TerryD

Although a room with no door (since ND is not interested) seems of dubious value.

Once Lincoln Riley and Jennifer Cohen took over at USC, the series was on shaky ground. I guess USC couldn't stand losing 7 of the last 8 and 10 of the last 12 games against ND. On the bright side, the Jeweled Shillelagh trophy will stay with ND indefinitely.

ND is not going to join a conference. It sees no great net benefit to it, doesn't want to do it at all and thinks the juice is simply not worth the squeeze. ND has been a football independent for 138 of the last 139 years. It likes it and sees no reason at all to change. Why is that an issue? Just because other independents had to join collectives to survive?

So, another school can have that spot.

..would cap conference membership at 19 schools and would require any school (except ND and UConn) to be an independent for five years before it could join the new conference.

...and have too much market power. You want NIL and other relief? Congress says that there is a price to pay for that. ** Edited by TerryD at 7/20/2026, 2:14:00 PM

..who ran to Congress for help and spent several million dollars lobbying Congress to save them... from themselves.

Congress can regulate interstate commerce. College sports is interstate commerce. There is also the Sherman Anti-Trust Act.

..have any real sources. I don't know if they are mouthpieces or frauds.

Or, is it a fantasy, made up person for Flug to attract viewers and "Superchats"?

He gave Bob Davie a contract extension shortly after taking over as AD in 2000. Davie went 5-6 the next year (2001) and was fired. White then hired George O'Leary...... White then hired Ty Willingham (OMG) and later gave Charlie Weis a huge extension after only two seasons. No one was upset when he left for the Duke job in 2008. Rumor was that it was suggested to him.

No change there.

Every year, in fact, except for last year.

..it seems that they know what they are doing, your opinion notwithstanding.

Texas Tech immediately volunteered to play ND if Texas wavers.

...publicly today to take the place of Texas if the Longhorns do indeed chicken out.

.....be "about Notre Dame"?

That "pig" may likely be favored to win it all this year. That "pig" is killing it in recruiting right now. What will you say if ND wins it all? You will have to come up with a new schtick. Stay tuned.

IF that is "mediocrity", then what do you call the 124 or so teams below it in FBS? What was VT's comparable record the last decade? ND fans have been called a "dying breed" since 1990. You need new material.

And what is anyone going to do about what you typed? Nobody. ***** on podcasts and message boards is about it. Nothing else. BTW, any school is free to become a football independent if it is so easy and such an advantage ? Why don't they? ND is not doing anything that isn't freely available to anyone. Have at it.

I think that conference membership is irrelevant to being playoff worthy. I also think that conference schedules are overrated as far as difficulty and that conferences are full of tomato can opponents, especially the Big Ten. (Rutgers, Maryland. Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, etc.)

..that ND won't be a playoff team if it joins a conference?

Money? No. According to the latest EADA filing, ND was #3 in the country in athletic revenues, even without football in a conference. Playoffs? Heck no, especially at 24. Bowls? Bowls are dying. It will playoffs or bust from now on. Scheduling? USC is going to be an annual opponent again. Michigan/ND are currently in talks to renew their annual series. A home/home for 2033-34 is already scheduled. Navy is annual. Stanford may end up a long term annual opponent ND has future home/home series scheduled against Texas, Alabama, Auburn, Indiana and a single remaining game v. Arkansas. Clemson and ND signed a twelve years annual series, starting in 2027. Scheduling will not be a problem going forward, especially if the playoff go to 24. Cowards like Lincoln Riley will then be rare. Anything else? ** Edited by TerryD at 5/16/2026, 12:36:23 PM

1) ND is not going to join the ACC, or any conference, for football....ever. 2) ND joining the ACC in full would do little to "save" the ACC. ND would take a big haircut if it simply joined. ND currently gets $50 million a year from NBC and $20-22 million a year from ESPN. How much would ESPN pay ND if it joined? More than $70-72 million a year? No? Yes? If so, how much? If ND kept the NBC deal/money and joined, it would make very a bit more, but not much. The ACC would make very little from ND joining in full. It already gets 2.5-3 away ND games a year. Joining in full, but letting ND keep the NBC deal (the only way ND joining makes any math sense at all), would only add a couple of more games for ABC/ESPN.

Penn State, Texas Tech, Indiana, etc...... Many conference teams have soft schedules.

