Notre Dame AD wants college football season to start later

Notre Dame’s athletic director wants the college football season to begin later than scheduled.

Jack Swarbrick, who has been Notre Dame’s AD since 2008, was among the powerful voices in college football who appeared on an ESPN “College Football Live” special on Tuesday. Swarbrick shared his position that he would like to see the start of the season delayed because of the information they could gain as a result.

“The value of starting later is you really get to see how your university has done. You have the benefit of all of that information and knowledge, and so I’d like to start a little later,” Swarbrick told ESPN’s Heather Dinich.

Many conferences have announced they will not be playing this fall, while some, like the Big Ten and Pac-12, have said they will play a conference-only schedule.

Notre Dame is in a tough spot because of their independent status in college football. They’ve lost their games against Wisconsin, Stanford and USC, though the ACC has said they would help them out schedule-wise.

Notre Dame is currently scheduled to face Navy on September 5 or 6 for their first game of the season. The game was originally set to take place in Dublin, but it was moved to Annapolis due to the coronavirus pandemic. Having more data and information about the coronavirus numbers could be critical in the ability of schools to make decisions.