RE: Interesting take on ND in a conference
I do see each view of the Notre Dame independent debate.
As a pragmatist, I spent a decade telling a bunch of Notre Dame fans that the reason they fell off from the status that Alabama and Ohio State have is because they USED to be the richest school, period. A national brand on national TV every week, while everyone else was regional and not on TV every week. But the bundling of conference TV rights and now we have 11 channels showing college football instead of four... everyone else caught up. Money-wise, ABSOLUTELY join a conference.
The Notre Dame argument is that they (a) "Don't need to" and (b) Independence lets them schedule nationally; with annual rivalries around the country, like USC, and it's the history and tradition, and they shouldn't give that up.
I understand that. That's great. If they wanted be Indy so they can play: Navy; USC, Purdue, Michigan and 4 of Stanford; Michigan State, Northwestern; Georgia Tech, Pitt, Boston College; every year, and two others based on where they need to take their program to recruit nationally... which they can't do from within a conference. Then that makes perfect sense and stay independent.
I just don't know that they CAN do that anymore. Or at least, they haven't. The changes to the rest of college football have forced their opponents into the 9 conference games that make filling out the late-season schedule difficult.
Their historical rivalries are being played less:
Michigan - twice since 2014
Michigan State - twice since 2013
Northwestern - twice since 1995
Pitt - three times since 2013 (ACC game in pandemic)
Boston College - four times since 2013 (ACC game in pandemic)
Army - once since 2010
There has been a rise of "off brand" games on their schedules: USF, New Mexico, Bowling Green, Temple, Miami Ohio, Nevada, UMass, Rice, Toledo, Cincinnati, and of course, all the ACC opponents.
The argument for independence takes a huge hit when you're facing Cincinnati and UMass instead of Ohio State or Boston College.
That being said, joining the Big Ten would restore more of their historical rivals than joining the ACC. But the ACC is a much better option because it takes them from Boston to Miami, while the Big Ten keeps them midwest and Maryland/Rutgers.
|
/
Interesting take on ND in a conference
