Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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THE FIFTH QUARTER LOU SOMOGYI Houston, but the Irish did play Miami in Chicago in 2012, will be in Miami in the future and "we'll be looking to get to Houston," according to Swarbrick, who also noted Notre Dame will be in nine of the 10 largest Catholic communities in the United States. Finding a way to get SEC matchups onto the slates prior to 2020 will be a point of emphasis. Prior to the many conference realignments, there have been five "classic" SEC schools (not including former Big 8 or SWC schools such as Missouri or Texas A&M, or independent South Carolina) to have a home-and-home with Notre Dame. Chronologically, they are: LSU (1970-71, 1981 and 1984, 1985-86 and 1997-98); Alabama (1976 and 1980, plus 1986-87); Mississippi (1977 and 1985); Tennessee (1978-79, 1990-91, 1999 and 2001 and 2004-05); and Vanderbilt (1995-96). There are still plenty of other commitments to make work in the future. Swarbrick emphasized how gracious the ACC has been at working with Notre Dame to change dates, but BYU has been likewise patient. The Irish and Cougars signed on in 2010 to play four games at Notre Dame and two in Provo. The two two-for-one deals have already seen BYU visit in 2012 and 2013 — but a return date to Provo isn't listed through 2016. "We just haven't frankly thought about it or addressed it," Swarbrick admitted. "We've been focused on this three-year window (2014-16)." In other notes about the 2014-16 schedules: • Notre Dame's first-time opponents in that three-year block from 2014-16 are Louisville (2014), Massachusetts (2015) and Virginia Tech (2016), all at home. Louisville head coach Charlie Strong was the defensive line coach at Notre Dame from 1995-98, while former UMass boss Charley Molnar — who was fired Dec. 26 after a 2-22 record in his two seasons — was the offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach for Brian Kelly at Notre Dame (2010-11). • Other former assistants Irish assistants who are now head coaches that Notre Dame might soon face are 19992001 offensive line/tight end/special teams coach Steve Addazio (Boston College in 2015) and 2005-09 special teams coach Brian Polian (Nevada in 2016). Also noteworthy is Duke (2016) head coach David Cutcliffe was hired as the quarterbacks coach on Charlie Weis' original staff in 2005 before he resigned that spring because of heart surgery. • The 2015 Shamrock Series at iconic Fenway Park (versus Boston College) won't be the first visit by the Irish into that venue. The 1944 Irish crushed Dartmouth 64-0 in Fenway. With a baseball capacity of 37,400, tickets will be at a premium. • In 2016, Notre Dame begins the season at the Texas Longhorns and ends it at the USC Trojans. You don't see such a beginning and end on the road very often during a college football regular season. ✦ Senior Editor Lou Somogyi has been at Blue & Gold Illustrated since July 1985. He can be reached at lsomogyi@blueandgold.com