Oct 19, 2024; Piscataway, New Jersey, USA; UCLA Bruins head coach DeShaun Foster during the second half against the Rutgers Scarlet Knights at SHI Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images

Are UCLA, Big Ten Plotting Westward Schedule Expansion?

Originally posted on UCLA Bruins on SI | By Brock Vierra | Last updated May 7, 2025 1:17 PM ET

Notre Dame and Clemson are two programs with storied histories and whose recent successes have been tied to each other.

College Football Playoffs, ACC title game, South Bend, Indiana, and Clemson, South Carolina. Those four events/venues have hosted the Fighting Irish facing off against the Tigers in the past, and they will continue to do so for the next 12 years.

"It's been such a great rivalry and we want to see it happen every year," Notre Dame athletic director Pete Bevacqua said of Notre Dame and Clemson's 12-year agreement. "It's historically been a great back-and-forth. I think we could see it continue to develop into one of the great rivalries in college football."

In their agreement is an interesting clause as reported by ESPN's David Hale.

"A source confirmed the annual games will also count toward Notre Dame's required five games vs. ACC opponents," Hale wrote. "All games in the series would remain on the schedule regardless of Clemson's future conference affiliation, however."

Notre Dame would not benefit from retaining the matchup through Clemson's transition.

For Notre Dame, it would have to play Clemson, plus five ACC teams, as written in its agreement with the conference. In the other six games, it will play USC and another Power-Five team. That gives the Fighting Irish four perceived "easy" opponents instead of their standard five.

For Clemson, it would move to either the SEC or the Big Ten. The Big Ten plays nine conference games, something the SEC is expected to do in the near future. That would mean Clemson's non-conference schedule would switch out South Carolina as its premier opponent for Notre Dame if it goes to the SEC.

That would maintain its strength of schedule and the SEC's current policy that every team must play a major independent or a non-conference Power-Five school, a requirement Clemson satisfies if it stays at eight conference games.

If Clemson goes to the ACC, we could witness another conference realignment scramble. While the SEC may go after programs in the Carolinas, Georgia and Florida, the Big Ten may turn west.

The Big Ten has continually pushed west over the past 12 months, and perhaps Cal and Stanford could be up for grabs.

That would be six West Coast teams in the Big Ten, more than enough to limit cross-country travel to one to two games per season for all conference members.

There's a reason why Clemson vowed to keep the agreement alive with Notre Dame. Something to keep an eye on.