Will Notre Dame’s Strategic Scheduling Give Them An Edge Over Michigan?
Notre Dame has not done itself favors with its schedules in recent years. Just last year, Notre Dame sacrificed a home game for a cash grab at Yankee Stadium and made its team travel all over the US in November. That is not the case this season – especially this weekend when some strategic scheduling (maybe it was luck) has Notre Dame set up perfectly for their trip to Ann Arbor, where they are hoping to reverse some years of bad luck in the Big House.
This year’s schedule has a well-placed bye week in between Notre Dame’s last game – two weeks ago against USC – and this weekend’s trip north to Ann Arbor. That alone would give Notre Dame a bit of an advantage since the Wolverines are coming off a hard-fought loss on the road against a top-10 conference foe in Penn State.
On top of having an extra week to prepare – and get healthy – Notre Dame students are on break this week after midterms wrapped up last week. Having exams last week has two built-in benefits for Notre Dame this weekend.
- Notre Dame players didn’t have to juggle studying for exams and preparing for a game this year. You know, since Notre Dame’s players actually have to take exams.
- Because students are on break this week, NCAA rules state that teams are not limited to the standard 20 hours of weekly preparation
Anyone who has followed Notre Dame football over the years knows that games during midterms week are a crapshoot. Sometimes the Irish handle it fine while other times, it looks like the team is sleepwalking that week. It’s the nature of the beast at an institution like Notre Dame, where there is an emphasis is placed on academics. Not having to juggle that this year is huge for the team.
The secondary benefit of exams aligning well with the bye week is that Notre Dame is not limited to those 20 hours. That doesn’t mean Brian Kelly and his staff are going to treat this week like they are running an NFL franchise, but it does give them some more flexibility. It also allows the players to be entirely focused on Michigan all week long.
How much this will help Notre Dame this week won’t be known until Saturday night, but considering how Notre Dame has scheduled itself into messes at times in the past, it’s a welcomed change seeing the schedule align so strategically for Notre Dame heading into what figures to be the game that will define the 2019 season for Notre Dame.
Ironically, a lot has been made of all of Notre Dame’s opponents who have bye weeks this year given the double-bye week for all teams this year, but not much has been said about Notre Dame not only having a bye week before such a pivotal game but also essentially having the week to completely focus on football without any classes.
It will be impossible to make this a yearly occurrence for the Notre Dame schedule, but the more that Jack Swarbrick can do to make sure that Notre Dame bye weeks align so nicely with exams, the better. Now the Irish just need to go out and take advantage of the extra preparation they’ve been afforded this weekend.
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
Well it would be nice if the whole team played a whole game. They have yet to play well in both halves and the always start off slow and lethargic. Go IRISH!!!!! Murf
I wonder, why would it be impossible to arrange the bye week to be like this year all, or at least most of the time? I know we have some limitations based on opponent schedules. But is there no way for the PTB to try to schedule future byes like this year?
I’m sure it’s an academic advantage as well. Just like this week they can focus on football, last week most of their focus could be on midterms without having to worry about an upcoming game. So it’s a win win.