Could Alabama football play Notre Dame football Week 1 this season?

Maybe there’s a chance Alabama football plays Notre Dame football Week 1?

Alabama football and Notre Dame football might end up playing each other in Week 1.

It’s a possibility given the Big Ten and the Pac-12 opting to go conference-only this fall, while programs like the Alabama Crimson Tide and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish are left to fill out their regular-season schedules. Alabama lost its Week 1 opener vs. the Pac-12’s USC Trojans in Arlington, Texas, while Notre Dame has lost three Power 5 games vs. the Big Ten and Pac-12.

On The Thom Abraham Show in Huntsville, Alabama, President and CEO of the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl Gary Stokan mentioned there is a chance Alabama could schedule Notre Dame Week 1 and play either in Arlington, Tuscaloosa, Alabama or South Bend, Indiana.

While neither team is part of this year’s Chick-fil-A Kickoff, rescheduling on the fly is something Stokan and his team may do.

This year, the Chick-fil-A Kickoff has three games scheduled. The Florida State Seminoles will face the West Virginia Mountaineers on Saturday, Sept. 5. Two days later, the Georgia Bulldogs will face the Virginia Cavaliers on Labor Day, Monday, Sept. 7. The following weekend, the Auburn Tigers will face the North Carolina Tar Heels on Saturday, Sept. 12. All three games would be in Atlanta.

Assuming the ACC, Big 12 and SEC go the plus-one route with a single non-conference game, that would recuse Florida State and Georgia from playing in the Chick-fil-A Kickoff, as the Seminoles and Dawgs have in-state rivals they feel obligated to play in the Florida Gators and the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, respectively.

The idea of the plus-one schedule being enacted by the ACC, Big 12 and SEC would allow the Auburn vs. North Carolina game to go on as scheduled, with Virginia taking on West Virginia in what would be a pretty cool Appalachian rivalry game. This would work because none of those four schools have a major rival in the non-conference they are required to play every year.

So how does all this impact Alabama and Notre Dame possibly playing Week 1?

The thing we have to remember here is these two schools’ respective conference allegiances. Alabama is a proud member of the SEC, while Notre Dame is a full-time member of the ACC in all sports but football, which the Irish compete as a national independent as they always have. Because the Irish will be grouped in with the ACC’s plan, they could be part of the plus-one push.

Currently, the Irish have six ACC games on the slate, so expect them to pick up two or three more in nine-game conference schedules become universal across the Power 5 this season. Keep in mind the ACC and SEC typically play eight conference games, while the Big Ten, Big 12 and Pac-12 play nine within their respective leagues.

While Alabama doesn’t have a Week 1 opponent, the thought was the Crimson Tide could play the TCU Horned Frogs, probably in Arlington, as they had a non-conference game vs. the California Golden Bears canceled on them with the Pac-12 going conference-only. That may still be the case, but the idea of Alabama playing Notre Dame Week 1 is an utterly fascinating construct.

It would be a higher-profile game than Alabama vs. TCU, as Notre Dame is the unquestioned biggest brand in the Power 5. The issue is Notre Dame has its Week 1 game scheduled vs. the traditional rival Navy Midshipmen out of The American that week. We should expect Notre Dame to play Navy this year, but the Midshipmen playing in the Group of 5 could be an issue.

Fate would have it Alabama athletic director Greg Byrne put this rumor to bed late Saturday morning. He quote tweeted Abraham’s report from Friday evening, saying that while Alabama looks forward to future home-and-home dates with the Irish, the Crimson Tide will not be playing the Golden Domers this year. Those games will take place way down the road 2028 and 2029.

https://twitter.com/Greg_Byrne/status/1284504521247526913

The last time Alabama and Notre Dame played was in the BCS National Championship Game at the end of the 2012 NCAA season. Alabama boatraced Notre Dame to win back-to-back national titles under Nick Saban. Brian Kelly’s Notre Dame team had been undefeated heading into that title bout. For now, the only way we’re seeing both schools play is in the College Football Playoff.

It may not be happening, but scheduling these high-profile games are what college fans crave.

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