Tag: shamrock series

Notre Dame Will Be Part of Crazy Weekend at Lambeau Field

If the college football season goes according to plan, Notre Dame will play its 2020 Shamrock Series game Oct. 3 at Lambeau Field.

If the college football season goes according to plan, Notre Dame will play its 2020 Shamrock Series game against Wisconsin on Oct. 3 at Lambeau Field. Whether fans will be allowed there is anyone’s guess at this point. What’s not a guess, however, is that Green Bay just got busier for that weekend because with Thursday’s release of the NFL schedule, the Packers have a home game against the Atlanta Falcons on “Monday Night Football” two nights later.

This is not a situation the Packers were hoping to find themselves in. It’s not so much that these games are scheduled so close to each other. Rather, it will be a challenge figuring out how to prepare for their own contest properly.

Whether the NFL schedule makers didn’t know or didn’t care about the Shamrock Series game, there’s nothing that can be done now. The folks tasked with preparing Lambeau Field for two games 48 hours apart really will have to earn their pay on that weekend. It’s not their fault different levels of football laid claim to the same stadium so closely to each other, so they simply will have to deal with it. Good luck to everyone involved.

Notre Dame Football: Thoughts on 2020 Home Kickoff Times

The only real double take upon seeing the release for me is that Stanford remains a night game.

Notre Dame’s home schedule for the 2020 season has long been known but kickoff times however were not. At least not until Friday when the team and NBC Sports announced the kickoff times for all seven home games this season.

Of those seven, six will be played at Notre Dame Stadium while the Shamrock Series makes a return at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, when Notre Dame takes on Wisconsin this October.

Here’s how the scheduled home slate looks time wise:

Sept. 12 – Arkansas, 2:30 ET

Sept. 19 – Western Michigan, 2:30 ET

Oct. 3 – Wisconsin (Shamrock Series, Green Bay, WI), 7:30 ET

Oct. 10 – Stanford, 7:30 ET

Oct. 31 – Duke, 3:30 ET

Nov. 7 – Clemson, 7:30 ET

Nov. 21 – Louisville, 2:30 ET

As expected the matchups with Wisconsin and Clemson will both be in primetime. The Shamrock Series game has always been a primetime affair while Clemson being far and away the biggest of home opponents for Notre Dame this season gets the evening kickoff.

The only real double take upon seeing the release for me is that Stanford remains a night game. I know there have been some classics in this matchup but with the Cardinal seemingly on the decline I’m surprised to see NBC having interest putting this game in primetime. Why it may make sense though is that the slate of national games for that October 10 day doesn’t appear great at night, meaning ratings could benefit despite a not great matchup:

Texas/Oklahoma is always a noon ET kickoff while Clemson/Florida State, Ohio State/Iowa, and Michigan/Michigan State all appear to be lopsided matchups from this far out.

The SEC has a couple big games that week with Auburn and Georgia doing battle and LSU taking on Florida but it is hard to imagine CBS not choosing its one primetime SEC game for the year to not include Alabama or LSU for a second consecutive season as that honor went to Notre Dame and Georgia in 2019.