[Stoney]

Hey NC and Notre Dame and GA Tech.... Saban has identified you as targets it's time to put up or shut up. Personally I want to see Charlie Weiss squirm.

[Tuck4Bama]

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Irish can't make Tide fit in schedule



Saturday, July 14, 2007 IAN R. RAPOPORT

News staff writer
TUSCALOOSA - The chances of Alabama and Notre Dame facing off in a regular-season football game in the foreseeable future appear to be extremely slim.
"It's not for lack of interest," said John Heisler, Notre Dame's senior associate athletics director who is in charge of scheduling. "I just don't know where we'd put them."
Two days after Alabama coach Nick Saban proclaimed his interest in upgrading his out-of-conference schedule by adding the Fighting Irish, Heisler told The Birmingham News that a new agreement with the Big East makes finding room for programs like Alabama nearly impossible.
Beginning in 2011, Notre Dame, an independent, has agreed to play three Big East teams per year, a request that was made when Miami and Virginia Tech left the conference in limbo by jumping to the ACC.
"Those commitments will give us more home-and-home games than we know what to do with," Heisler said. "It doesn't have anything to do with (not wanting to play) Alabama."
It was during a speech to the Rotary Club of Birmingham on Wednesday that Saban admitted to being "crazy" because he wants his teams to play one big-time intersectional game each season.
"I'd like to play Notre Dame," Saban said. "We played them three times at Michigan State and beat them three times. That was a great national game, it creates fan interest and TV will always jump on those games."
He also named Penn State, Georgia Tech, Oklahoma and North Carolina as teams he'd like to play. The Nittany Lions and the Yellow Jackets are already on future schedules.
The Irish won't be.
According to Heisler, he intends to schedule seven home games per season, one off-site home game, and four road games. Already in place are long-standing matchups with Michigan, Michigan State and Purdue and some combination of Southern Cal, Stanford and Navy. Throw in the three Big East teams, and there is little flexibility.
He has scheduled SEC teams in the past, such as the Tide and Tennessee, and Georgia has asked to schedule a game. But he hasn't talked recently with the Tide.
"Unless something changes, it would be pretty tough to do," said Heisler, who added he wasn't sure when the Big East agreement would end.

[Stoney]

I knew they would duck us again.

[rtr2006]

They would make an adjustment if it were someone they really wanted to play. Bama has everything to gain from a game like this, while ND would have everything to lose.

[Stoney]

Originally Posted by rtr2006

They would make an adjustment if it were someone they really wanted to play. Bama has everything to gain from a game like this, while ND would have everything to lose.

Yeah I guess Navy is such a powerhouse, which loss would hurt worse? Navy or lose to Alabama?