The ACC officially added Stanford, Cal, and SMU on Friday as part of the latest NCAA expansion. Notre Dame was instrumental in the move, as Jack Swarbrick said weeks ago that Stanford shouldn’t be left out of a conference after the Pac-12 folded. The question now for Notre Dame is how the yearly Notre Dame – Stanford rivalry game will count on the Irish’s schedule.
There were some conflicting reports on how the game would be counted on Friday with regard to Notre Dame’s contractual obligation to play five ACC games a year.
Brian Murphy reported that Stanford essentially would be in the rotation to play Notre Dame like every other ACC school, and when it was their turn to play the Irish, the game would count as one of the five.