Tag: Independence

Roddy Jones: ACC’s playoff hopes depend on how they play Notre Dame

Time for the Irish to spoil the ACC’s plans.

As we begin the superconference era, Notre Dame remains an independent. The tradeoff for that is devoting a large portion of its schedule to the ACC, and fans of teams in that conference really might have to root against the Irish this year in order to have a chance at the College Football Playoff.

In an appearance on the “GoJo and Golic” podcast hosted by former Irish [autotag]Mike Golic[/autotag] and [autotag]Mike Golic Jr.[/autotag], ESPN analyst Roddy Jones gave his insights on what the ACC would have to do to get the most teams possible into the playoff. He said that depends on how well the conference takes care of the Irish:

Looking at the Irish’s schedule, Florida State and possibly Louisville really are the only ACC opponents who could give them problems. With little room for error themselves, they’ll have no concern for the ACC’s playoff aspirations. They’ll be giving it their all every week, as they should.

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College football podcast spills beans on Notre Dame Stadium end zones

How many of you knew this already?

Any college football diehard will know Notre Dame Stadium has one of the most unique designs for its end zones. While other college football stadiums paint their end zones, Notre Dame opts for simple lines all angled in a certain direction.

But what do those lines signify? Why don’t the Irish dress their end zones up like other teams do?

Some of you might already know the answer, but for those who don’t, college football podcaster Ty Hildenbrandt spelled it out:

Yes, the lines have everything to do with the year the university was founded along with the location of the Golden Dome, the focal point of a campus filled with one famous attraction after another. If this doesn’t tell you how steeped the Irish are in tradition, nothing will.

To that end, it stands to reason that as long as those end zones stay designed as they are, the Irish will not be joining a conference until they’re pretty much forced to. Notre Dame defines itself with tradition, and at least for the moment, that will not change.

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Writer makes case for Notre Dame to join Big Ten

Stop trying to make “conference” happen.

Notre Dame’s independence is a topic that simply will not go away. It’s almost as if many people outside the fan base want to bully the program to be like everyone else and join a conference.

Joining the pro-conference crowd is Jay Berry, a writer for Mike Farrell Sports. In summary, Berry believes the Irish should join the Big Ten in an attempt to grab more TV revenue and maintain many historic rivalries.

We won’t deny the Irish have a great rivalry history with a few Big Ten programs. Nor will we deny it would be terrific to have those rivalries regularly back in the fold.

We will deny that the Irish need to consider joining a conference, at least for now. Berry either doesn’t know or doesn’t care that the Irish once tried for Big Ten membership on numerous occasions but were denied each time. If that doesn’t happen, the Irish don’t become the brand they are now.

Once again, conferences need Notre Dame more than Notre Dame needs a conference. It’s not happening unless the ever-changing structure of college football forces it to.

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Perfect Notre Dame season won’t bother Georgia SB Nation site writer

Stick this one on the bulletin board.

Notre Dame played Georgia in 2017 and 2019, losing both times. The programs currently are not scheduled to meet again in the regular season. But they could meet in the expanded College Football Playoff, and that isn’t lost on one Georgia writer.

The writer, known as GlimmerTwinDawg, is part of Dawg Sports, the SB Nation site for Georgia athletics. He wrote that if the Irish finish the season undefeated, it won’t trouble him. That’s because it wouldn’t prevent the Irish from being locked out of the top four seeds of the College Football Playoff. He also factors in the Irish’s favorable 2024 schedule and the likelihood of them making the playoff regardless.

But then, he presents the scenario that many outside the Irish fan base would love:

“I relish the idea of their success, overrated as always, will not be rewarded. And instead actually punished for their ham-handed stance on conference memberships. Sure, they might get to host a mid-December playoff game at home. But they will inevitably get shellacked by an SEC or (Big Ten) team itching to knock off their gipper. This is a variation of schadenfreude – I want them to succeed only to lose out on an opportunity. And then fall short. Again.”

So we have another writer who can’t stand the Irish’s independence and how it lets them keep their status as a blue blood. That’s what this all comes down to.

All we can say is that’s why they play the games. The Irish surely know what other people think about them, and that should give motivation to prove everyone wrong. Whether they can do it though is another question they’ll have to answer themselves.

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Michigan site tries to own Notre Dame with top-10 wins stat

Maize and Blue Nation needs to stay out of Irish business.

As historic as the rivalry between Notre Dame and Michigan is, it currently is at a standstill. What should be an annual meeting has been shelved until a home-and-home in 2033 and 2034. But somehow, Wolverines fans believe now is the time to dunk on the Irish.

Although the teams won’t face each other at least in the regular season for a while, the Michigan site Blue By Ninety decided to let those on social media know about this fact:

The nature of the stat here is irrelevant, and we’re not here to argue it. What is relevant is that although their team is coming off a national championship, Wolverines fans clearly still see the Irish as enough of a threat to bring this stat up.

Whether or not the Irish are a threat to the Wolverines in any given year, their fans conveniently seem to forget that it was their school that shut the Irish out of the Big Ten, leading the Irish to remain independent and become the national brand they are now. If they don’t like the Irish getting the attention they do, they only have their own school to blame for that.

Wolverines fans need to keep their focus off the Irish and onto Ohio State and whatever SEC program tries to topple their team. We can talk about this if the Irish and Wolverines meet in the College Football Playoff. That time has not come, so let’s table the discussion for now.

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Stephen A. Smith questions Notre Dame’s relevance

This guy.

Believe me when I say the last thing I want to do is bring attention to Stephen A. Smith. I could write a whole post about everything I can’t stand about him, but that’s a topic for another day.

