N. didn’t even know ND was negotiating this ACC arrangement and putting the game in peril.

The SEC just cancelled all OOC games. The ACC thus has lost a bunch of games. Surely they will want to replace them. Lifting this arbitrary “ACC States Only” restriction is in their interests now.

That is a better rivalry.

USC, Stanford and Arkansas had a "commitment" to ND this year, but none of those games are going forward for obvious reasons. All schedules were put in the trash can by Covid, including Navy's. So what Coach N knew or didn't know about how ND's schedule was going to shake out is irrelevant. I am guessing the ACC restriction is health based. If that is their concern, I doubt they will view lifting the restriction in the collective best interests.

If Clemson can live without South Carolina, and Florida State without Florida, ND-Navy is unlikely to be considered a must have. The reason that the ACC admitted ND on a one year basis is due to the OOC game cancellations you mentioned. Those cancellations were a known issue when the OOC restriction we are discussing was put in place.

Also, from a health standpoint, ND should travel as little as possible and have that non-conference game at home. If that is the case, for financial reasons, it will need to be against an opponent who doesn't get a return date.

Navy stands. And Navy doesn’t want to cancel it. The ACC stated that all participants can have one OOC game. OK, well, this would be our “OOC” game.

USC is a Pac12 member and that decision was handed down to them from on high weeks ago.

The ND-Navy game was not “put in a trash can.”

The contractual fiction of what is an “ACC state” — suddenly Indiana is an ACC state, that’s fun — should not be used as a means to cancel a game that Navy very much wants to host.

Also, FUSC.

Health-based precautions are valid. But having ND travel to Annapolis as the first game of the year cannot reasonably be viewed as a bigger health risk than Clemson travelling to Florida State.

comelling team possible. That team is not Navy. I think their coach is a low rent prick who encourages their players to play dirty. I think their program has a culture that encourages their players to injure our players, in an "anything it takes to win" analogue for war as a rationalization for ruining opponents' futures.

So, no, we shouldn't lift a finger for Navy just because you want a nice afternoon in Annapolis.

injuries, it has been several years since a player had a suspicious injury in the Navy game.

That WWE Death Drop on RJ Blanton in ND Stadium seemed to wake some people up.

The last such injury I can recall is Ian Williams getting his knee trashed against Air Force.

And my focus is on ND.

And the cases are similar. We are in the ACC this year and not an independent. The ACC has a rule that you advocate we ignore. I believe that failing to keep a commitment reflects poorly on the University, and is foolish to boot since it increases ND's costs and health risks.

But even accepting that language, I can’t agree that travelling to Annapolis imperils our team.