BCS Meetings: No Conference Champion Requirement? No Problem, Says Notre Dame

It seems the ACC has become the most recent school to fall in line with the Pac-12, the Big Ten and the Big XII when it comes to who gets into the possible four team playoffs. The ACC is backing the conference champion's only format and wisely so; the ACC has not finished a season with a team in the Top Four since Virginia Tech in 2007.

At first blush for Irish fans, there has to be some hand-wringing over how their team can get into the mix if the BCS leagues are looking to make it a conference only affair.

Never fear, there is hope; both for the Fighting Irish's playoff shot and their ability to stay independent.

As my colleague Barrett Sallee points out at the SEC Blog, the most important news to come out of yesterday's Mark Schlabach report pertained to the conference champions ruling.

From Schlabach's report:

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The source said a proposal that would require teams to win their respective conferences to participate in a playoff is also all but dead.

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That is a win for the SEC, and more importantly, that's a win for Notre Dame. That means the Irish, should they finish in the Top Four, are afforded the same spot in the playoff as their counterparts that reside in a conference. Jack Swarbrick and Mike Slive should both pat themselves on the back once this measure goes through.

Notre Dame is in as good of shape as ever, provided this plan gets forced through at the upcoming meetings. For all of the folks clamoring for the Irish to join a league and saying that Notre Dame is behind the times, take a look at the net income. Yes, I've heard the same old tired lines about the Irish not being relevant for two decades and quite frankly, I'm tired of it.

Do irrelevant teams finish in the top ten year-after-year when it comes to producing cash? Do irrelevant teams routinely finish in the top ten in recruiting? Do irrelevant teams play every single game on the national stage? 

The answer to all of those questions is no.

There's a difference between being a good football team and being relevant. Army football, save for one week out of the year, is irrelevant. Duke football is irrelevant. Notre Dame just has not been very good for a while, there's a big difference.

We're not talking about Washington State who went from Rose Bowl to toilet bowl in the outpost of Pullman, Washington in less than a decade. No one knew what the Cougars were doing, they most certainly weren't making any money and they just hired Mike Leach to get back to relevancy.

This is not the same issue facing Notre Dame. The Irish are just about as relevant as any team in the nation. Don't buy that? Bring them in for a home game and see your stadium fill up with folks. They don't need a league to get relevant. They need to put the pieces together to win ball games so they can get to a BCS Bowl. 

Stay Independent Notre Dame.

This news that the conference champion push is dying is a good thing for that cause. Until the four, sixteen team conference super behemoth comes to fruition, there is no true impetus to even consider a conference. As the kids say, "You do you, Notre Dame."