Notre Dame Football: Irish Refusing to Face Reality and Join Major Conference
The Notre Dame Fighting Irish need to get with the times and join a major conference already if they want to be treated like a major program.
After receiving a ridiculous preseason ranking at 16, the Irish quickly proved they didn’t belong there as they dropped their first two games.
With “super-conferences” in vogue right now and teams lining up to get out of the Big East and the Big 12 and join other major conferences, Notre Dame won’t be able to schedule tough opponents on a regular basis.
Brian Hamilton of the Chicago Tribune notes,
"“The dawn of a super-conference era might be the dawn of nine- or 10-game league slates for the members, leaving few spots for Notre Dame to fill on the schedules of any teams that Notre Dame actually wants to play on a regular basis.”
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How can anyone take Notre Dame seriously if they can’t consistently schedule worthy opponents to prove they deserve to be considered for BCS Bowls and even Top 25 poll votes?
The team has been getting by on reputation for a number of years now and hasn’t finished a season ranked since 2007. Yet somehow, voters seem to love putting their name in the polls with other preseason powerhouses.
Coach Brian Kelly enjoys being independent because it gives him an edge in recruiting.
"“It's schedule and recruiting," Kelly said. "Those are the two things. You can put together a schedule that gets you from the East Coast to the West Coast, and in recruiting it allows you to have that large sampling. You're not marginalized geographically in your recruiting.”
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That is going to change when the "super-conferences" come to fruition.
The Irish will no longer be able to handpick their opponents when other teams have perhaps one or two open weeks at most because of their inter-conference demands.
They also don’t have to worry about playing for a conference championship, which has both advantages and disadvantages.
It just doesn’t make sense for the Irish to stubbornly remain independent, especially with other independents like Navy considering joining a conference.
If Notre Dame doesn’t join a conference when the super-conference era begins, they cannot be taken seriously and should not be considered a viable candidate for a BCS Bowl or the polls.
