warchant article on FSU-ND 2014

by Jay , San Diego, Tuesday, April 09, 2013, 10:28 (4028 days ago)

http://floridastate.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1493462

Florida State's 2014 schedule keeps getting stronger.

Gene Williams - Warchant.com

FSU is expected to host Notre Dame in 2014, Warchant.com has learned.
Multiple sources have told Warchant.com that the Seminoles will host Notre Dame during the 2014 season. The Irish begin partial ACC membership in football in 2014, playing five ACC teams per season.

An ACC spokesperson declined comment.

The addition of Notre Dame will beef up an already potent schedule for the Seminoles. FSU is set to play Oklahoma State in Dallas to open the 2014 season and will host Clemson and Florida. FSU will travel to Miami and are penciled in for a road game at Louisville as the Cardinals take the place of Maryland in the ACC Atlantic.

The challenge of the 2014 schedule is a far cry from FSU's weak schedules in 2012 and the upcoming 2013 slate. Florida State has publicly acknowledged its effort to beef up out of conference scheduling in future seasons.

Notre Dame and Arizona State reportedly cancelled a game scheduled for 2014 last week, a move that aids Notre Dame's ACC football obligation. Adding FSU gives Notre Dame three ACC opponents in 2014 (Syracuse, Pitt, FSU) to date.

A date for the FSU-ND game could not be confirmed, but one source told Warchant.com that FSU and the ACC are clearing the deck to play the game early in the season. The plan is to move up FSU's game with The Citadel - currently scheduled for Sept. 13 - to Sept. 6, the week following the season opener with Oklahoma State. Spacing out the marquee out of conference games sets up the potential to play the FSU-Notre Dame game in September. An early season matchup between traditional powers is also logical for the league as an impact game in Year 1 of Notre Dame's ACC membership.

Currently, Notre Dame has an opening on Sept. 20, 2014, but more schedule shuffling remains, which could affect open dates.

Plans for a return trip to South Bend or how the rotation of ACC teams playing Notre Dame will proceed is not clear. As of Tuesday, there is no plan for FSU to make an immediate return trip to South Bend in 2015.

Florida State last played Notre Dame in the 2011 Champs Sports Bowl. FSU won the game 18-14. Notre Dame's last trip to Tallahassee came in 2002, a game the Irish won 34-24. FSU beat Notre Dame 37-0 in South Bend in 2003.

Tags:
scheduling