Much has been made recently of Notre Dame’s future schedule as we learned last week they’d be paying Cal 1.9 million dollars for a contest at Notre Dame Stadium in 2022.
On that same note we received a bit of information about another future opponent for the Fighting Irish, as BYU’s athletic director made it known that Notre Dame still owes BYU a home game (at BYU).
Or at least a game where BYU wears the home uniforms.
BYU AD Tom Holmoe on that Football game #NotreDame owes him! #BYUFOOTBALL pic.twitter.com/NDFvvLpR5O
— Dave Fox (@Davefox2) January 31, 2020
Notre Dame hasn’t played BYU since the 2012 and 2013 seasons as both games were played in South Bend. That was originally set to be a six game series that was cut down to three after Notre Dame announced its sweetheart deal with the ACC.
However, that third game in which BYU is to be the home team still hasn’t been scheduled.
Because of the proximity to Las Vegas and the brand new Raiders stadium being completed there a lot of belief is that the game could and should be played there. Obviously Notre Dame enjoys NFL venues, if you don’t believe just look at their schedule this coming season.
But as Jude from over at One Foot Down points out, the game potentially being played in Vegas makes sense for another reason.
Here are two good reasons (besides the fact that BYU is owed a game) to play in Las Vegas:
1. The top two religious affiliations in Las Vegas are the Catholic church (19%) and the Church of Jesus Christ of LDS (6.57%).
2. Notre Dame has never played a game in Nevada. #NDFB
— Jude (@ndjrs) January 31, 2020
I’m not as worried about Notre Dame crossing off the 50 states checklist but the amount of passionate Catholics or Mormons in the area doesn’t hurt the cause.
I’m all for it being in Vegas for two reasons:
1) How many NFL venues or trips does Notre Dame play in that feel unique or special? Their first time playing in Las Vegas would absolutely accomplish that.
2) I’m team “Avoid Provo, Utah at all costs.”
Nothing against the fine folks who live there but it given the choice of playing there, where strange things just tend to happen (see 2004 opener or ask USC & Boise State about last year) or in Las Vegas, it’s an easy answer for me, 21 times out of 21.
Notre Dame and BYU have met eight times on the gridiron with the first in the series being played in 1992. The Irish lead the all-time series 6-2. Six of the games have been played in Notre Dame Stadium while the Irish have twice made the trip west to Provo, splitting those two contests (1993 and 2004).