Notre Dame Football is Well Positioned For Whatever Comes Next

For a sport known for tradition, college football has been changing quickly and in some major ways over the last handful of years, with no sign of stopping anytime soon.

Whether it be NIL, conference realignment, the transfer portal, or the CFP format, change is the new norm. This isn't your grandfather's college football anymore, that much is for sure.

Amid all of these changes sits one school that remains an outlier because it hasn't changed much: Notre Dame. Irish leadership, namely AD Pete Bevacqua, must thread the magic needle between adhering to Notre Dame tradition and values, while also positioning the football program for success in whatever shape and form the sport takes next.

Let's discuss exactly how this tricky task can be accomplished.

Notre Dame should begrudgingly stay in the ACC agreement, for now

As the 2025 season came to an unexpected and brutal early end for Notre Dame, its scheduling agreement with the ACC stole the headlines. In terms of purely scheduling, the ACC has done the Irish no favors.

With Clemson and Florida State being "down", Miami is the only "elite" level team in the conference that moves the needle schedule-wise. This ended up hurting the Irish throughout the back half of the 2025 slate.

Aside from the objective fact that the ACC is not that great of a conference talent-wise, many around the Irish program, including myself, don't feel as though the ACC was acting as a good fiduciary partner during all of the CFP drama that came in 2025. With these factors in mind, the question becomes, should Notre Dame look for another scheduling arrangement?

While I would love to see Notre Dame play any schedule other than the sleepy ACC-heavy one, I feel like Notre Dame should begrudgingly stay put for now. And here's why.

NEW: An internal Big Ten document explores a 24-team College Football Playoff. It offers a peek at what that model could look like, as another off-season of CFP discussion is set to unfold. Details here: https://t.co/on2sqej1H8 pic.twitter.com/j6twmdqyFp
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) February 13, 2026

With the CFP on the verge of major expansion, the Irish should wait and see

Whether it is best for the sport or not, it seems as though we are careening towards a 16 or 24-team CFP field sooner rather than later.

With this in mind, it doesn't make sense for Notre Dame to seriously consider altering its scheduling model right now. The more prudent move is to stick with the ACC agreement, see what changes come next to the CFP, and re-evaluate scheduling at that point.

Under the new dynamic, maybe some more exciting scheduling options become available to Notre Dame, then again, maybe not. But there's no reason to lock into a new move at this point.

The Irish should remain patient, remain nimble, and see what comes next. Patience is a virtue, one Pete Bevacqua must display while America waits to see what comes next in the wild world of modern college football.