Notre Dame – Arkansas Canceled, SEC Adopts Conference-Only Football Schedules for 2020
Another one bites the dust. Notre Dame’s options to fill its one “non-conference” game as part of its deal with the ACC for 2020 (I’ll have my late thoughts on that later) have dwindled even more after the SEC announced it will adopt a conference-only schedule for football this year canceling the long-awaited Notre Dame – Arkansas game scheduled for September.
With the SEC’s announcement, Notre Dame has officially lost four opponents from its original 2020 schedule – Wisconsin, USC, Stanford, and Arkansas. They’ve also added four from the ACC – Florida State, Boston College, North Carolina, and Syracuse.
Had the game not been canceled, Notre Dame would have had to choose between Arkansas, Navy, or Western Michigan as its out of conference game although keeping Navy means negotiating another venue change since the stipulations of the agreement with the ACCC state that the one out of conference game must take place in a state with an ACC program. There is no ACC program in Maryland.
This fall’s meeting between the Razorbacks and Fighting Irish was supposed to be the first-ever meeting between the schools. Baring a bowl game matchup in the future, that first meeting will have to wait until 2025 at least. Notre Dame is currently scheduled to play at Arkansas in 2025 as part of a home and home series although how this cancelation impacts that contest, I am unaware right now.
Over the last 24 hours, Notre Dame’s potential 2020 schedule is coming more and more in focus although there is still doubt whether or not there will even be a season. The mess that is Major League Baseball right now is proving how difficult it is to play sports in a pandemic when you don’t create a bubble, like the NBA and NHL have. Now throw in the variable of banking on a bunch of teenagers following the guidelines when grown men with millions of dollars on the line in the MLB aren’t and it’s easy to see why there is still plenty of skepticism that the NCAA can pull off a season.
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
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