Notre Dame Declines Big Ten Championship

SOUTH BEND, IN - September 21 (AP) The decades-long game of cat and mouse between the University of Notre Dame and the Big Ten Conference took a surprising turn today as Notre Dame was offered and declined the Big Ten football championship. Reading from a prepared statement, Big Ten Conference Commissioner Jim Delaney (of the Ulster Delaneys) indicated that at the close of play on Saturday conference athletic directors met by emergency teleconference and determined that the best path to national respectability would be to award the championship to the Irish, (4-0), who have eliminated half of the top Big Ten teams from serious BCS contention in a fifteen-day period and hold a three-game lead on all other conference schools.

Within two hours, however, the Big Ten's old nemesis delivered a bombshell. Speaking from an undisclosed location where he was meeting with high school players reconsidering prior verbal commitments to Big Ten schools, Notre Dame coach Ty Willingham indicated that the little school from South Bend, Indiana would decline the championship. Shortly thereafter, Athletic Director Kevin White held a formal press conference at which he announced the school's official declination. White expressed "appreciation" and "respect" for the Big Ten, but indicated that the school's Board of Trustees had voted unanimously to decline the honor.

Big Ten officials were stunned at the rejection. They had already dispatched a conference jet to South Bend carrying official emissary Keith Jackson to present the championship trophy. The Hayes Trophy, emblematic of Big Ten football supremacy is named in honor of the fiery Ohio State coach who symbolized the simple, hard-nosed, midwestern values of Big Ten football. The trophy is mounted with a giant Waterford crystal sculpture of the legendary Buckeye mentor rearing back as his withered, balled-up fist lunges toward the throat of an opposing player. The sculpture is mounted on an attractive mahogany base afixed with eleven brass numbers painted scarlet and grey, maize and blue and green and white and ranging from zero to forty-five, symbolizing the graduation rates of players at the various Big Ten institutions.

Off-the-record, Notre Dame officials indicated that they smelled a rat behind the offer. There were indications that legal scholars at the University of Michigan had concocted the Big Ten gambit in the hopes that guileless Notre Dame would accept the championship trophy, thus giving rise to a legal claim of a de facto "gentlemen's agreement" by Notre Dame to join the conference and share its television, bowl and gate revenues with the cash-starved Big Ten athletic departments. When asked about this report at his press conference, White paused and responded with a chuckle, "No dice. . . As usual, we're keepin' every stinking dime for ourselves." Notre Dame has been on guard against potential Big Ten use of the "gentleman's agreement" ploy ever since 1999, when Michigan pulled the quasi-contractual theory out of its voluminous off-the-field playbook in an attempt to stop Notre Dame from playing any games before meeting Michigan in Ann Arbor. Said one Notre Dame official, "There are just so many tremendous gentlemen in the Big Ten that it gets confusing. We have to be careful we're not making agreements with them every time we talk."

Aside from financial concerns, the Notre Dame coaching staff also feared Big Ten affiliation. Members of Willingham's staff indicated that if they were required to load up on games against Big Ten opponents it would limit opportunities to play power teams such as San Jose State, Wake Forest and Cal Berkeley, thus decreasing Notre Dame's strength of schedule and damaging its BCS chances. Said one assistant coach, "You can have your games against Michigan and Purdue, but if you want pollsters to respect you you're going to have to strap it up against the Utah's and Cincinnati's of the world, or else the pollsters are going to penalize you. I think Lloyd Carr spoke for a lot of coaches around the country, when he pointed out that you really need to be concerned about strength of schedule and the BCS."

This latest rebuff of the Big Ten comes three years after Notre Dame declined a formal invitation to join the conference. Sources indicate that at that time certain conditions demanded by the Big Ten undercut the deal. Notre Dame balked at the Big Ten's demand that the famous mural on the University's library be renamed "Touchdown Jalil." Big Ten officials felt that the new nickname, while minimizing Notre Dame's image as a religious school to make it more acceptable in the secular humanist Big Ten, would also make a nod to the multiculturalism so popular at large state schools. Notre Dame's refusal to accomodate by eliminating this sign of Western hegemonism and patriarchy was met with great unease in progressive Big Ten hotbeds like Madison, Wisconsin.

Another sticking point was the previously-undisclosed monetary commitments conference membership entailed. Notre Dame officials were shocked when they discovered the millions of dollars in premiums required of each conference member in order to maintain the term-life insurance policy the conference has taken out on Penn State head coach Joe Paterno. Said one Notre Dame official, "The folks at Minnesota told us that the Paterno insurance payments alone ate up all of their football gate receipts. No wonder none of them make any money."

