Posted on 12/07/2018 5:21:39 PM PST by dangus
Could Notre Dame start its own conference.
This is not a prediction. This is trying to get a conversation started.
Conferences no longer need 12 teams to have a conference final. Five is a lousy number of major conferences for the post-season. And Texas has set precedent by having a special status within the Big 12. Could Notre Dame "longhorn" its way to a sixth major conference?
Notre Dame declined joining the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), but the ACC isn't that great of a football conference. There's not much beyond Clemson. Notre Dame would find better competition in a league featuring Central Florida (#7 according to computer rankings), Army (#22), Cincinnati (#24), Temple (#34), and Navy. Add #3 Notre Dame to that list, and, this year at least, you'd have a core of a higher-quality league than the Pac-12, the ACC or the Big Ten.
With Notre Dame plus those five teams who would kill to be in a major conference, who else might join? Would #15 West Virginia bolt the Big 12, where the team has a secondary status to Texas? Would traditional rival Boston College (#37), the sole other BCS Catholic school, prefer more local competitors like Temple, Navy and Army (plus Notre Dame and Cincinnati) to teams such as Wake Forest, Louisville, and NC State? Or would Syracuse (#17), another traditional rival? Other candidates would seem to include Memphis (#45) and Houston.
Notre Dame turned down the Big Ten. But the Big Ten would've commanded nine games out of Notre Dame, forcing ND to break traditional match-ups, and ND couldn't command special status in a league with Michigan and Ohio State. But this new league would command only six or seven. Notre Dame would have the scheduling freedom to maintain rivalries with Michigan and Michigan State, while NOT having to play teams like Rutgers, Illinois, Nebraska, Minnesota, Indiana, Wisconsin and Maryland, with whom Notre Dame has zero interest in.
Consider this line-up:
#3 Notre Dame
#7 Central Florida
#22 Army (a traditional ND opponent)
#24 Cincinnati
#34 Temple
Navy (another tradition)
plus two of #37 Boston College (another tradition), #17 Syracuse, Houston, Memphis... and Connecticut.
Yeah, U-Conn's football team sucks, but a basketball league including Cincy, UConn, Notre Dame and Temple would rock.
Michigan was not of significance? They were favored in that game! Stanford was not of significance? They were highly rated until Notre Dame slaughtered them. An away game at Virginia Tech is not significant? And my point is, Schedules are made years in advance. They SCHEDULED for 2018 several of the top teams in the country! If some of those teams had a down year, that is not ND’s fault. Moreover, some of them, like USC, lost several games by a handful of points and are chock full of very good athletes. Rivalry games are always tough, anyway. When your team, whoever it is, starts playing USC every other year in the coliseum, let me know. All I hear wherever I go is a lot of Clemson arrogance. The last time I heard this kind of chatter, it was when #18 Notre Dame took on #3 Florida in the Sugar Bowl. Steve Spurrier joked that the only difference between Notre Dame and Cheerios was that one of them belonged in a bowl. After two 50 yard romps by Jerome Bettis, and a 39 to 28 humiliation, he ate his words. Keep up the trash talk, Clemson. We’ll see you on the field.
My opinion only... If you play the service academies, you don’t belong in the national championship. The FCS has it right... 24 teams. 2 weeks of play and you’re down to the final 4. Think of the revenue
“The last time I heard this kind of chatter, it was when #18 Notre Dame took on #3 Florida in the Sugar Bowl.”
Again, you are talking years past. Please talk about this year’s schedule.
I am not a Clemson fan. You are assuming something which is untrue. I simply look at the comparative schedules.
So.....they schedule years in advance? Where is Alabama on their schedule.....ever? Where are the other SEC teams.....ever?
They NEVER schedule top teams on a regular basis and you know it! ;-)
Why shouldn’t the service academies compete for the national championship, if they manage to have the record and the strength of schedule to do it?
I’m looking forward, not backward to consider the likely strength of teams. UCF, for instance, is a major-market team, the largest student body in the nation, and soaring upward in academic reputation.
