“Sick” “Lil bro series”: CFB fans have mixed reactions as Clemson and Notre Dame agree to a 12-year football series

The Clemson Tigers under coach Dabo Swinney and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish under coach Marcus Freeman returned to the big time when they both reached the expanded College Football Playoff last season. Both teams had fallen on hard times in the past few years before stellar performances returned them to the CFP.

On Tuesday, it was announced that the Fighting Irish and Tigers had agreed to a 12-year schedule that would see the teams clash every season from 2027 until 2038.

According to Yahoo Sports insider Ross Dellenger, the matchup between the Tigers and Fighting Irish could be part of an arrangement of games between Notre Dame and the top teams in the ACC including the Miami Hurricanes and the Florida State Seminoles.

“Notre Dame & Clemson have struck a 12-year annual football scheduling deal, sources tell @YahooSports. The series works independently of the ACC structure but does count as one of ND’s five ACC games,” Dellenger tweeted “Irish also expected to play FSU & Miami more regularly.”

College football fans on X had mixed reactions to the news of the Clemson versus Notre Dame series being announced.

Some fans were hyped about the series.

"Lil bro series," one fan tweeted.

"That’s sick I want Texas to do this with a old big 12 team we don’t play anymore like tech or Baylor," another fan tweeted.

"strengthens their rivalry," one fan tweeted.

Clemson and Notre Dame have a colorful history of clashes

The Clemson Tigers and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish have clashed eight times with the former holding a 5-3 lead in the series. During the announcement of the series between the two teams, Fighting Irish athletic director Pete Bevacqua revealed his enthusiasm at building the rivalry between the two college football bluebloods.

"It's been such a great rivalry and we want to see it happen every year," Pete Bevacqua said. "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."

The spiciest clashes between the Fighting Irish and the Tigers came in the 30-3 win for coach Dabo Swinney in the 2018 Cotton Bowl and a 34-10 win in the ACC championship game. Coach Marcus Freeman presided over a 35-14 win over Swinney in South Bend in 2022, while the Tigers coach turned the tables on him in a 31-23 upset win in 2023.

For the Clemson Tigers, the clash will represent another marquee clash on their slate of games every season a few months after agreeing to a new revenue-distribution model with the ACC that kept the Tigers in the conference.