Reportedly, Notre Dame also balked at the demands that it bring itself more in line with the curriculum of the Big Ten schools. Notre Dame faculty refused to consider implementing a more diverse curriculum including popular Big Ten majors such as Parks and Recreation, Kineseology, Leisure and Tourism, Opening Child-Proof Caps and Breathing.

The Big Ten likewise rejected certain of Notre Dame's requests, including that Northwestern be required to participate in a "play-in" game against Air Force and Duke to retain conference membership and a non-negotiable demand that Michigan State mascot "Sparty" be banned from the conference. Said Rev. Timothy Scully, Executive Vice President of Notre Dame, "Look, our alumni are pretty family-oriented kinds of folks. We really don't want to join a conference where you have this guy who looks like he just left a Greenwich Village Halloween party roaming the sideline. Kids shouldn't have to see that kind of thing."

The rejection of the Hayes Trophy comes in a year that has seen rising tensions between Notre Dame and the conference schools. Conference opinion was sharply critical of the firing earlier this year of former Notre Dame coach Bob Davie who was widely respected as the first Notre Dame coach since 1963 to uncover a talent gap with Michigan State. Notre Dame's unilateral abandonment of Coach Davie's gentleman's agreement with Big Ten schools to avoid using superior determination, discipline and coaching to win close games was seen as an unfair shift of policy by Notre Dame. Conference officials fear Notre Dame's approach represents an unwelcome change in tactics meant to return to the days of the 1980's and early 90's when Lou Holtz -- widely viewed in the Big Ten as ungentlemanly -- compiled a 20-1-1 record against the Big Ten and defeated the conference champion in five straight meetings. In this regard, the Big Ten has made a formal protest that Willingham's promise to "get back to the business of being Notre Dame again" was unnecessarily threatening and inflammatory.

Notre Dame's rejection comes as a setback for the Big Ten in what had been an otherwise auspicious year for conference schools. In June, Purdue retained the title of owner of "The World's Largest Drum" when a Bosnian effort to unseat it failed in a disastrous construction accident. And earlier this month the Ohio State University announced that the percentage of alumni owning shoes had reached an all-time high of eighty-two percent.

In an attempt to ease the Big Ten's again-ruffled feathers, Notre Dame agreed to place the Hayes Trophy on display on campus for a short period as a sign of respect and goodwill. While the University's athletic display cases in the Joyce Center are already at capacity holding national championship, bowl and Heisman trophies as well as game balls from victories over national powers such as Alabama, Texas, Florida State and USC, Notre Dame officials promised to find the trophy a place of honor, probably next to the trophy for last year's Big East women's lacrosse championship.

They didn't REALLY beat Texas in the Cotton Bowl....Texas fumbled 11 times to GIVE the game to ND...more of that LUCK of the Irish...and they LOST to Ole Miss...and if memory serves me, Ole Miss only won two or three games that year. You want to ARGUE about ND not having easy schedules when MANY in previous threads about ND, many sports page editorals through the years, and even mention on this very thread, point to the jokes about ND getting in the top ten as long as they don't lose more than 5 games...the real point is not ND, but the skewed voting from the northeast voting block. It is not the fault of ND that they get such generous treatment.

They didn't REALLY beat Texas in the Cotton Bowl

Whoever has the most points at the end wins. Sorry, but that's how it's done.

and they LOST to Ole Miss

Um, didn't I say that ND LOST to Ole Miss. I was merely pointing out that they also beat (scored more points than) three top ten teams and one top 15 team that year.

You want to ARGUE about ND not having easy schedules.

Not really. You go through the last 25 years of schedules and pick out the "easy" ones. I can think of 2 or 3 possibly, but only because some top programs that were scheduled long in advance had "down" years at the time.

With all do respect

Actually, it is "with all DUE respect".

Ohio Stadium is one of the best stadiums in college football and maybe even in the country.

If you look really, really closely, you'll see that Tony and I were trading a few good natured jabs, and I went on to say that I enjoyed my one trip the world's big..., er, Ohio Stadium.

However, I stand by my "Hand on Sloopy" comments.

Please go argue with the sports writers who have complianed over the years about their easy schedules. I just agreed with them....you did NOTE, did you not (without any encouragement from me) that several posters in this thread had the same observation about ND getting generous help in the polls...if they do not lose more than 5 games, they will always be in the top twenty...PERIOD...ANY team that has 11 fumbles in one game will LOSE. ND could not have "beaten" Texas except for the mistakes. Texas killed them in the stats...now, that is football, many times the lesser team has the most points...such was this case....I would not have voted for ND as champion that year for two reasons: They LOST to lowly Ole Miss, and it took 11 fumbles by Texas to give them a victory.... I am not anti-ND (just anti-northeast voting block), and I do believe that ND has a good team this year (probably not great), and they play a good schedule...and, as a fan, you should be happy for your team.