Frankly, Notre Dame ALREADY played the best team in the Big Ten... and beat them... before they came into their own offensively. And they beat the third best team in the Big Ten. And after those three teams, it’s one HELL of a steep drop-off.
The notion that teams get OVER-rated in the rankings by having aneasy schedule is pure, 100% bull. The old Big East faced that kind of nonsense, and had a 5-0 bowl game record. Yeah, their competitors weren’t great, but that was PRECISELY because they were ridiculously UNDER-rated.
As for Army, their lost AT Oklahoma IN OVERTIME.
And yes, UCF will stick around. Idiots always said Boise State was a one-year wonder... they said with Chris Peterson gone, they’d be toast... They’re still ranked... No, the thought of them being national champions because they went undefeated WAS kinda silly, but they’ve still won seven of their last nine bowl games. And Boise State plays in Boise... not even the flagship school of Idaho... which is why I don’t include them.
Well, that’s why Notre Dame doesn’t want to play in the Big Ten... too many sucky teams and they can’t “Longhorn” themselves into favorable contracts like Texas did. I’m so bloody sick of the Big Ten, perennially the most incredibly over-rated conference in football. They’re a two-team league (with one other hot team this year), comprised of dinosaur schools. Notre Dame might play in the Big Ten if they got rid of Maryland, Indiana, Rutgers, Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, Purdue, Nebraska and Illinois,... wait that’s just about the whole conference.
In my proposed conference, the only team as weak as any of those EIGHT Big Ten teams is Navy, and that’s a storied rivalry (which is why I include them.)
>> Where is Alabama on their schedule.....ever? Where are the other SEC teams.....ever? <<
Where’s Alabama on Clemson’s schedule? Clemson’s biggest win was against Syracuse, who Notre Dame also beat. But did Clemson beat anyone like Notre Dame beat Michigan? Nope.
I actually do favor Clemson over Notre Dame, simply because the score margins were much more impressive. But as far as strength of schedule, Notre Dame’s was WAAAY more impressive.
Was it pure deceit that you left Michigan off Notre Dame’s schedule? When you drop off the best team in the Big Ten, what are you thinking?
Notre Dame beat the Big Ten East champion (#8 Michigan), the Big Ten West division champion (#22 Northwestern), the ACC Coastal Champion (Pitt), plus other ranked teams #17 Syracuse and #24 Army. That’s a better schedule than anyone outside of the SEC. Yeah, Army, Syracuse and Northwestern are having big years, but Notre Dame also plays Stanford, USC, Florida State, Virginia Tech and Michigan State who are having off years. Together, that’s ten tough opponents scheduled. No-one in the Big Ten faces more than three or four tough opponents.... except the ones that play Notre Dame.
Florida State and Miami are has-beens, a combined 7-9 in the conference. The three teams together are a combined .500. UCF and even USF are taking over. Why not talk about CCNY basketball (three times national champions!)?
Wow, Mr Chips... I was talking FAR more recently than the days of Knute Rockne and Fielding Yost!!! Before they went to the ACC, there was much talk of Notre Dame going to the Big Ten, including their football team. I don’t believe any formal offer was extended, and there may have been some Big Ten schools that wouldn’t’ve been happy, but it was Notre Dame that publicly said, “No Thanks.” They didn’t want to be locked into playing nine conference games. You’ll note this league gives them only 7 (if it’s an eight-team league), or 6 if it has two five-team conferences.
As for the special status of Texas football, it has its own TV contract and exclusions from revenue sharing... just like Notre Dame has and urgently intends to keep as an independent school.
>> Why would Notre Dame form a conference with relative nobodies? They have freedom as an independent. Everyone wants to play them, they can pick and choose. <<
Because playing Cincinnati, Central Florida, etc. is better than playing Ball State, Vanderbilt and Wake Forest. And those “relative nobodies” have better records than just about any conference outside of the SEC, and many of the largest student bodies, and are based in major cities.
