Notre Dame’s ACC Partnership Is the Best Deal in Sports

With College GameDay in the house and Wallace Wade Stadium as electric as it’s ever been, Duke let a one-point late lead against a top-10 Notre Dame team slip away as Sam Hartman darted for a 17-yard run on 4th and 16. But before Hartman picked up that decisive first down, that moment felt full of tantalizing possibilities. 

It would’ve been a lot of things: Duke’s second win over a ranked opponent, a feat it hasn’t managed since 2013. It also would have been Duke’s second win over Notre Dame since the partnership began in 2014, which would have made the Blue Devils the only ACC team besides Clemson with multiple regular-season wins in that stretch. It would’ve put Riley Leonard on the map as one of the better quarterbacks in college football. 

And it would’ve been the ACC’s first win against Notre Dame in its last 30 tries of the regular season. (Though Duke did accomplish something no ACC school has done in the regular season against Notre Dame since October 9, 2021: stay within one score.)

When the ACC and Notre Dame began their scheduling partnership in 2014, it made sense. In the first four years, the ACC was able to benefit too, taking at least a game in the 4-6 matchups a year. 

Sometimes it did even better: the ACC went 3-2 against the Irish in 2016, the first and only time that’s happened. Miami was the last ACC team to beat the Irish in the regular season, and it was a 33-point beatdown as well, by far the worst loss Notre Dame has had to its ACC friends.

But that was on November 11, 2017.

Since? Notre Dame’s been the one delivering the beatdowns. 

In the last seven Notre Dame vs. ACC games leading up to last weekend, the Irish won them all by at least 13 points. Five were by 21 or more. 

A lot of teams lose to Notre Dame in the regular season. When the streak began in 2018 until 2021, Notre Dame went 43-2 in the regular season. It went undefeated twice. 

But since the start of last season – its first without Brian Kelly – Notre Dame is 13-5 in the regular season: 3-0 against its ACC ranked opponents, but 0-3 against other ranked Power 5 teams. And since the 30-win streak began, Notre Dame is 8-0 against the ACC’s ranked opponents and 4-7 against ranked opponents from other Power 5 conferences. 

Of Notre Dame’s last 24 regular-season wins, 11 have come against the ACC. From 2019-23, Notre Dame is 9-5 against ranked opponents in the regular season. But that’s 6-0 against the ACC’s ranked teams and 3-5 against all others. Oh, and those non-ACC ranked wins? Navy in 2019, Wisconsin in 2021 and BYU last year. 

Notre Dame has knocked off ranked ACC teams eight times in that stretch. It has handed nine ACC teams their first loss of the season, including doing so four times in the last five meetings with ACC foes. Notre Dame is 4-9 against ranked opponents since 2018 and 8-0 against ranked ACC opponents. 

Heck, Notre Dame even beats teams before they can even GET ranked. North Carolina was undefeated and unranked when Notre Dame knocked them off last year, thwarting a 3-0 start and excitement building around Drake Maye. 

In 2021, Notre Dame beat an unranked Virginia team off to a 6-3 start by 25. Notre Dame was in the ACC in 2020, but it still gave No. 7 Clemson its first loss (Clemson would return the favor) and No. 18 North Carolina its third (the Tar Heels would not). In 2019, it gave 4-0 Virginia its first loss and edged a 5-2 Virginia Tech by 1. In 2018, Syracuse was No. 15 and 8-2 only to get smoked by 33 points by the Irish. 

None of this is to say that the ACC should stop playing Notre Dame, or end its relationship with them. 

Notre Dame doesn’t have to join a conference because the ACC just lets the Irish enjoy the benefits of one – including voting power, racking up wins (even some against ranked opponents!) – without the commitment. Notre Dame can even dictate who the league adds or doesn’t add, as demonstrated with Cal and Stanford joining. 

Notre Dame has four ACC games left on its schedule in 2023. Next week?  At No. 25 Louisville, a team that is – wait for it – undefeated, and just cracked the top 25. 

After that? Pitt (who certainly won't be ranked), then at Clemson, who may or may not be ranked on November 4. Wake Forest on November 18, a tougher game a year ago but not as much now in Hartman’s homecoming. 

If one of those teams can’t knock off the Irish, then it’ll be 34 regular-season ACC wins and counting for a Notre Dame team likely headed for a better bowl than all but one team in the league it keeps beating.