In the ever changing world of college football, school presidents and
athletic directors resemble me at a formal dinner. I tend to struggle
with making up my mind on the chicken or fish while these guys cannot
make up their minds on which conference that they want to be affiliated
with. As schools play “Let’s Make a Deal”, one thing is certain that The
Notre Dame Fighting Irish will never join a conference for college
football. Along with The BYU Cougars, Navy Midshipmen, and Army Black
Knights, The Irish are the one of four Independents in Division 1-A. The
Cougars left The Mountain West in 2010. Army left Conference USA in
2004. The Midshipmen will be joining The Big East Conference for
football in 2015 which will leave Notre Dame as the only school in
Division One to have never been apart of a conference for football.
Part of Notre Dame’s reasoning for not joining a conference for football
is the school’s contract with NBC. Notre Dame’s home games have been
televised on the network since 1991. The current contract with the
network runs through 2015 and is worth $9 million a year. If Notre Dame
was apart of a conference, they would be looking at a situation in which
they have to split revenue with each member of the conference equally.
Of the reasons why Notre Dame joined The Big East in 1995 was that the
school would remain as an Independent for football. Although The Irish
are not aligned with a conference for football, they tend to play the
same schedule every year including teams such as The Michigan Wolverines
and The USC Trojans. Eight of Notre Dame’s twelve games every season
are against the same teams every year.
With the landscape of college football changing, it has been speculated
that Notre Dame might be forced to join a conference in order to compete
for a BCS Championship. In the current Bowl Championship Series format,
if The Fighting Irish are ranked in the top 8 of the final BCS
standings, they automatically qualify for a berth. I do not think that
would change because the brand name of Notre Dame makes them attractive
even though The Irish have not been a consistent national powerhouse
since that days of head coach Lou Holtz in the 80s and 90s. However,
Notre Dame is still attractive to NBC and other networks. As soon as
Notre Dame breaks into the top 20 rankings, ESPN covets them for prime
time slots.
In an era where tradition has been forgotten, Notre Dame’s tradition
still looms large. Notre Dame’s roots with schools such Michigan and USC
are deep and have given us some memorable games in college football. In
1989, The Irish went to Ann Arbor, Michigan for a clash against The
Wolverines. The Irish and The Wolverines came into the contest #1 and #2
respectively with Notre Dame coming out on top 24-19. In 2005, The
Trojans came to South Bend, Indiana ranked #1 and they were the
defending national champions. The game came down to a “push” by USC
running back Reggie Bush on USC quarterback Matt Leinart to give The Men
of Troy a 34-31 victory. Notre Dame does not need to be apart of a
conference because they are a conference by themselves. For Notre Dame
to join a conference such as The Big Ten, Big East or Big 12, they would
be improving alone with their name. With 11 claimed national titles and
7 Heisman Trophy winners, The Fighting Irish has done more than some
conferences put together. In the end, The Golden Dome of Notre Dame
still looms large in college football.
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