Notre Dame landed a CRAZY new rival on Tuesday

AtoZ Sports

Ryan Roberts recaps the Notre Dame Fighting Irish adding a new ACC rival in the Clemson Tigers.

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00:00The historic rivalries for Notre Dame have been compromised in recent years, but it appears there

00:04could be a new one on the horizon. Clemson Tigers, Notre Dame fighting Irish. Let's talk the latest

00:10and why this is so important for Notre Dame. Ryan Robbins from A to Z Sports bringing down

00:18everything Notre Dame football. Folks, when I say the wonderful world of college football,

00:22what brings back nostalgia and brings back the joy of watching every Saturday more than the

00:29bitter rivalries we all grew up on. When you think about Notre Dame football, USC Trojans,

00:34Michigan Wolverines are a couple of teams that come really quickly, especially for me growing

00:40up. It was Michigan. That was the team that I hated dearly as a Notre Dame fan. I hated

00:45everything about Michigan from the team to the uniforms to the fan base, hated it all. But

00:52of course, in recent years, Notre Dame and Michigan's rivalry has kind of trended downward because

00:58they don't have them on the schedule every year. So we're trying to, we're kind of losing

01:01the love and hatred that we have for that rivalry. USC is a little bit of the same. Now, Notre

01:08Dame still plays USC for now, but that being renewed is a little bit of a question mark right

01:14now. And a lot of this is due to the conference realignment and allocation to playing different

01:21teams year in and year out. And now we are sitting here at a crossroad for Notre Dame football of the

01:27best part of college football, which is those rivalries, these fan bases, the game days,

01:33the atmosphere. All those things are so important for the sustainability of college football.

01:38Without those historic rivals that we grew up on, the USC or Michigan's, it has compromised

01:43our just innate craziness as fans. Luckily, there is a new rivalry that is on the horizon.

01:53It was reported on Tuesday by Ross Dellinger, Yahoo Sports, about a 12 year contract that is going

02:01to begin in 2027 between Notre Dame and Clemson. And initially people were not taken off guard

02:08because I do think that Notre Dame and Clemson have played a lot recently, obviously, and there's

02:12been some pretty dang good games in the stretch of recent years. But looking at it, this could be the

02:19beginning of a great new rivalry. And I think it's tremendous for Notre Dame football. First and

02:25foremost, Clemson has become a sustained winner under head coach Dabo Sweeney. And some people will

02:30say it's trending downward the last couple of years. But if you look at this team's outlook heading into

02:342025, they look like they have a great team on the horizon. They're starting to utilize the transfer

02:38portal now after being a little bit kind of hesitant of it early on. So I do think that this team is

02:44sustained and a good football team just in the college football playoff last year. So I think

02:49first and foremost, it's a good opponent year in and year out. I also think that the regionality

02:54perspective, Notre Dame is always going to have as long as the ACC is around, they're going to have

02:58some affiliation with that conference for obvious reasons. So I do think having a sustained rivalry

03:04with the best program right now in the ACC is not a bad thing for Notre Dame football as well.

03:10Now, on the other side, and there's been some back and forth because originally what Dellinger

03:15had put out was that this would not count towards the five ACC opponents that Notre Dame has to have

03:20every single year. And then it came back that this might count towards it. So we'll refrain and kind

03:26of, because it looks like there's a little bit of a conversation point that's happening between

03:30Notre Dame and the ACC. And I think that it still has to be fully decided at this point. But I just

03:36want to kind of put it out there that I love this perspective. And I love this next step for

03:40Notre Dame football. I think Clemson is a very good potential year in and year out rivalry.

03:45And I love the fact that they're moving into a modern age of rivalries. It might not be quite as

03:51as close to our hearts as what we grew up with Michigan and USC, but hopefully if they're able

03:56to sustain it a little bit with USC into the future and they're able to create a new great one

04:00with Clemson, I do think this is the great part in the tradition of college football. But folks,

04:05I want to hear from you. What do you think about this potential rivalry with Clemson?

04:09Do you like the 12-year deal? Do you like playing Clemson just in general? Make sure to put that

04:13in the comments below. Before you leave, hit that like button and subscribe. And as always,

04:17Go Irish!

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