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I'll be going so fast I'll just blast straight through the earth and pop out in China.

He's obviously a Marine. I was referring to FL but I don't think a game in Raleigh could hurt. Where do the Panthers play? Raleigh is only a couple hours from Jacksonville.

You, that's who.

no, the tennis ball would not kill anyone, nor would it puncture the boat. It would probably hit the ground slower than it came off the face of Federer's racquet.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terminal_velocity

That would roughly be my approach. I think I could stand about as close as Federer, but no closer. Maybe. To look over the edge I'd have to take the Agassi approach and get down on my stomach. Even that might be pushing it.

I have questions.
"¢ What if that tennis ball hit something? Certain death, right?
"¢ If it hit the hull of a sailboat would it rip right through it?
"¢ How many seagulls could Dave Winfield and Randy Johnson wipe out from that vantage?

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1991-2000: 31 different regular season opponents
2001-2010: 32 different regular season opponents

ACC Conf: all 15 other ACC opponents in a decade, plus USC and Navy = 17
At best, we would play 10 different opponents in a decade in the OPEN spot (27 total). If we wanted them to be interesting, it would probably be five home-and-homes (22 total). If we joined a 14-team Big Ten with 9 game schedules, that's two fewer "different" opponents over a decade.

I agree that our schedules have a fair amount of overlap from year to year, but there is still a shift if we make a move.

31 Regular season opponents from 1991-2000
Air Force
Arizona State
Army
Baylor
Boston College
BYU
Florida State
Georgia Tech
Hawaii
Indiana
Kansas
LSU
Michigan
Michigan State
Navy
Nebraska
Northwestern
Ohio State
Oklahoma
Penn State
Pittsburgh
Purdue
Rutgers
Stanford
Tennessee
Texas
Texas A&M
USC
Vanderbilt
Washington
West Virginia

32 Regular season opponents from 2001-2010
Air Force
Army
Boston College
BYU
Connecticut
Duke
Florida State
Georgia Tech
Maryland
Michigan
Michigan State
Navy
Nebraska
Nevada
North Carolina
Penn State
Pittsburgh
Purdue
Rutgers
San Diego State
Stanford
Syracuse
Tennessee
Texas A&M
Tulsa
UCLA
USC
Utah
Washington
Washington State
West Virginia
Western Michigan

of 40-FuckThis.

Not much more than complement what I feel is comparable to the existing schedule. East Coast/West Coast and barnstorming potential is pretty much the same.

OPEN would give the flexibility of another BIG game, either a big name opponent, a big name location, or if all else fails Army in South Bend for the home opener.

I just dont see the downside because I dont see that big a shift.

schedule plus USC would most likely give us all that we can handle. I would prioritize location and tradition for that 12th game and would prefer that it *not* consistently be a so-called Tier 1.

than that shithole of Jacksonville, NC (assuming you're talking about Lejeune and not the naval air base in Jacksonville, FL).

Ask FSU fans what they think about this new deal, and the guys at TomahawkNation are perfectly content with an annual non-conference schedule of Florida, Cupcake 1 and Cupcake 2.

What do you really want out of "OPEN" in USC-Navy-OPEN? And will it be satisfactory/sustainable/competitive?

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ND's schedule the past 15 years, with the conference tie-ins and whatnot, has been like frequenting the Olive Garden but saying "I know this great little Italian place".

The schedule has been a mishmash of conference obligations putting on the airs of independence.

And, if youre surrounded by people who think the key to a great meal is free shitty breadsticks, sometimes you just have to keep your mouth shut and tuck in.

Not every year in SD, but maybe every four-six years. It would offer a west coast trip when USC was in South Bend.

Dublin
South Bend
San Diego
South Bend
Baltimore
South Bend
San Diego
South Bend
Jacksonville
South Bend
Baltimore
South Bend
San Diego
South Bend
Hormuz
South Bend
Honolulu
South Bend
Baltimore
South Bend
San Diego

I just scheduled it out to 2030. Everyone's happy with this, right? Lock it up.

Hard to see them agreeing to an aircraft carrier game if that couldn't be part of it. Would coaches call plays from a nearby harrier jet?

Of course, the next progression would be the ND/Navy game in Dubai.

