ACC Partnership Means UM-Notre Dame Rivalry Will Endure

Expect more clashes between the Canes and Irish under Notre Dame's new agreement with the ACC

Now that Notre Dame has joined the Atlantic Coast Conference, UM and Notre Dame Fans will not have to wait two decades for the two schools to face off in football following their scheduled home-and-home series in 2016 and 2017.

Though Notre Dame will stay independent in football, the school will schedule five games annually against ACC teams, in exchange for inclusion in conference bowl tie-ins. While this probably does not mean the Irish and Canes will tussle every season, the two will surely schedule each other more often.

"I don't think there's out there a better situation than the situation we have," Notre Dame president Rev. John I. Jenkins said earlier in September when the school's contract with the ACC was announced. "The ACC has allowed us to retain a tradition (of football independence) that's so central to our identity in football while we're joining a conference that athletically as well as academically fits Notre Dame perfectly."

Notre Dame and Miami will square off in other sports annually, as they did when both were members of the Big East in the 1990s and early 2000s.

But the two football programs had one of the most storied yet short-lived rivalries in football during the 1980s. In one stretch from 1987 to 1989, the winner of the annual clash went on to win a national championship.

The two contributed some classics to the history book, from the 1985 drubbing in the Orange Bowl that ended up being Gerry Faust's last as Irish head coach, to the 1988 battle dubbed "Catholics vs. Convicts." The Canes are 7-16-1 against the Irish heading into their October 6 game.

"The University of Miami is thrilled with the addition of the University of Notre Dame to the Atlantic Coast Conference,” UM athletic director Shawn Eichorst said of Notre Dame's addition to the ACC.

Added football coach Al Golden, "We are fortifying our league and making it stronger... Certainly this is going to be a big improvement for us."

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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