Charting The Irish
Starting in 2014, Notre Dame will likely dip its toes into the Atlantic Coast Conference, which has historically harbored some kind waters for the Indiana school. The Irish have a better winning percentage against ACC teams (.717) than all but one of the six major conferences in college football.
The Big 12 is the only conference that has a lower winning percentage against Notre Dame, and the Irish have played only 27 games against teams currently in the Big 12. They’ve played 113 games against current ACC teams, and that doesn’t include Pittsburgh and Syracuse who will be a part of the conference when Notre Dame begins its five-game slate with ACC teams.
To date, the Big Ten schools have been the most common opponent for the Irish. The Midwest teams are leading by a large margin with 341 matchups with Notre Dame, more than twice as many as of the other major conferences. That balance will slowly shift toward the ACC starting this season, when Notre Dame plays four teams compared to three from the Big Ten.
In the long run, that could be a good thing for the win column. The team’s winning percentage against Big Ten teams is lower than all but the Southeastern Conference and the Pac-12. The Big Ten is also home to the only two teams who have played Notre Dame at least 10 times and have a winning record — Michigan (23-15-1) and Nebraska (8-7-1), even though all of the Cornhuskers’ wins came before joining the Big Ten in 2011.
