Notre Dame Football and Rounding Up College Football's Other Independents

With college football's move to super conferences, who knows how long independents will still be around.

The Big Ten would love to add Notre Dame, and BYU would be a solid addition to any conference. Navy would be an interesting addition either to the Big East or to an expanding ACC. Army, which may be the least attractive of the group, may have no choice but to join a conference after the rest of the independents are picked up.

Until then, these are four programs who are OK without a conference. Let's look at why...

Notre Dame

What would college football be with Notre Dame?

After a rough start to the season, Notre Dame was looking to bounce back with a win over No. 15 Michigan State. Picked by some to have a breakout season (Lou Holtz), their 0-2 start had many wondering if their season was over. Well, they put that to rest at least for a week. 

Though they were not able to shake the turnover bug that plagued them the first two games, the defense was able to hold Michigan State to 13 points and 29 rushing yards. They may still have things to figure out as a team, but this was a much-needed win to boost confidence before an away game against a solid Pitt team and then a tricky home game against the triple option of Air Force.

BYU

Where to begin with BYU?

After a promising start in a win at Ole Miss and a one-point loss away to Texas, Utah came along.  Though they threw for 343 yards, no one in a BYU uniform remembered how to hold onto the football as they fumbled six times.

The defense did not help either as it was run over for 242 yards, 231 more then the Cougars were able to rush for themselves. They will need to put it together or risk being embarrassed at home by a UCF team that beat Boston College 30-3 two weeks ago.

Navy

One of the more impressive performances of the week, the Midshipmen were one quarter away from an upset of No. 10 South Carolina at Williams-Brice Stadium.

In a solid performance all around, the only negative came from the rush defense, which allowed Marcus Lattimore to run for 246 yards and three touchdowns. The Midshipmen will need this type of performance next week as they look to take back to the commander-in-chief trophy back from Air Force next week in Annapolis, then they welcome a tough Southern Miss team into town the week after.

Army

After a rough first week and a close loss to San Diego State, Army was able to put it all together with a seven-point victory over Northwestern.

The Black Knights defense was able to hold the Wildcats to under 200 yards passing, and the team only committed two penalties for only 10 yards. True to the modus operandi of service academies, Army only threw for six yards but racked up 387 yards on the ground with three touchdowns.

Army will look to use the momentum from this win to try and get them back over .500 with winnable games away to Ball State and home against Tulane coming up.