With the College Football Playoff officially expanding to 12 teams, the inevitable topic of where Notre Dame fits in as an independent has come up. It has to given that the top four seeds automatically will go to conference champions, which locks the Irish out of those spots.

Whatever the reason for the Irish entering the conversation though, it prompted Stephen A. Smith to outright question why the program is relevant during the latest episode of ESPN’s “First Take”. He went on so long that Awful Announcing had to split the video in two when tweeting it out:

The only thing worth adding to this is that [autotag]Marcus Freeman[/autotag] is working hard to build the program he sees fit, and the hope is that more progress will be made in his third full season at the helm. With luck, Smith will be eating his words before too long.

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Notre Dame left out of Twitter user’s Big Brother-Little Brother chart

Should the Irish have been on this chart?

Notre Dame’s independence is a major part of what makes it unique. The drawback to that is except for USC, Navy and Stanford, no annual rivalries are played. That means none within the state of Indiana. Perhaps it was for that reason that the Irish were left out of Twitter college list aficionado Big Game Boomer’s chart listing the “Big Brother” program and “Little Brother” program in all 50 states, if applicable:

The Irish and Boilermakers will play each other five consecutive years between 2024 and 2028. They have a home-and-home scheduled with the Hoosiers in 2030 and 2031. However, neither program is facing each other this year, which possibly factored into the Irish being snubbed. Bur perhaps the biggest factor is that the Irish aren’t conference rivals with either program.

If the Irish join the Big Ten in the future for whatever reason, perhaps we can revisit this list. Until then, that appears out of the question. Oh well. At least the Irish are supposed to have a better year than both programs.

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Sports Illustrated’s Richard Johnson: Notre Dame ‘not an independent’

Keep telling yourself that, Richard.

With college football almost here, old issues are starting to be debated again. Notre Dame’s independence is about as old a debate topic as it gets, but with major conference realignment coming in 2024, it feels like a hotter issue than ever. Richard Johnson of Sports Illustrated disputed the very idea of the Irish being independent on his podcast. Specifically, he cited the university being a partial ACC member:

There shouldn’t be any middle ground discussed here. Either you’re in with a conference all the way, or you’re not. Notre Dame is not a full-fledged ACC member, so it’s no use debating this particular point. Until an ACC logo permanently is painted onto the Notre Dame Stadium surface, we can’t call the football program part of it.

Notre Dame’s other athletic programs are in conferences out of necessity more than anything else. They can’t sustain themselves the way the football program can. And until the college football powers-that-be decide that independence is bad for the game, the Irish are staying independent.

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Notre Dame athletic director stands by football independence

Fitting for him to say this on the same week as Independence Day.

Seemingly every few months different college football programs nationally align themselves with new conferences and included in nearly every reactionary piece written or spoken is “what does it mean for Notre Dame?”

Whether its Oklahoma and Texas to the SEC or USC and UCLA to the Big Ten, anytime a move happens the world wants to know what it means for Notre Dame.

Well, according to the current Notre Dame athletic director, not a single thing. Tyler Horka of On3.com sat down with Jack Swarbrick recently and his words don’t make it appear independence is going away for the Irish anytime soon.

“Every one of these stories is about us. What’s Notre Dame going to do? It’s reinforcing our positioning.

“There have been times when people thought giving [independence] up was inevitable. I don’t get that sense right now.”

Of course the two key words in that whole comment are “right now”.  Obviously, things can change and force Notre Dame’s hand, but that doesn’t seem the case for the time being.

If all things are equal, or at least in the same ballpark, Notre Dame won’t change independence anytime soon.  Until the difference in TV-money is too great or the ability to compete for a national championship goes away, this won’t be changing anytime soon.

Much to the chagrin of pretty much anyone without a connection to the Notre Dame program.

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Heather Dinich: Conference realignment means nothing for Notre Dame

Don’t worry, Irish fans.

To put it mildly, college football is in chaos. The Pac-12 is about to become extinct or is seriously threatened at the very least.

Oregon and Washington will join USC and UCLA in the Big Ten in 2024. Colorado is rejoining the Big 12 in 2024, and we now know Arizona, Arizona State, Utah also are heading there as well.

What does this mean for Notre Dame?

If college football insiders are to be believed, absolutely nothing. As part of a series of questions published on ESPN’s website, Heather Dinich was asked to tackle the evergreen issue of the Irish’s independence and how it applies to the changing college football climate. If you’re worried about the Irish giving into public pressure and joining a conference permanently, Dinich says don’t be:

“Notre Dame athletic director [autotag]Jack Swarbrick[/autotag] has long repeated the same three factors that could contribute to the university’s position as an independent becoming ‘unsustainable.’

Those include: the loss of a committed broadcast partner; the loss of a fair route into the postseason; or such an adverse financial consequence that would force it to reconsider.

In spite of all of the drama swirling around Notre Dame, nothing has impacted those particular factors. Notre Dame still has a strong partnership with NBC as its broadcast partner that runs through the 2025 season. It recently announced a renewed commitment to Under Armour. It also remains a partial member of the ACC in football and has a contract with the league stating that if the Irish were to relinquish their independence, it would be for the ACC.

ACC commissioner Jim Phillips said recently at the league’s media days that he knows how much the Irish value their independence. Notre Dame still remains the most valuable property remaining on the Monopoly board – and it’s still not for sale.”

Tom Noie of the South Bend Tribune expressed similar thoughts earlier in the day. So sleep easy, Irish fans. The program is not changing its affiliation or lack thereof anytime soon. Besides, conferences need the Irish more than the Irish need them.

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