I continue holding onto hope that we can remain independent. More and more I can see that may not be viable. Look at the crap schedule we have this year. ND is being slowly squeezed out by these conferences. Having said that, anything that keeps us out of the Big 10 (if independence is lost) is a great idea for me. The SEC would be the much harder route on the schedule but anyone want to play Rutgers, NWestern, Purdue, Illinois, Maryland, Iowa, Michigan State, Indiana, Minnesota, Penn St, Wisconsin and Nebraska routinely just to occasionally play OSU, Michigan, Oregon and SC? BORING!!! I almost dozed off just thinking about playin in the Big 10.
Even the crap teams in the SEC have at least some interest: Vandy is at least in Nashville, both Mississippi teams are occasionally frisky and always a great place to attend a game, same with A&M, SCarolina, Kentucky and Arkansas. Don't sleep on the Hogs, their home games are wild. I admit Mizzou brings nothing but how about routinely playing in Knoxville, The Swamp, Tuscaloosa, Death Valley, Auburn, between the hedges and the new kids on the block TX and Oklahoma? That would be exciting.
I have been an Irish fan since I got a Ken McAfee jersey for Christmas but have made it a point to get to as many SEC stadiums as I can. The passion, the beauty of the campuses and the energy that is created at SEC fields is second to none. I've been to all but a few and I can tell you there is nothing better than an SEC Saturday. We might take some lumps, and obviously be at a disadvantage in recruiting due to academic requirements (but aren't we already?), but what a wild ride it would be.
Mark me down as one that would love to go 8-4 or 9-3 in the SEC over going 10-2 or 11-1 in the boring Big 10 any day. And who knows, maybe lightning strikes at some point soon and we get back to the top of the mountain.
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Screw the Big 10,15, or 20 or whatever they are now. They have never respected ND, and neither has their fanbase
There is no "localization" to conferences any more anyway, so it does not matter what conference is "closer" to you. ND would get much more national respect if they joined the SEC and IMO would have a "stronger standing" with the playoff committee than if they joined the Big 10,15,20
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1) to shun the conference that shunned us and go the more difficult route just to do it.
2) to create a reality where Bama has to come play in our house from time to time.
"But their contract is bigger!" Pfffft!
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LSU's fanbase gave him a couple of mulligans due to the fact that he restored order to the program after a couple of bad years that got Ed Orgeron fired (never mind the NC he won). He got two reasonably good 10 win seasons, but they're going to want at least a NY6 appearance.
If he has a bad year, he'll find that they're even less forgiving than ND's faithful.
They have plenty of talent on that team, even with all of the NFL departures and transfer portal departures, but since he's breaking in two relatively new coordinators, you never know.
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