Whether you like it or not, the College Football Playoff is here and it may already be having an impact on the regular season. Those who thought the value of the regular season may have been diminished with the playoff may be right, but we are getting a nice dose of sexier match-ups coming into play. Strength of schedule is now a revitalized factor in the championship race, and Georgia and Notre Dame are continuing their discussions about a potential home-and-home series with that in mind.
“I think we’re just waiting to work through some verbal communications before we have anything in writing,” Georgia athletics director Greg McGarity said Tuesday, according to The Telegraph. McGarity feels it would be great for fans as well.
Georgia and Notre Dame have played just once before, clashing in the 1981 Sugar Bowl in New Orleans. Vince Dooley‘s Georgia squad won the game, 17-10, to complete an undefeated season and clinch the number one ranking in the AP poll and a national championship.
Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly came out recently and claimed he wanted to see SEC teams added to the schedule. The Irish and SEC rarely cross paths, having played 10 games against SEC opponents since 1990, and four of those came in bowl games. Notre Dame’s last meeting with a program from the SEC school did not go so well, with Alabama dominating the Irish in the 2013 BCS Championship Game, 42-14.
It should be noted Georgia will be required to schedule one non-conference opponent from a power conference each season under new SEC scheduling policies. That requirement is filled by annual rivalry match-ups with Georgia Tech, from the ACC. Notre Dame may not be a part of a power conference in football, although it has a relationship with the ACC, but the Fighting Irish are being viewed as a school that would satisfy that scheduling requirement. Even if Georgia and Notre Dame work out a deal for a home-and-home series, it is not likely this will replace Georgia Tech on the Georgia schedule.
Georgia has a booked non-conference schedule for 2014 and 2015 but has plenty of openings to work with starting in 2016.