Hot take after multiple Double IPAs. I want to join a conference. Pretty lame that our season ended after losing to Cinci. If we were in the ACC, we'd be playing top 15 Wake tonight for the chance to impress enough to maybe pass 1-loss non-conference champ Georgia. If we were in the B1G, we'd be playing against Michigan in essentially a quarterfinal game. And even if we didn't make the playoffs, it's the chance to play for one more interesting game and something meaningful (a conference title) outside of the playoffs. By staying independent, as long as the playoffs is 4 teams, we pretty much have to go undefeated to make the playoffs. When you couple that with the fact we're still scheduling games like at Ohio State, at Texas A&M, etc., we're killing ourselves. Given we're gonna start next year 0-1, we're going to be multiple years from having a shot at the playoffs because we're independent. Throw tomatoes at me, but give me 8 ACC games, USC, Stanford, Navy, and a B1G rival, and a chance to do something other than rely on fucking Iowa please.
Also as fun as it was to daydream about a championship while BK eats gumbo. I don’t mind CMF’s first game not being against Alabama
That being said: No. Just no first of all, what conference? Acc? Beating Pitt or wake ain’t going to do shit. Big12? Also wouldn’t do shit. We didn’t hurt ourselves today and we wouldn’t have helped ourselves today had we played.
ND has proved playing in a conference championship and not, there is no difference at all. also, the whole thing is literally changing in a couple of years. And and that point, we’re much better off as is
Back to back years a one-loss team has played themselves into the playoffs by beating an undefeated team conference championship weekend. And our season was over the moment Ritter waltzed into the end zone to take a 2 TD lead almost two months ago. Love the TV contract though.
Also, "we wouldn't have helped ourselves today had we played" he says, knowing we could have essentially made today a quarterfinal game if we were representing the B1G West vs. Michigan instead of just sitting at home hoping Iowa could cross the 50.
Both Clemson last year and Bama this year would have made it without a conference championship. I think you need to go back to Osu on 2014 to find a team that gets in only bc of a conference championship
Hot take - nothing about the system or our independence should change We should start winning our big games instead
And it's not going to change: the independence bit I can't say keep 4 when 8 or 12 is that much better for Notre Dame
We’re gonna have some much tougher games on our schedule the next several years. We win any number of those, we’ll be fine and have a little bit of breathing room to have an off game at some point in the season. An 11-1 ND team with a top 10 win or two won’t be left out, in the current system or obviously an expanded system.
The playoff is bound to expand. No need for us to join a conference. As Dr. Richard Cranium rightly asserts above, our margin for error will expand with it. We will be fine.
If there was a 12-team playoff this year: #15 Pitt and #17 Utah probably jump #10 Oregon, #12 BYU, #13 Iowa, #14 Oklahoma, and #16 Wake Forest with massive wins over top 16 teams to make the playoffs as #11 and #12. #12 BYU sits idle and probably finishes #13. But yeah, I'd rather be sitting at home too.
If you switch the name BYU with ND, the team isn’t left out. And if you’re the 12th or 13th best team, you ain’t winning the title. So you’re basically just missing out on the participation trophy.
The further down the list you go, the less anyone gives a shit if you get left out. If we're 12 and we get bumped because we're idle then so be it. If we're apart of a conference then playing in the conference championship causes more volatility for the loser which your example shows.
If that's your view, then cool, we're just wired differently. If we're #12 and get bumped because we say idle, I'll be furious. If we're #12 and play a fun, meaningful game against B1G East champion, say #2 Michigan, and win, I'll be super pumped and we'll be in the playoffs as a top 6-8 teamm, if we lose I'll say "well, we wouldn't have made noise in the playoffs anyway." Don't see how I'd rather not be in a conference as a #12 ranked team.
A win over an average Pitt or Wake team would be meaningless right now. UGA and Cincy’s resumes would still be way better than ours.
You at way more likely to be bumped from #12 because you lose to #18 in a conference championship. That’s been proven pretty definitely over the years
And we would have played a nationally televised game that gave our players another chance to improve their draft stocks, develop, and win something they can be proud of. And if Bama did lose today, we would have definitively asserted we deserved a spot above them had we won. And if we would have lost, probably still gone to the same Bowl we would have had we sat idle. But, again, I'm cool just staying home too!
If you want nd to join a conference to join a conference sake, that’s fine. But it’s been proven across multiple selection committees, that if we do our job, we are good. Ain’t no reason to play a shitty conference championship game
I do wonder if we get negative recruited on that point. That if you have a 2-loss season at ND, you're on the border of not making a NY6 Bowl, if you have a 2-loss season at any number of other conference teams, you get a big nationally televised 13th game that clinches a NY6 Bowl. If we had two losses this year, I'm not sure we play a NY6 Bowl. Done venting, I just want people to admit they like being independent because they like to feel different, not that it actually helps us.
I think people like to be independent because it's been part of our identity for *checks notes* quite some time.
Is this a trick question? We were 10-2 in 2019 and played on December 28th against unranked Iowa State, hurt because we have no conference affiliation. What am I missing?