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Who are the top five opposing coaches on the Longhorns 2020 football schedule?
If there is no Pac-12/California based college football in 2020 then who do effected opponents fill the schedule with? A few suggestions…
Say the Pac 12 or California-based colleges don’t play football this season like many are suggesting. We brought it up earlier in the week when USC head coach Clay Helton and Stanford’s David Shaw mentioned the possibility.
If that happens then Notre Dame will have a pair of empty spaces on their 2020 schedule with two annual rivals either delayed or not playing football at all. So who does Notre Dame potentially replace them with?
Pete Fiutak over at College Football News brought up that exact topic in his recent piece, “15 possible college football games if there’s no Pac 12 season”. In it, Fiutak proposes a pair of potential replacement games for Notre Dame in 2020.
Hawaii at Notre Dame, Nov. 28
Current Scheduled Games
Hawaii at San Diego State, Nov. 28
Notre Dame at USC, Nov. 28This is a no-brainer. Notre Dame avoids a road game – which might matter in a big way; more on that later on this list – and Hawaii has to fly a little further. The two last played in the 2008 Hawaii Bowl – a 49-21 Irish win – and it would be the fourth meeting all-time between the two. Notre Dame is 3-0.
Some of us are old enough to remember Notre Dame finishing the 1991 and 1997 regular seasons on the islands while almost all of us recall the 2008 Hawaii Bowl that ended in victory both on the field and off, as plenty of efforts were spent recruiting Manti Te’o during that time.
How about Hawaii making that trip in late November, though? USC refuses to come north after mid-October, I can’t begin to imagine what a Hawaii football team would look like in South Bend a couple days after Thanksgiving.
The second Fiutak proposal:
Notre Dame at Texas A&M, Oct. 10
Current Scheduled Games
Stanford at Notre Dame, Oct. 10
Fresno State at Texas A&M, Oct. 10This has to happen, but only if Notre Dame buys into the idea of traveling to College Station. No way, no chance that Texas A&M goes to South Bend with a a date in Arlington against Arkansas and a trip to Mississippi State the two weeks before October 10th, and road games at Auburn and South Carolina to follow.
Notre Dame, though, would be coming off of away games against Wake Forest and Wisconsin – playing in Green Bay – and have to travel to Pitt the week after. However, there’s an open date on October 24th to rest up.
It’s one of those dream-type match-ups as adding Texas A&M to the 2020 slate would be quite the bump from what Stanford is expected to be this fall. However, good luck getting Notre Dame to agree to that. The Irish would be going from a September 19 date with Western Michigan until Halloween afternoon against Duke without playing at home. I don’t know what the record is for longest amount of time between true-home games in a season but I’m guessing Jack Swarbrick and Brian Kelly aren’t too interested in chasing or breaking it.
I’ll go out on a limb and guess that one’s not going to be happening unless someone can manage to find a neutral site to host it but even that would be a significant upset to me seeing as it’d still mean a month and a half away from Notre Dame Stadium.
I do like the sudden feel of the “NCAA Football” video game though where you set your own schedule right before the year.
Brett McMurphy of Stadium broke down an anonymous survey to college athletic directors on their projections of the upcoming football season.
To predict the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on the upcoming 2020 college football season is merely comparable to throwing darts while blindfolded. Continue reading “More than half of college AD’s predict a delayed football season”
The Big 12 Commissioner Bob Bowlsby has had conversations about a split season, just how would that actually play out?
While the 2021 recruiting cycle seems to be in full swing, there is still the unknown of how, when and if there will be a 2020 college football season. Big 12 Commissioner Bob Bowlsby has his hands full on that front but there is an idea out there that seems to be a little farfetched but also could be a viable option.
Because of possibility of flu season/coronavirus causing issues in Nov, Dec, Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby told The Athletic's Seth Davis that "one of the [college football] models we’re looking at is a split season where some games happen in the fall and some happen in"spring
— Barry Jackson (@flasportsbuzz) April 27, 2020
This idea of a split season doesn’t seem like a plausible one with so many logistical matters to attend. Obviously where would the split happen? For the Longhorns, they have South Florida and Texas El-Paso sandwiching a trip to Baton Rouge to take on the LSU Tigers. Following the non-conference schedule the Horns play Kansas State and a trip to Dallas to batter the Sooners in the Red River Rivalry. If it was an even split of the season, it would be cut off before a trip to Lubbock to play the Red Raiders.
That is just one aspect to observe, then there is the recruiting aspect of it. If teams were to split the year and resume in the fall, are the players who sign during the early signing period going to be eligible to play since it would come after the new year for early enrollees? Seems like that would create a competitive disadvantage for some. Players who can’t actually join until the summer after graduation wouldn’t be afforded the same opportunities. Which would also have an impact on their eligibility and create yet another headache itself.
That would likely not be the case but one argument that could be made. This feels like it should be a last ditch effort from the commissioner and the Big 12. With the clock ticking on the upcoming season, this is a situation that will be monitored and it will be updated as more information is released.
USA TODAY Sports recently released their Top 25 preseason poll where the Longhorns football program is listed at No. 15.
Although spring practices have been canceled due to the outbreak of COVID-19, the consensus between national media outlets expects the Longhorns football program to be a top 20 team in 2020. Continue reading “USA TODAY Sports lists Texas on their latest Top 25 preseason poll”
It’s hard to argue that either belong, my only argument would be that the Clemson match-up should be higher, although I get why it isn’t.
With the season over for everyone who isn’t a Clemson or LSU fan you’re left with nothing to look forward to besides 2020.
Based off that 247Sports today ranked the ten games they’re looking forward to the most and to the surprise of nobody, Notre Dame finds itself on the list more than once.
The biggest game for Notre Dame fans is an obvious one, that being when Clemson comes to South Bend on November 7. It will be just the fourth-ever meeting between the schools and Clemson’s first trip to Notre Dame since 1979.
Couple that with Trevor Lawrence and plenty of friends returning for the Tigers, who may be two-time defending national champions at that point and it could be the biggest game at Notre Dame Stadium since arguably the 2005 clash with USC.
247 Sports ranked that game the game they’re third most-excited for in 2020 with it trailing only Ohio State traveling to Oregon in September and Alabama and Georgia meeting in the regular season (non-SEC Championship) for the first time since 2015.
They also rank Notre Dame’s trip to Lambeau Field to take on Wisconsin in Week Five as the tenth most exciting matchup next season.
It’s hard to argue that either belong, my only argument would be that the Clemson match-up should be higher, although I get why it isn’t.
