Nov 29, 2025; Stanford, California, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish running back Aneyas Williams (22) celebrates with Notre Dame Fighting Irish tight end Ty Washington (7) after scoring a touchdown during the fourth quarter against the Stanford Cardinal at Stanford Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Stan Szeto-Imagn Images

No college football school took more of a gut punch on Sunday than Notre Dame. BYU, Vanderbilt, Utah, and a few other schools had a right to be mad and disappointed, but Notre Dame leads the list, and it's not really a comparison. Notre Dame was the playoff runner-up last season and was fully expecting to be included in the 2025 CFP. Frankly, no one can blame them for thinking that. Notre Dame has historically received the benefit of the doubt on most occasions - not all, but most. ESPN clearly cast its lot with Alabama and the SEC. Meanwhile, the ACC, another ESPN partner, got Miami into the field. You can imagine why Notre Dame is mad that the ACC.

All of this raises the question: If Notre Dame is so furious at the ACC and ESPN that it wants to terminate its football schedule agreement with the ACC, how would the Irish go about revising their schedule?

First things first

Yes, Notre Dame should be mad at the ACC, but let's unpack why the Irish should be mad. They shouldn't be mad at Miami. The Hurricanes beat the Irish and therefore deserved to be in. The reason Notre Dame should be mad at the ACC is that it should have enabled Miami to play for the ACC championship, but -- as we explained -- failed to do so. The ACC created a trap door through which Duke and Virginia fell, creating a void into which James Madison stepped in. James Madison took the playoff spot Notre Dame should have had. Miami got an at-large bid, not an automatic bid. If the ACC played its cards better, Miami would have been an AQ, leaving an at-large bid open for the Irish. That's why Notre Dame should be mad at the ACC, but a lot of fans might not have mapped all of that out.

ACC dead weight

The ACC also failed Notre Dame because Syracuse, Boston College, and Stanford were so bad this season. NC State wasn't good, and Pitt wasn't great. That's a lot of fluff on the resume which proved costly.

Purdue and Arkansas did not help Notre Dame

It wasn't just the ACC which let down Notre Dame. Purdue was terrible. Arkansas was atrocious as well. Notre Dame got unlucky, but the point remains that the Irish cast their lot with the ACC more than any other conference and did not get much of a boost.

Big Ten makes a lot of sense

The Big Ten is not an ESPN television partner. That alone might make the Big Ten more palatable to Notre Dame as an increased scheduling partner. Geographic proximity makes sense, too. Notre Dame should feel it can regularly beat Illinois and Iowa. Those teams might not be great most years, but they're not bad most years, either. One would think there's a scheduling plan the Irish could create which works. Developing Midwest rivalries would also be a natural hit.

American Conference

The American Conference had the best Group of Five teams in 2025, but it didn't have a heavyweight team, either. Notre Dame could increase its American footprint, scheduling games against decent teams but which the Irish would still figure to win.

Pac-12

The conference, which has had only Washington State and Oregon State the past two seasons, goes back to an eight-member setup in 2026. CBS has media rights here, so it's an obvious non-ESPN path for Notre Dame, with teams the Irish could clearly beat, as we saw with Boise State. The Irish don't want to play bottom-feeders, but playing the upper half of the Pac-12 a few times makes sense.

Big 12

Notre Dame did not play BYU this season, but the Irish -- certainly on paper -- look better than every non-Texas Tech team in the Big 12. Notre Dame could find a balance similar to what it might get in the American Conference: decent opponents which won't crush a resume, but opponents the Irish would still beat.

Big Picture

Notre Dame played six ACC teams in 2025. Stanford is a traditional schedule partner preceding the ACC agreement. Nevertheless, that's half the schedule. The real lesson for Notre Dame might be to no longer sink too much of a schedule into any single conference. That's why a possible divorce with the ACC might ultimately happen.

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This article originally appeared on College Sports Wire: How will Notre Dame adjust if it ends football schedule deal with ACC?

Reporting by Matt Zemek, College Sports Wire / College Sports Wire

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