Because the rest of your schedule was weak....Actually, I don't know why you did't get it in 93...if I recall, and I am not sure about this, Floriday State kicked the crap out of their opponents, and ND got by on the skin of their teeth in a number of games (on LUCK of the Irish). But, mayber I am wrong. As for your other question about 1977, I am not clear on this either, but it seems to me that Alabama had the same record as ND, with their only lost to ranked USA, while ND lost to a team that won only two or three games. When you condider 11 fumbles by Texas, and the loss to Ole Miss, Alabama seemed the better choice (in my view). However, MOST times the team who "beats" the ranking #1 will in turn claim the title... or the team that goes undefeated, as BYU did one year beating a 6-5 Michigan team...oh my, don't get me started on that one.....BYU had the luck of the Irish that year, getting a 6-5 Michigan team as their only real game of the year.

The Hayes Trophy, emblematic of Big Ten football supremacy is named in honor of the fiery Ohio State coach who symbolized the simple, hard-nosed, midwestern values of Big Ten football.

Named after a disgrace whose idea of shaping youth was to punch out the lights of anyone who dared challenge his team - like the Clemson kicker who booted that last-minute (or close enough) field goal to beat Ohio State out of a Gator Bowl win, and that was probably only the latest such grotesquery.

I say this demonstrates why, in a milieu otherwise bearing as much class as a pack of Congressmen out for drinks at a Capitol Hill rookery, Notre Dame is the class of the class...

I just agreed with them.

Look, I'm not obligated to accept obvious falsehoods just because you're agreeing with others. Over the last 25 years Notre Dame has averaged 4.2 games per season against top 25 competition. You go and find the list of teams that have played a higher average of top 25 opponents over that period. (Hint: It'll be a short list)

...if they do not lose more than 5 games, they will always be in the top twenty...

Again since 1977, they have NEVER been in the top 20 with 5 losses. Twice they were in the top twenty with four losses. Once with Faust (7-4) where they subsequently lost and fell out, and once with Holtz when they finished 8-4. (These occasions may provide some evidence of the "Northeast" bias, but it's not quite all that you're trying to make it out to be.)

ANY team that has 11 fumbles in one game will LOSE. ND could not have "beaten" Texas except for the mistakes. Texas killed them in the stats...now, that is football, many times the lesser team has the most points...such was this case....I would not have voted for ND as champion that year for two reasons: They LOST to lowly Ole Miss, and it took 11 fumbles by Texas to give them a victory....

Having just seen the game on ESPNClassic a few months ago, this didn't sound right, but I couldn't find the stats to back it up until now.

Either you are delusional, or you are lying:

Game Statistics

First Downs: ND 26 Texas 16

Rushes-Net Yards ND 53-243 Texas 50-131

Passing ND 156 Texas 160

Total Net Yards: ND 399 Texas 291

Fumbles-lost: ND 0-1 Texas 3-3

Now it looks to me like ND dominated the game, WITHOUT 11 fumbles from Texas.

These stats are from the Cotton Bowl Media Guide.

I will accept the correction. I do not have means where I am now to check the data, although it would be resonable that the data you have would, at the very least, be close to accurate. I am neither delussional, nor a liar...i leave the lying to democrats. I am, it appears, mistaken. I recall the 11 number from something back long ago related to that game (perhaps Texas being 11-0 at the time.) I do recall the media, and many sports "experts" suggesting that the fumbles were the diffence in the game (where they occured, giving ND easy score position, etc). I apologize if I am wrong. I would not intentionally mistate anything. I do have memory (that I hope I can trust) of "experts" saying that even though ND beat Texas, Alabama had a better schedule with on loss to a ranked team.

In addition, reading the media guide I came upon this:

Before the game was 23 minutes old, the Irish had moved in front 24-3 and there was no catching them. Although the Irish were aided by six uncharacteristic turnovers, they were in no way mere benefactors of Texas mistakes. Notre Dame controlled the line of scrimmage, offensively and defensively. Texas? only touchdown was set up on a pass interference call on the final play of the first half.

Gee, and that is the impartial Cotton Bowl Media Guide saying that.

Tommy,

For you and those who might care, I just got off the phone after talking to my friend Fr. Heppen and Fr. Joyce had a pretty big strok last week. He can talk, but has some paralysis as a result of the strok. Too soon to tell whether he can "rehab" out of it.....time will tell.

I do have memory (that I hope I can trust) of "experts" saying that even though ND beat Texas, Alabama had a better schedule with on loss to a ranked team.

Well forgive me if I don't take your word on this, considering the "experts", both sportswriters and coaches, were the ones who voted ND national champs!

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