The One Thing That Might Make Notre Dame Think About Joining a Conference

The One Thing That Might Make Notre Dame Think About Joining a Conference Notre Dame football has been fiercely independent, but there's an easy way to get it to consider being a full-time part of a conference.

Dec 20, 2024; Notre Dame, Indiana, USA; The mascot for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish during the third quarter against the Indiana Hoosiers at Notre Dame Stadium.

Mandatory Credit: Matt Cashore-Imagn Images | Matt Cashore-Imagn Images From now until August, when college football fall camps start up, the traditional and social media world will be full of discussions and debates ranging from the next College Football Playoff format to NIL legislation, and as always, Notre Dame's schedule, and whether or not it needs to be in a conference.

The biggest programs have to stop putting the school on their schedules.Wisconsin, Michigan State, and Purdue are just three of ten Power Four programs on this year's Notre Dame slate.

Next year, Wisconsin is out, and Auburn is in, along with Purdue and Michigan State.

Texas, Arkansas, and Auburn are all in on the fun in 2028, and Alabama is on the 2029 schedule ...College football, if you really want Notre Dame to play ball, stop playing ball with it, and leave it without any good options to fill out the slate.

It's normal for college football types to take shots at Notre Dame and independence, and lllinois joined in.

Seemingly out of nowhere, Illini head man Bret Bielema let Notre Dame AD Pete Bevacqua know that being in a conference is a good way to fill out a schedule.Some guys really like to talk about something that could happen and who they might play....

Actually its pretty easy just join a conference Despite Notre Dame maintaining its independent status for 100 years, people still struggle to accept the school's status as such.The irony of a Big Ten coach complaining is that Notre Dame would have been in the conference for the last 100 years had Fielding Yost and his conference not blackballed the Irish and refused to let them join in the early part of the 1920s.

This move prompted the Irish to become a national team that had to schedule independently and travel the entire country to play a full schedule.This move was meant to hurt Notre Dame, but as it turned out, it was the best thing that could have happened to the program.

From the snub came a national, not regional, footprint, which has led to the huge following and the rise of the subway alumni from coast to coast.The easiest way to force Notre Dame's hand in this matter is for any major brand to simply not schedule the Irish, but athletic directors can't stop themselves - because it's Notre Dame, and there's money to be made.

There's also another problem with this topic.

Notre Dame football is already associated with the ACC, even if it's not a full member like it is for other sports.It plays Boston College, Miami, North Carolina, Stanford, SMU, and Syracuse this year, and again, the Irish play ten Power Four programs in all.

How many Power Four programs does Bielema's Illinois team play this season? Ten - just as many as Notre Dame.The easiest way to try to force the Irish's hand here is for these teams to all back out of their Notre Dame scheduling agreements and get the ACC to kick the outlier program out of the current deal.

And there's no chance that all the big schools that want to play the Irish are about to bail on their games, either, and leave Notre Dame scrambling for dates with whatever MAC and Conference USA teams it can schedule.Founder and content creator of the Always Irish LLC Notre Dame Football social media, podcast, and radio show brand since 2016 covering all things Irish football daily from the fan's perspective.

Previously Notre Dame Football staff writer for USA TODAY Fighting Irish Wire before joining Notre Dame On SI.

Known as the voice of the Irish fan..

This article has been shared from the original article on headtopics, here is the link to the original article.