I like most people who post here have been Notre Dame fan since birth. And have watched our team play as an Independent all these years. I maybe in the vast minority for my upcoming opinion but I feel that it will be better and more beneficial for Notre Dame to become a permanent member of the ACC. I feel having a chance to be in the ACC championship each year will attract recruits.
Only a fool would enjoy watching ND play ACC schools every season.
multiple-loss seasons would be normal and playoffs unlikely even if the playoffs expanded to 8 teams. Expecting the competitive status quo in the ACC to persist as a basis for arguing that ND should join the ACC permanently is unwise. Making judgements about joining the ACC permanently in the context of the outlier Covid season even less wise.
It's kinda quaint to go down there during the season and listen to constant chatter about the sport... even among highly educated folk who somehow know the 40 times of the local adolescent stars. In the rest of the country it's just another form of entertainment. It's probably not even a top ten selection on the west coast or in NYC. So if the University of Notre Dame wishes to become a "power" in college football again, that is where we need to be visible in order to recruit the best talent. On the other hand, perhaps we are perfectly content for ND to be a great academic institution that in the fall provides a college football re-enactment experience.
There is no reason not to wait a few years and see how things evolve with the CFP. If it gets expanded to 8 teams, we are almost guaranteed to get in any year when we win 11/12 games. If it stays at 4, we already know we can get in. The ACC will be more than happy to take us in five years if we want.
legendary independence is great and n.d. is the poster child for it. it produces controversy; it produces flexibility; it produces myth; it produces national appeal and exposure. joining a conference will ultimately be regionally confining - neutral football aficionados on the left coast would watch reruns of "the view" instead of an all-acc national championship game. but if n.d. were still independent, the same acc-n.d. match-up would get viewers who would be there to root against our haughty and aloof little selves. joining a conference would make us just another tree; right now we are our own whole forest.
otoh, there is safety in numbers. right now n.d. has to fight a political battle as well as go virtually undefeated to get into the playoff picture. as a p5 conference champion, it would almost be a lock - especially if they increase the number of teams to 6 or 8. in hard times a conference acts like a mother hen (a role the acc is basically playing with us right now). there is guaranteed money in a conference where there is not as an independent - although n.d. does well producing money, let me tell you.
maybe they should subscribe to a 5-year trial run as a full member of the acc. analyze the pros and cons and come to a mutually acceptable arrangement. include tv. the whole argument is not moot. it should have resolution.
ND? If you did some research, you’d know that ND would make MORE $ IN a conference.
Stop whining with alternate facts like a Trumper.
I doubt conference payouts are of any real concern, considering that the endowment fund was already at 13.8+ billion, as of 2019.
We spurn the ACC on top of the B1G.
No man is an island.
Not only that, ND is about Status as an independent. It's part of your myth and story. Why change, ND seems to be doing well.
worlds if we increase our playoff hopes and have enough room on the schedule to maintain annual game with USC and schedule other interesting matchups outside of ACC.
selection this year.
I still think most of the time it gives us a better shot.
annually and some other good teams every other year.
biggest and most historical rival, but they would help with strength of schedule as well. ND needs that given the ACC doesn’t get the same respect as the B1G, SEC, and maybe even the Big 12. USC has been mediocre of late but they are a blue blood and are usually good for at least being a Top 25 team.
for getting into the CFP, which comes from being in the ACC championship game, after the twelve game season.
The selection committee will not look kindly on a Notre Dame team that is an Independent and plays only a twelve game schedule.
Call me crazy but, I'm guessing the extra data point didn't help us this year.
If ND goes 12-0 or even 11-1, in most years they’ll have enough quality wins to be well in the mix. I don’t see a scenario where 12-0 ND isn’t in. I don’t see a scenario where 11-1 ND isn’t very much in the mix.
A 13th game in a conference championship, gives a chance to overcome one regular season loss. Also, we could win the conference championship, which is one of difference- making criteria to be accepted into the CFP.
Take off the Irish glasses and the stop listening to the media narrative. The committee is looking at the body of work in that given year to find the best 4 teams. ND got blown out in its LAST game ans the committee still deemed them one of the 4 best.
They aren’t discussing that Brady Quinn got blown out by LSU in 2006.
If ND goes unbeaten with quality wins (which they almost always have) they are a shoe in.
Still got in...but just sayin’
