He absolutely did. Numerous reporters have been hinting at a “big” and “unexpected” opening for a few weeks. A lot of folks thought it was a reference to the Texas job but several of the college ball podcasts I listen to have hinted at a different one since November. Per Bruce Feldman this has been a bubbling rumor for weeks.
College Football Catch-All Thread
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I'll believe it when I see it. ND is a huge draw on TV and in stadiums. UNC, for example, gets significantly more revenue when Notre Dame is in town than when Charlotte is in town.
In this day and age, schools aren't going to turn down that honey pot to make some symbolic point about not liking ND's playoff arrangements. It just won't happen.
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Agree. But big boy BIG and SEC schools would not know the difference-realtively speaking
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The "ScottHughes" X account shown in the first picture is a known troll/BS account, so I would take anything credited to him with all the grains of salt unless verified/confirmed by better sources.
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Talk about a false comparison! Are you trying to compete with Zen and yellowjacket in bad faith posting?
I bet UNC would do just as well on that hypothetical Saturday if Notre Dame were replaced by any brand name SEC/B1G school. Or you can compare attendance for a UNCC game to Campbell if you are interested in apt comparisons.
There are a few SEC/BIg10 schools that compete with ND for fan interest. Maybe 10 total between the two leagues.
There are far, far more schools that would like to schedule a home and away with those schools than there is a supply of such schools. It is a basic supply and demand issue.
If ND calls to schedule a home and away, there is virtually no athletic director in the country that will say no. There are very few names in college football that are as valuable. Sure, if Alabama calls, you may go with that option. More than likely, you will try to schedule both. The idea that ND is going to get frozen out is not a serious one.
EyeballKid
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Given the 9-game conference schedules for B1G and SEC schools, I’m not so sure there are gonna be a lot of top-tier teams jumping at the prospect of tossing away one of their cupcake games in favor of a dangerous matchup with ND.
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They do a few things...
They play Navy every year in a neutral location.
They play USC & Stanford every year in a H&H arrangement.
They owe 5 games to the ACC every year that works out to 2.5H/2.5A average over some number of years. (Also, typically Stanford isn't included in this number but can be, if needed.)
They try to fill out their schedule with some other bigger names in a H&H or neutral location arrangement.
If all that fails, they will fill out their schedule with buy games at home or neutral location (where they are the de facto home team).
That still leaves three non-conference games a year for each of those schools, or a total of 96 games to schedule.
ND already has 5-6 ACC games a year, plus USC and Navy. So they only have 4 open slots in any given year to fill. Plus, ND will schedule G5 occasionally, too. It should be very, very easy for ND to get suitors for those 4 games a year.
EyeballKid
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Right. 3 non-conference games. Generally at least 2 (and sometimes all 3) of those games are against cupcakes, so as to get easy Ws.
Which leaves far fewer than 96 potential slots for ND.
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They have 5 games against ACC foes...they don't need any more cupcakes.
Right, you do have to use some of those 96 slots on the powerhouse Louisiana Monroe. That said, ND only needs to fill four, which is extremely easy. Again, almost anyone in the P4 will say yes when ND asks them to the prom.
Their resume was very much like UNC basketball last year. Close losses to good teams and big wins over bad teams.
Honestly it’s as simple as that. ND can play easier schedules if they’re really bent on staying independent, but that means the margin for error is smaller. Can’t go 10-2 with the 2 Ls being your marquee matchups and expect to get the benefit of the doubt.
I dunno. If the exact same scenario plays out next year, ND is in the playoffs.
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Until the Committee places them 13th in the very last ranking.
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