Well, Notre Dame practically invented modern football, popularizing such tactics as the forward pass. Portraying their star quarterback made the greatest American president of the last 150 years a star. Yes, the fact that they’re the flagship Catholic football program is a BIG deal. And although they some weak years in the past generation, they had NINETEEN UNDEFEATED SEASONS, more than any other team in the nation, and trail Michigan just a bit for the all-time highest winning percentage in history.
To put it simply, they’re the Yankees of college football. And yes, 80 million Catholics outweigh Michigan’s one million graduates or even their share of about 10 million Michiganders.
To be decided by economics, not by what’s best for the sport, or for the students.
That’s a collection of scrubs that NOBODY would consider to be a major conference. I could see the Big 12 falling apart and thus, there being 4 major conferences but a 6th? There aren’t enough major programs to support that.
Where’s Alabama on Clemson’s schedule? Clemson’s biggest win was against Syracuse, who Notre Dame also beat. But did Clemson beat anyone like Notre Dame beat Michigan? Nope.
Clemson beat Texas AM on the road this year. TAM beat ranked KY and LSU but lost too Alabama. Freshman Clemson QB on road first game was impressive. Also beat S. Carolina SEC team. Michigan was overrated all year.
The college football world is always viewed through the prism of the SEC, ESPN, and NCAA. But the economic power and fiduciary/academic responsibilities ultimately rest with the University Presidents and trustees of the flagship state universities proximate to the country’s biggest cities. This means Big 10 and PAC 10. These university presidents cannot indefinitely endorse a college football playoff that systematically excludes them — even if the exclusion is based on merit (which I am unwilling to concede).
Notre Dame must eventually join a conference. The Big 10 is the obvious and overwhelming choice. The Big 10 will eventually expand to 20 teams as will the PAC12. They will go after other flagship state universities in big markets with great academic reputations. Think Texas for starters, and GA Tech, a&m, ...
You’re comparing Texas A&M to Michigan? Mind you, I’d agree that any team in the Big 10 is overrated, and any team in the SEC may prove to be underrated. (Based on recent years; both conferences wimp out on out-of-conference games, so it’s hard to tell.) But TAM is no Michigan.
There is nothing sacred about a conference championship game?? Tell that to “THE COMMITTEE” because it is high up on their protocol in the decision of “WHO’S IN?”.
Why do people think over-expansion of Power-5 conferences is economically superior to a 5th conference? 5 is an odd number and locking into large conferences prevents flexibility in schedules;
Know what would be great for economics? Shining a spotlight on teams in the NY metro area (Army), the DC-Baltimore area (Navy), Southern Florida, Central Florida, Houston, etc.?
To the contrary, I think addition by deletion works. The ACC is bloated; the MVC and AAC have too many teams to provide enough match-ups.
Tear apart the Big 12? We already know the NCAA’s position on whether that would be a good or bad thing: they made massive changes to the rules to prevent the Big 12 from being torn apart; a ten-team conference is allowed to have a playoff and Texas was granted special status.
Rather, I suspect the NCAA would LOVE the idea of an 8-team playoff, but probably isn’t thinking about this way to achieve it:
The power five
This new ND/UCF/Cinci/Temple/Army/Navy conference.
One wild-card who didn’t win its conference championship or not from a Power 7 conference. (Georgia)
One mega-conference consisting of the best, largest, most urban, and most likely to grow teams from conferences like the MVC, remainders of the American, MAC, Southland, etc.
My own opinion is that while some urban campuses (UAB, Houston, Memphis) should continue in FCS, smaller teams from regional state schools (ECU, UL-Lafayette, W Mich, N Ill, E Mich, Ohio, Bowling Green, etc.) should stop wasting taxpayer $$$ and drop out of FCS football, and stick to very local conferences with small on-campus football fields and without so many football scholarships and the need for a team jet airplane.
Apparently not. Go Irish!
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