We all know that the Notre Dame Fighting Irish have a scheduling deal with the ACC. The Irish put all their sports in the ACC (except hockey, which joined the Big 10) and got a scheduling deal for the football team.

Notre Dame has 5 ACC games a year, and it allows the Irish a diverse schedule of schools that stretch from the Gulf of Mexico, around the Florida peninsula, and up the Atlantic coast to Massachusetts. In a world that saw conference realignment go bananas for a few years, the deal provides stability, and makes it a bit easier to manage making Notre Dame's independent schedule.

Of course, sacrifices had to be made, and this is the main factor in Notre Dame's now infrequent Big 10 games after years of continuous play against the Purdue Boilermakers, Michigan State Spartans, and Michigan Wolverines. While these games will never end completely, they are no longer part of the "September package" that many of us had grown accustomed to over the years.

So, the entire look and feel of the Notre Dame schedule is vastly different than, say... 5 years ago.

That brings me to this point, and to this question: Should Notre Dame schedule the Miami-Florida Hurricanes more often?

I can't say with much certainty that I know what the Irish plan on doing (fully) past 2019, but 2019's ACC opponents are:

They play the normals of:

And they play the changing 4 of:

Is there room to change out one of the "changing 4" games for Miami? Do the Irish really need to play New Mexico and Bowling Green? Would we, as fans, even want to this?

I guess I just noticed an incredible increase in "HATE" this week as the Irish get set to take on the Canes in Miami, and I can feel the hype creep in and hit me like a Mack truck. Fans (on both sides) are incredibly excited to play this game on Saturday in Miami. The history between these two teams is so strong from, essentially, a short period of time, and that kind of strength just fuels a great series.

There are no rules that says Notre Dame can't schedule a "6th" ACC game. Would an extra game against Miami be something fans would want? Would it be something that the University would want?

I say, "hells yeah - let's do this," but I realize it would take an incredible amount of bravado from both schools to make this happen on at least a semi-annual basis. What do you think?