. The ACC benefitted from that arrangement, right up until the moment it openly promoted a competitor at Notre Dame’s expense. When the league aligned itself against the Irish in the playoff race, it revealed just how fragile the partnership truly is.
The fallout from this postseason snub may last months or years, but one truth stands out already: Notre Dame must ask whether the ACC is still a partner—or simply a placeholder. And if it’s the latter, the Irish owe it to themselves to begin charting a new path, one where their postseason fate isn’t influenced by a conference that should have been beside them, not working against them.
Exploring New Paths: Big Ten, SEC, or a Split-Conference Model
If the ACC has signaled that Notre Dame’s interests are not a priority, then the Irish must begin seriously exploring what comes next. Fortunately, Notre Dame’s brand power gives it leverage that few programs in college athletics possess. Whether through a realignment of its non-football sports or a restructured football scheduling model, the Irish have multiple avenues available, and each one may offer more stability and respect than the current ACC affiliation.
Option 1: A Football Scheduling Agreement With the Big Ten
The Big Ten has always been the most natural geographic and historical partner for Notre Dame. The Irish already have traditional rivalries with Big Ten opponents like Michigan, Michigan State, and Purdue, and their fanbases overlap significantly across the Midwest. A scheduling agreement committing Notre Dame to three or four Big Ten games each season could provide:
Stronger strength of schedule metrics, which the expanded Playoff committee values
Consistent rivalry matchups that drive national TV numbers
A deeper pool of high-profile, nationally relevant games
An answer to keeping USC permanently on the schedule
The Big Ten, now expanded with USC, UCLA, Oregon, and Washington, could offer Notre Dame an unparalleled annual slate. More importantly, the conference has the financial stability and media reach that the ACC lacks, meaning Notre Dame’s independence wouldn’t be jeopardized by uncertain or uneven conference politics.
The agreement would also maintain Notre Dame's ability to travel nationally for games, which was a major recruiting advantage of the ACC schedule. Playing games in California, the Northeast, South, and Mid-Atlantic were always benefited from Notre Dame's traditional schedule, and the expanded Big 10 can still provide access to that.
Option 2: A Football Partnership With the SEC
If Notre Dame wants to maximize national exposure and playoff credibility, a structured agreement with the SEC would do exactly that. The Irish already play SEC programs in major matchups, such as Georgia, Alabama, Texas A&M, & LSU. Those games routinely draw enormous ratings. A Notre Dame-SEC scheduling agreement would grant:
Guaranteed top-tier matchups every season
Instant credibility with playoff committees, who consistently prioritize SEC victories and scheduling
A national recruiting advantage, especially in the South
The SEC would almost certainly welcome the Irish brand with open arms. Adding Notre Dame to yearly broadcast windows would boost viewership, sponsorship value, and national attention—making this a mutually beneficial partnership.
Option 3: A Big 12 Partnership
The Big 12 has ruled in Middle America for decades, and despite recent realignment, it remains one of the most geographically diverse and competitively unpredictable conferences in college football. With the addition of Houston, BYU, Utah, Arizona, and Colorado, the Big 12 now stretches from the Southwest to the Rockies to the Midwest, creating a national footprint that aligns surprisingly well with Notre Dame’s historic scheduling identity. A Notre Dame/Big 12 scheduling agreement could provide several unique advantages:
Access to emerging football markets in Texas, Utah, and Arizona
Opportunities for high-energy, high-scoring national broadcasts, a hallmark of the Big 12
Fresh annual matchups that avoid repetition and allow Notre Dame to expand recruiting and viewership
Unlike the SEC and Big Ten, whose top-heavy structures make yearly competition brutally demanding, the Big 12 presents a more balanced tier of opponents. Programs like Utah, Oklahoma State, Kansas State, and TCU would still boost Notre Dame’s strength of schedule without forcing the Irish into a gauntlet of top-five opponents every season.
Additionally, the Big 12’s increased presence in major recruiting areas—especially Texas—would help Notre Dame maintain and grow its national recruiting pipeline. Notre Dame has long relied on Texas talent, and annual games in the region would reinforce that presence.
From a business standpoint, the Big 12 is aggressively positioning itself as a media-friendly, innovation-focused conference willing to take risks to increase exposure. Yormark’s leadership has shown a desire to modernize branding, scheduling, and TV engagement. Notre Dame’s national brand would fit directly into that mission, allowing both sides to create marquee matchups outside traditional conference boundaries.
A Big 12 agreement would also allow Notre Dame to:
Maintain independence without the political entanglement seen in the ACC
Play in multiple time zones, stretching from Morgantown to Provo
Create new rivalries while preserving the flexibility needed for historic ones
While the SEC and Big Ten offer elite competition and financial stability, the Big 12 offers something equally valuable: adaptability and national reach without excessive demands on Notre Dame’s independence. For an institution that values control over its schedule and identity, the Big 12 partnership could become one of the most strategic options available.
Option 4: A Revolutionary Split-Conference Model
Perhaps the most intriguing possibility is a hybrid scheduling agreement where Notre Dame plays a combination of Big Ten and SEC opponents each season. For example:
Three Big Ten opponents per year
Three SEC opponents per year
Remainder from strategic rivals (USC, Stanford, Navy) and rotating games
This model would essentially give Notre Dame the strongest schedule in the country every season—without ever joining a conference. It would:
Eliminate dependence on one league’s political agenda
Guarantee elite matchups that boost playoff résumés
Increase national exposure across both the Midwest and the South
Provide flexibility to adapt as college football continues its rapid realignment
In an era where TV value, competitive strength, and postseason visibility matter more than conference loyalty, such a model could elevate Notre Dame to a position no other program could replicate.
An example schedule under this format:
Week 1: Exhibition game (Most likely Shamrock Series)
Week 2: MAC Opponent/Rotating Rival (Ex: Purdue, Pitt)
Week 3: Washington (Big 10)
Week 4: South Carolina (SEC)
Week 5: Bye Week
Week 6: Michigan State (Big 10)
Week 7: Georgia (SEC)
Week 8: USC (Rivalry)
Week 9: Florida (SEC)
Week 10: Navy (Rivalry)
Week 11: Bye Week
Week 12: Clemson (12-Year Agreement)
Week 13: Ohio State (Big 10)
Week 14: Stanford (Rivalry)
This style of agreement would undoubtedly give the Irish a Top 10 Strength of Schedule (at worst) annually, and would help silence any critics regarding how 'deserving' they are of a playoff spot.
A Future No Longer Tied to One Conference
Whether the Irish explore a Big Ten agreement, SEC partnership, or hybrid model, one theme is clear: Notre Dame has options that do not require being tethered to the ACC, especially not after the public undermining displayed during this season’s playoff campaign.
The Irish have the leverage to create a scheduling structure that:
Protects their independence
Strengthens their playoff standing
Enhances national reach
Removes vulnerability to conference politics that they cannot control
If the ACC relationship has fractured beyond repair, Notre Dame can, and should, begin planning for a future built on partnerships that respect the value and history of one of college football’s most iconic programs.
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