The Power Five is back in college football.
No, we’re not looking at the Pac-12, which in 2026 will add five schools from the Mountain West to more closely resemble a modern FBS league beyond its current two-member lineup.
The fifth power conference in college football is Notre Dame, and the shifting landscape in the sport has provided a 10-year outlook for the Notre Dame Conference that makes it highly unlikely the Fighting Irish will feel compelled to leave one of the best deals in college football.
Now, there is an argument that Notre Dame has been a power conference unto itself for quite some time; it has enjoyed its own lucrative media rights deal and scheduling independence even as the number of FBS Independents have dwindled over the last 40 years. The Fighting Irish gave up some of that scheduling independence in 2016 when they struck a deal with the ACC for full membership in all other sports but partial membership in football.
This week, Notre Dame took some of that independence back with a new annual, long-term scheduling partnership with Clemson. Beginning in 2027, the two schools will be scheduled to play in football every year through 2038. Some of these games were already on the books as part of Notre Dame’s long-term agreement to play five ACC opponents every season, but six of the games were not. Since the Notre Dame-Clemson series will count towards the school’s commitment to play five ACC games a year, that means that another ACC school could lose a Notre Dame game in 2029, 2030, 2032, 2033, 2035 and 2036.
Whether the extra Clemson games not previously scheduled will count towards Notre Dame’s five-game commitment to the ACC is an “ongoing issue,” according to Yahoo! Sports.
Take 2036, for example: Notre…
Source link : https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/the-notre-dame-conference-unique-agreement-with-clemson-only-strengthens-irishs-bid-to-remain-independent/
Author : Chip Patterson
Publish date : 2025-05-06 16:42:00
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