Could Texas A&M schedule Notre Dame to fill out the schedule?

What if Texas A&M football played Notre Dame football this season?

Texas A&M football and Notre Dame football have some holes to fill after games were canceled.

With the Big Ten and Pac-12 opting to go the conference-only route for the 2020 college football season, these are two of the programs that have been impacted by this. The SEC’s Texas A&M Aggies had a home date scheduled with the Pac-12’s Colorado Buffaloes canceled, while the national independent Notre Dame Fighting Irish had three Power 5 dates canceled on them.

SEC commissioner Greg Sankey appeared on Outkick the Coverage with Clay Travis Wednesday morning to discuss what his Power 5 conference plans to do about the upcoming season.

“The opportunities will be there,” said Sankey. “We’re not alone in having lost non- conference games because of other conference decisions. All of these football programs that have lost opportunities are looking for games as well.”

“The good news is that even though we have those two that have slipped away there will be opportunities for both Alabama and [Texas] A&M to find other opponents should they move down that pathway.”

While filling the Alabama Crimson Tide date that got canceled with the Pac-12’s USC Trojans seems to be an easy fix, as they could pick up the Big 12’s TCU Horned Frogs who had their Pac-12 die with the California Golden Bears canceled on the same Sept. 5 date, figuring out who could help round out Texas A&M’s 12-game schedule will be trickier. Could it be Notre Dame, though?

Will we see Texas A&M football play Notre Dame football for the sixth time?

As presently constructed, there is no way the Aggies could face the Irish on the gridiron, given their current 2020 season commitments. Texas A&M’s only canceled game was the Sept. 19 home date vs. Colorado. Notre Dame plays the MAC’s Western Michigan Broncos that day. Their bye weeks don’t match up each, as Notre Dame is on bye Oct. 24, while A&M is on bye a week later.

However, scheduling may be a fluid situation here. The easiest way for Notre Dame to schedule Texas A&M is to pivot off Western Michigan, which would be an incredibly crummy thing to do and schedule the Aggies. If this were to be in the works, it would be the sixth time Notre Dame and Texas A&M would play and the first time since 2001.

Seemingly, the only dates that are set in stone here for both parties are Texas A&M’s eight SEC games and the six games Notre Dame will play as a non-football conference member of the ACC. At this point, really anything is on the table, especially if other Power 5 or Group of 5 conferences bow out and go conference-only this fall. However, what Group of 5 teams would want to do that?

Group of 5 programs earn quite a bit of coin from playing up a perceived level in competition. That million dollars here and there from a Power 5 team goes a long way in helping fund their athletic departments. The Broncos would be livid if Notre Dame doesn’t give them a seven-figure check. Western Michigan also hosts the ACC’s Syracuse Orange in Kalamazoo this fall out of the Power 5.

Notre Dame can’t schedule Texas A&M unless there are more leagues going conference-only.

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