Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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the fifth quarter lou somogyi (Virginia Tech and Virginia) and in major Eastern hubs such as Pittsburgh (Pitt) and Boston (Boston College), plus a game in Philadelphia versus Temple. Last year, the Fighting Irish were in Norman, Okla., and in 2014 they will be in Tempe, Ariz., to face the Sun Devils. Notre Dame will be in Colorado this fall to challenge the Air Force Academy and in Landover, Md., in 2014 to play the Navy Midshipmen — a much shorter trek than in 2012 when it faced the Mids in Ireland. Of course, the Midwest always has had a strong base with the Big Ten, most notably long-standing rivals Purdue (every year since 1946) and Michigan State (every year but three since 1948). One missing piece has been the Southeastern Conference, though not for a lack of trying. The SEC generally is averse to leaving its home base, especially early in the year. It wasn't until 1970 that Notre Dame faced an SEC team (LSU) in a home-and-home series, and in the decades that ensued it landed home-and-home series with the Tigers, Alabama, Ole Miss, Vanderbilt and most recently in 2004‑05 with Tennessee. The combination of Notre Dame's five ACC games per year and the SEC moving to a nine-game conference schedule creates less flexibility in the future. The SEC will have less incentive to play a marquee opponent in one of its three non-league games. One way or another, the goal at Notre Dame is to have a broad national flavor with its scheduling while taking on marquee names — maybe almost to a fault. • When Penn State first joined the Big Ten in 1993, it had to cancel its 1993‑94 games with Notre Dame. The Irish replaced the Nittany Lions with No. 1-ranked Florida State. • When Michigan, Michigan State and Stanford were temporarily off the Irish slate in 1995-96, Ohio State, Texas and Washington were the replacements. • When Michigan wasn't on the schedule in 2000-01, the replacement was No. 1 Nebraska. And now, with the Wolverines off the schedule after 2014, Texas is back in the mix. "We're trying to keep a national perspective on it," Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly said of the scheduling approach. "We're also looking at areas where our Shamrock Series can be touted or played geographically, whether that be on the East Coast or in some areas that geographically make sense to us." With the College Football Playoff coming in 2014, Kelly believes that Notre Dame's national schedule will never hold it back from the conversation if it is fortunate to be in the discussion among those teams. Plus, Kelly is of the belief that the four-team playoff could become eight sooner rather than later. "They can look at our schedule and say, 'That's a deserving schedule,'" Kelly said. And it all started 100 years ago by circumstance. ✦ Senior Editor Lou Somogyi has been at Blue & Gold Illustrated since July 1985. He can be reached at lsomogyi@blueandgold.com