After a dispute between the ASU and Notre Dame athletic departments put their 2014 football game in question, the Sun Devils have salvaged their home meeting against the Fighting Irish for next season.
ASU athletic director Steve Patterson wrote on the athletics' Tumblr page Monday the Sun Devils will still host Notre Dame on Nov. 8, 2014.
“We’re pleased that Notre Dame was able to resolve its scheduling issues in a way that allows it to play at Sun Devil Stadium in 2014,” Patterson said. “The game will now be played on Nov. 8, 2014. Our entire Sun Devil family — season ticket holders, fans, students, alumni — and our entire community here in the Valley have been looking forward to playing Notre Dame in Tempe since the original agreement was signed in 2008."
The original agreement between the two teams scheduled games in 2013 at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas (a home game for Notre Dame), 2014 in Tempe and 2017 at Notre Dame. However, Notre Dame announced in April it didn't want to play in Tempe in 2014 because of its move to the Atlantic Coast Conference. According to azcentral.com, ASU believed Notre Dame didn't have the legal capacity to back out of its contract and scheduling another quality non-conference opponent in a short time would have been a difficult task.
The game at Cowboys Stadium this upcoming season was never in jeopardy.
In the new agreement, the 2014 game is rescheduled from Oct. 25 to Nov. 8. The 2017 meeting at Notre Dame will be dropped.
“While the game at Notre Dame in 2017 has been canceled, what is most important to us is that the game in Tempe has been saved," Patterson said.
According to fbschedules.com, ASU's two other non-conference games in 2014 are against Weber State on Aug. 28 and at New Mexico on Sept. 13.
Reach the reporter at jnacion@asu.edu or follow him on Twitter @Josh_Nacion
