Notre Dame Honors Commitment to play ASU in 2014.

2013 Sun Devil Football

Did anyone else think that ASU Athletic Director, Steve Patterson, could pull this one off?

In an announcement this afternoon, it was revealed that Notre Dame would be shifting its 2014 schedule to honor its commitment to ASU for a game originally slated for two weeks prior to that in Tempe.

Just 2 months ago, ASU’s Athletic Department was caught off guard when the mighty Fighting Irish sent word that they were pulling out of their 2014 game with the Sun Devils. By many accounts, it was a move by Notre Dame that was at best disrespectful and unprofessional and at worst, an example of Notre Dame having it their way with little concern of the predicament in witch that placed ASU. After all, it was early in 2008 when ASU and Notre Dame had signed the contract to play.

Arizona State was now in a situation of scurrying for an opponent to fill the suddenly vacated spot in their 2014 Schedule, which is a challenge for any program this late in the game. Furthermore, such an opponent would likely be an inferior team which would hurt the Devil’s “strength of schedule” rating, an important measurement that plays into National Rankings.

After the news broke, here’s the exchange between Doug Haller of AZCentral and Doug Tammaro of ASU Media Relations:

Use this word please dictionary.reference.com/browse/stickto… @doughaller Saving 2014 home game against ND is huge W for @asu. Its persistence paid off.

— Doug Tammaro (@DougTammaro) June 11, 2013

Earlier today, Steve Patterson told Jeff Metcalfe and Doug Haller of AZ Central Sports, “The key for us was given the proximity of time to the date next year, we wanted to be able to maintain playing Notre Dame at home for our fans and student-athletes.” He also noted the support of the PAC-12 in the shifting of their schedule. ASU’s game with Notre Dame at Dallas Cowboys Stadium this year is unaffected by these changes.

Big props are given to Steve Patterson for showing that ASU would not role over in a challenge like this.

We’re looking forward to making Notre Dame regret their decision a second time on November 8, 2014. #ForksUp