Sort of like looking at the counter at Souplantation or Golden Corral (never been to one of those -- only seen the commercials) or Shakey's lunch buffet. You know that no matter what you choose it'll be hurting your stomach, but at least some of the options have some redeeming value notwithstanding the heartburn.

If this is the landscape, the switch to the ACC simply removes the independent label, which has been in-name-only for a while now.

9 game ACC schedule plus SC, Navy, and OPEN

Navy gives the flexibility to go West in odd numbered years and other barnstorming games. The OPEN game invites this possibility as well.

I could swear I saw the Nimitz steaming up White River once.

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Rotate between Baltimore/Annapolis, San Diego, Chicago, Jacksonville, and maybe the Carolinas or Hawaii or some place exotic like that.

Would we agree to the game being played on an aircraft carrier?

I say yes, as long as they have some kind of ring (or even a giant rubber band) up to prevent players from falling off the sides. Or being pushed off by one of America's heros.

I don't know the details of the relationship, but I suspect they would want at least one game every four years to be close to home (Annapolis/Baltimore).

Of course, we could always push the ACC to invite Navy as the 12th member and make them our partner.

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In favor of the B1G/PAC12 schedule.

MSU has already affirmed their desire to play us moving forward. I suspect the same with PU.

UM will drop us shortly.

The PAC12 is more of a challenge. We can only play the PAC12 in the 1st four weeks of the season (other than Stanford and USC). The PAC12 has moved to a 9 game schedule as well as the aforementioned series with the B1G. I don't think we will see any games with schools other than Stanford and USC after our contract with ASU is up.

This is getting very serious, I think. If they wanted to force us to join a conference, they could all announce 10-game schedules and be done with it.

In fact, I thought I heard that the athletic department wanted to modify the Purdue relationship (2-1 with games at ND or replace a Purdue home game with a neutral site game in Indy or Chicago) and the ND administration overruled them.

The only nice thing about the ACC is that is does cover the eastern half of the US pretty well from Boston to Miami. Our west-coast exposure might have to drop to every-other-year, but the Navy game would probably continue to bounce around the country (or world) a bit. The likelihood of playing in Texas would be completely gone, as would playing an SEC team, but those are pretty rare occurrences anyway. Barnstorming would likely also take a hit, but it might be circling the drain anyway.

the ACC?

How would ND's three remaining slots be used?

I think USC is a given.

Navy may be a given, but maybe they get shifted to 2 out of 3 years.

Then, we need to balance the traditional Big Ten rivals like Michigan, MSU, and Purdue.

Would need to leverage the two USC non-conference games to play a national schedule. The neutral site games help with that.

Then it might be a good thing.

Actually, other than them, this hurts. We play a lot of ACC schools and there are a lot of good match-ups of various types - major programs (FSU, Miami, Va Tech), good academic schools (Virginia, Duke, North Carolina), etc.

Almost certainly, the schools will keep their cupcake, which still leaves two open slots. FSU will continue to play Florida, but that is no different than the status quo. But, FSU has show a recent willingness to play tough out of conference opponents.

2011: UL-Monroe, Charleston Southern, Oklahoma, Florida
2010: Samford, Oklahoma, BYU, Florida
2009: Jacksonville State, BYU, South Florida, Florida
2008: Western Carolina, Tennessee-Chattanooga, Colorado, Florida
2007: UAB, Colorado, Alabama, Florida
2006: Troy, Rice, Western Michigan, Florida

I think the extra ACC game is more likely to take the place of a BYU/Colorado/South Florida quality opponent than an Oklahoma/Alabama quality opponent. It might even help ND since our quality of play is more like the former, but our brand is more like the latter.

edit: I'm also thrilled to see Pitt and Maryland renew their rivalry. Those five games they played in the 80s/90s truly define college football for me.

9-game PAC-12 schedule, 9-game ACC schedule (hey Pitt, so you're on the "coast" of a river, eh?), 9-game Big 10 schedule on it's way, Conference USA-ization of the Big East, SEC filling its slates with laughers (I looked at UGA -- this fall they play Georgia Tech but then Buffalo, Georgia Southern, and Florida Atlantic), and then there's the Big 12.

Interesting.

http://espn.go.com/college-sports/story/_/id/7537493/atlantic-coast-conference-unveils-...

Florida State (and others?) are effectively off the table for ND scheduling going forward.