Miami-Notre Dame Matchup Still Possible
Notre Dame fans, myself included, got pretty excited last week when the Miami Herald reported that a potential Notre Dame-Miami game could be in the works. In the article, Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick was quoted as saying, “Playing Miami is appealing, Swarbrick said, because “they are two great academic institutions. We’re eager to play schools that share our values. There’s a lot of great history around the games.”
A few days later, associated AD John Heisler was quoted in the SBT as saying the following about a potential matchup with Miami.
“I’d have to say that some of it is Jack, in his first year, kind of taking stock of where we are and where we’re headed relative to scheduling,” said ND senior associated athletic director John Heisler, who deals with scheduling on a day-to-day basis. “He’s looking at what sort of commitments we have in contract form and at the more informal conversations we’ve had and then just trying to figure out just what roads we’re going to try to head down.
Things didn’t look too promising at that point. Yesterday Swarbrick sent out an email to some in the media which gives the potential matchup hope again.
“I am interested in trying to create some marquee match-ups for our annual neutral site home game, and we may be able to play Miami in one of those, but again we have not yet discussed any dates,” Swarbrick said in the e-mail. “We are going to try and get some clarity on the future scheduling for those games this summer.”
Hopefully Swarbrick can make this game happen because it would be a lot of fun to play Miami again and it’d be great for both school as they try to rebuild their programs.
Frank Vitovitch has been Co-Owner and Editor in Chief of UHND.com since joining forces with Kyle Flavin in 1999. Since that time, he has written over 2,000 articles covering Notre Dame football, recruiting, and basketball. He also works with all staff and external writers on all articles published on UHND.com. Frank's love for Notre Dame football started at a young age watching Rocket Ismail give opposing coaches ulcers in the late 1980's. By day Frank works in marketing and holds a degree in Digital Media from Drexel University. Frank's work has been cited by online/print editions of NBC Sports, ESPN, and Sports Illustrated and has been quoted on air by ESPN's Collin Cowherd. He's conducted interviews with Notre Dame legends Rocket Ismail, Randy Kinder, Lee Becton, Reggie Brooks, Michael Stonebreaker, and Ned Bolcar among others over his 20+ years of covering Notre Dame football. He's also been published in the print edition of USA Today Sports Weekly and the USA Today College Football Preview multiple times. Other Published Works/Citations for Frank Three Reasons Notre Dame Will Beat Alabama - USA Today Notre Dame Suspends WR Kevin Stepherson, RB C.J. Holmes Indefinitely - Bleacher Report Notre Dame / Ohio State Fiesta Bowl Preview - Eleven Warriors Brace Yourself: The Fighting Irish are Relevant Again - Sports on Earth Interviews with the Enemy: A Q&A with Frank Vitovitch of UHND - Yahoo! Sports Five Good Minutes: Notre Dame Football Preview With UHND.com - BC Interruption Vicious Electronic Questioning with UHND - MGO Blog
I think Jack Swarbrick mispoke when he said that Miami and Notre Dame are “two great academic institutions.” Academically speaking, these two schools shouldn’t even be used in the same sentence. Haha, maybe he meant to say athletically?
Thug “U”
The Miami game would be dynomite and would fill any stadium anywhere. Hope it replaces whinning UCONN and their-prized-odd-house Division III home stadium.