A deeper look into how Notre Dame owns the ACC
My colleague and man I am happy to call a friend Pete Fiutak at College Football News calls what Notre Dame football has with the ACC: “A friends with benefits deal”. Look, Mila Kunis and Justin Timberlake won’t be making a movie about it anytime soon, but it’s impossible to argue against Pete’s point. Notre Dame keeps their independence while having to play a handful of ACC opponents annually for the foreseeable future. Benefits indeed!
Listen, I’d rather have traditional rivals Michigan, Michigan State, Pitt, and Purdue on the schedule regularly. Instead we’re treated to regular meetings with Duke, Louisville, Wake Forest, and the sort. It might not thrill the casual fan but it’s still a lot better than joining a conference full-time.
With the destruction of Clemson just over a week ago and Boston College headed to South Bend this weekend I thought it’d be a good time to take a look at Notre Dame and the ACC. Notre Dame sits at 7-3 entering Saturday’s date with the Eagles with a 3-0 mark against ACC foes this year.
No. 13 North Carolina, Syracuse, and No. 9 Clemson all have suffered losses at the hands of the Irish this year. We know nothing is a guarantee with Notre Dame at home this year (see Marshall and Stanford) but the Irish enter this weekend as a three-score favorite. Win that game and they’ll again sweep the regular season series with the ACC, something they’ve done every year since 2018.
So I was curious – how many regular season wins against ACC teams does Notre Dame have since 2018? And how does that compare to the rest of the league?
Here is the amount of regular season wins against ACC opponents each ACC team and Notre Dame have accumulated since the start of 2018, starting with the fewest.
Data as of November 15, 2022
Duke
James Guillory-USA TODAY Sports
Duke ACC wins since 2018: 11
2018: 3
2019: 3
2020: 1
2021: 0
2022: 4
Syracuse
Mark Konezny-USA TODAY Sports
Syracuse ACC wins since 2018: 14
2018: 6
2019: 2
2020: 1
2021: 2
2022: 3
Louisville
USA TODAY SPORTS
Louisville ACC wins since 2018: 15
2018: 0
2019: 5
2020: 3
2021: 4
2022: 3
Georgia Tech
Matt Cashore-USA TODAY Sports
Georgia Tech ACC wins since 2018: 15
2018: 5
2019: 2
2020: 3
2021: 2
2022: 3
Boston College
Brian Fluharty-USA TODAY Sports
Boston College ACC wins since 2018: 17
2018: 4
2019: 4
2020: 5
2021: 2
2022: 2
Florida State
Melina Myers-USA TODAY Sports
Florida State ACC wins since 2018: 18
2018: 3
2019: 4
2020: 2
2021: 4
2022: 5
Virginia Tech
Reinhold Matay-USA TODAY Sports
Virginia Tech ACC wins since 2018: 19
2018: 4
2019: 5
2020: 5
2021: 4
2022: 1
Virginia
Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports
Virginia ACC wins since 2018: 19
2018: 4
2019: 6
2020: 4
2021: 4
2022: 1
Wake Forest
Jeremy Brevard-USA TODAY Sports
Wake Forest ACC wins since 2018: 19
2018: 3
2019: 4
2020: 3
2021: 7
2022: 2
North Carolina
(Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images)
North Carolina ACC wins since 2018: 21
2018: 1
2019: 4
2020: 7
2021: 3
2022: 6
Miami
Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports
Miami ACC wins since 2018: 22
2018: 4
2019: 4
2020: 7
2021: 5
2022: 2
North Carolina State
Matt Cashore-USA TODAY Sports
NC State ACC wins since 2018: 22
2018: 5
2019: 1
2020: 7
2021: 6
2022: 3
Pittsburgh
Matt Cashore-USA TODAY Sports
Pittsburgh ACC wins since 2018: 25
2018: 6
2019: 4
2020: 5
2021: 7
2022: 3
Notre Dame
Matt Cashore-USA TODAY Sports
Notre Dame ACC wins since 2018: 27
2018: 5
2019: 5
2020: 9
2021: 5
2022: 3
Notre Dame has not lost a regular season contest against an ACC opponent since November of 2017 when they lost at Miami. A week later the Irish beat Wake Forest and have won 28-straight regular season games against ACC opponents since.
Clemson
Matt Cashore-USA TODAY Sports
Clemson ACC wins since 2018: 37
2018: 8
2019: 8
2020: 8
2021: 6
2022: 7
Now just imagine how annoying we would be had Notre Dame beaten Clemson in the post season in 2018 or 2020.
