I know about the incident to which you are probably referring. No organization is perfect, not even ND - but, ND (and many of the teams that aren't perennial BSC favorites) have far fewer problems than a Ohio State or some of the SEC teams.
Moreover, ND graduates FAR more players than Ohio State could ever dream about graduating, to say nothing of the SEC teams. And, to give credit where credit is do, Carrol has done a good job of improving graduation rates at USC.
You are absolutely correct. You can’t compare the USCs and OSUs to ND academically. They are at a disadvantage versus those schools on the field due to that.
But, I really think that if you look at the poor records of Weis and Willingham, that a big part of the problems is finding the right coach that can take advantage of the talent that ND does get, which is still top flight...just not up there with some of the elite schools player for player.
An innovative coach like Urban Meyer did very well with alot of 2 and some 3 star athletes at Utah before getting the UF gig.
The issue at ND is not beating USC and OSU, the critical issue is losing to Navy,UcoNN and Pitt etc.
They have underperformed their recruits compared to the teams that beat them on the field...same goes for Purdue,BC and Mich St type teams, they are out recruiting those schools as well.
Well you have to at least give the SEC credit for getting most of those kids through their high school GEDs. ;~))