Notre Dame will close its regular season at Stanford with a 10:30 p.m. ET kickoff on Nov. 29, and Irish fans and the associated media aren’t exactly thrilled about it.

The ACC announced the kickoff time for ESPN on Sunday. For fans on the East Coast, that means the game won’t end until well after 1 a.m. ET. All of this for a matchup against a 3-7 Stanford team.

The 10:30 p.m. ET start guarantees a smaller viewing audience for the 10-1 Irish, who are firmly in playoff contention. Instead of maximizing the audience for a ranked Notre Dame team in its regular-season finale, the ACC and ESPN chose a time slot that will test fans’ endurance across the Eastern and Central time zones.

https://t.co/7M85teQ9ib pic.twitter.com/z2C6hCSBhi

— Brad Powers (@BradPowers7) November 17, 2025

NOOOOOOOO https://t.co/uKqwQcy4QY

— Jessica Smetana (@jessica_smetana) November 17, 2025

https://t.co/Tw9MGZyo7C pic.twitter.com/Wah9eaDvf6

— Matt Freeman (@mattfreeman05_) November 17, 2025

I can’t wait to watch 30 minutes of the game https://t.co/M1iLZiMeGe

— Ryan Roberts (@RiseNDraft) November 17, 2025

The ACC trying to body clock the Irish out of the playoffs? https://t.co/0VZzjj3ITv

— Brendan (@verypiratey) November 17, 2025

Oh. My. God. https://t.co/8vqvzh8drH

— Mike Singer (@MikeTSinger) November 17, 2025

Buddy. Come on. https://t.co/spnyDiPj0R

— Pete Sampson (@PeteSampson_) November 17, 2025

This start time should be illegal. https://t.co/anh8rvbIuX

— Kyle Kelly (@ByKyleKelly) November 17, 2025

This is the tradeoff Notre Dame made when it agreed to play five ACC games per season while maintaining quasi-football independence. The Irish have their own NBC television contract and don’t have to play in a conference championship game, which gives them scheduling flexibility and keeps them out of the grueling league title game gauntlet. But when Notre Dame plays ACC opponents, the conference and its broadcast partners control kickoff times.

Now Stanford is in the ACC, and what used to be a natural intersectional rivalry has become a conference obligation with conference-dictated kickoff times. The Irish don’t get a say in when these games are played, even when it’s their regular-season finale with playoff implications on the line.

If only there were a way to avoid scheduling playoff games at 10:30 p.m. ET. Maybe someone could consider that fans might actually want to watch the game. No, that’s too logical.