broncobob
1st String
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Change is in the air for the Irish
A Sept. 4 matchup between Notre Dame and BYU should be finalized by Tuesday.
By TERRANCE HARRIS
Tribune Staff Writer
SOUTH BEND -- It appears Notre Dame will open the 2004 football season at BYU on Sept. 4, though school officials cautioned Saturday that a deal has yet to be finalized.
Notre Dame has been in discussions for the last several weeks with BYU and ESPN about moving the originally scheduled Oct. 30 game to the season opener. Several other teams would have to either move games or drop games in order to accommodate the Irish's desire to play a game before their annual showdown with Michigan on Sept. 11.
ESPN, which will broadcast the ND-BYU game, has been working behind the scenes to broker a deal for the switches. ESPN and its regional affiliates (ESPN-plus) broadcast all Mountain West Conference home games, which means the network has substantial influence over programs such as BYU and San Diego State.
The switch is expected to be announced Tuesday.
"I think it's pretty close," said Notre Dame associate athletic director John Heisler, who oversees football scheduling. "There are just a few other things that still have to take place.
"What we are trying to do is make sure that everybody is doing what we need to them to do."
To make the Sept. 4 season-opener happen in Provo, Utah, no less than six programs had to agree to alter schedules for the upcoming season.
USC, the co-defending national champion, had to agree to move its Sept. 4 game at BYU to Sept. 18. And then Stanford had to be convinced to change its Sept. 18 game with BYU to Sept. 11.
According to sources, the final domino to fall had to be an agreement between San Jose State and San Diego State to drop their Sept. 4th game in order for Stanford to play the Spartans on that date. The San Jose-San Diego State game will simply dissolve this season.
Apparently the only cost Notre Dame will incur for all of the shifting is an agreement to host both San Diego State and Nevada-Reno at some point this decade.
<a href='http://www.southbendtribune.com/stories/2004/05/30/sports.20040530-sbt-MICH-D1-Change_is_in_the_air.sto' target='_blank'>The Rest of the Story</a>
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06-01-2004 08:43 AM |
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Brillio
2nd String
Posts: 330
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I Root For: Nevada & GCU
Location: Denver
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Now this is THE Notre Dame? Not the same Notre Dame we played in basketball four or five years ago, right?
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06-03-2004 01:29 AM |
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broncobob
1st String
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I Root For: The Broncos
Location: Middleton, IDAHO
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Brillio Wrote:Now this is THE Notre Dame? Not the same Notre Dame we played in basketball four or five years ago, right?
Yes, the one in Indiana, not the one in California.......
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06-03-2004 08:23 AM |
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Cane Gang
Heisman
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Great news! Hope you guys beat 'em.
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06-03-2004 09:02 AM |
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ultramagnus
2nd String
Posts: 275
Joined: May 2004
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I Root For: Utah State
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Agreed. Show the Irish what the WAC is all about! In other words, give them a good "WACking"!
Sorry, couldn't resist. Good luck Nevada!
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06-03-2004 09:10 AM |
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