That will start in 2030. Clemson and ND are getting ready to start a 12 year series next year. Lots of rumblings that talks are happening to put Michigan back on an annual basis. Watch for the ND/BYU relationship to continue after this current home/home. ND currently (2026) plays 10 P4 programs and no FCS ones. The schedule gets tougher starting next season. After that, teams like Alabama, Texas and Auburn and Indiana will be on ND's schedules. I am not worried about ND's schedules and they will not be "soft" going forward. ** Edited by TerryD at 5/13/2026, 1:21:29 PM

....ND has earned its place by over 100 years of success, innovation, and decades of promoting college football. I agree.

The answer is the same everywhere. ND, Virginia Tech, Alabama, Clemson. It is always coaching.

If the ACC/ND deal collapsed, ND would need to move its minor sports, including basketball, somewhere. It won't be the Big Ten. That is a non-starter. So, it would likely be the Big East by default. Ten or twelve million a year would be made up by lots of donors, not just by me. Lol.

...but I doubt that ND's private message to the ACC was different than the 1,000 times that it publicly told the ACC and the world that football would not be a member. And guess what? It was not. It will not be. And I am sorry but the other stuff you mentioned about why the ACC possibly agreed is simply irrelevant, then and now. ** Edited by TerryD at 5/12/2026, 5:06:25 PM

There are rumblings about a renewal of the ND/Michigan series, as well. So, current or possible annual ND opponents: USC Clemson Navy Stanford (if USC re-ups)? Michigan? BYU? Texas? We shall see. ** Edited by TerryD at 5/12/2026, 4:10:30 PM

My post was talking about options in a post-ACC/ND divorce. The options may be Big East or Big Ten, all in. Big East would win, no contest.

I view every such reaction as simply sour grapes. You can tell we are in the dead period of the calendar year when these stories (re-)surface. ** Edited by TerryD at 5/12/2026, 3:29:26 PM

If the only alternative to full Big Ten membership is to join the Big East, then that fits the bill just fine.

It hasn't happened, and it won't happen, in real life.

Bad coaching hires, like at VT and everywhere else. Why hasn't Penn State won a national championship since two years BEFORE ND last did so with all of that Big Ten filthy lucre ?

I knew that ND's revenues were that high. It doesn't need to dump football into a collective to generate those revenues, unlike......everyone else. It is philosophical, as ND truly loves its independence, but philosophy without revenues is poverty.

Independents Notre Dame....................$289,616,198 UCONN............................$97,050,998 UMASS............................$57,654,295 Atlantic Coast Conference Miami (FL).....................$230,484,608 Stanford........................$192,802,320 Florida State..................$192,717,172 Clemson........................$186,106,774 Duke............................$181,607,802 North Carolina...............$180,835,031 California.......................$173,116,318 Louisville.......................$155,903,308 Virginia Tech..................$151,623,889 Pittsburgh......................$151,337,808 Virginia.........................$150,622,194 SMU.............................$150,225,313 Boston College...............$142,122,049 Georgia Tech.................$140,430,227 NC State.......................$135,830,733 Syracuse.......................$120,839,134 Wake Forest..................$114,628,069 Big Ten Conference Ohio State.....................$295,265,883 Penn State.....................$254,397,122 Michigan.......................$236,376,759 USC..............................$234,029,848 Nebraska.......................$205,807,522 Wisconsin......................$190,503,289 Indiana.........................$182,095,778 Iowa.............................$179,990,052 Washington....................$178,415,083 Illinois...........................$174,612,181 UCLA.............................$173,429,394 Rutgers..........................$171,679,918 Oregon..........................$167,129,024 Michigan State................$160,697,176 Minnesota......................$156,773,938 Purdue...........................$150,536,320 Northwestern..................$131,779,238 Maryland........................$128,662,116 Big 12 Conference Kansas........................$173,669,277 Colorado......................$161,671,803 TCU.............................$155,989,500 Oklahoma State............$153,679,234 BYU.............................$153,351,328 Arizona State................$149,346,605 Baylor...........................$144,126,427 Arizona..........................$132,661,899 Texas Tech.....................$128,777,718 Utah..............................$125,167,576 Cincinnati.......................$119,327,103 West Virginia..................$117,413,366 UCF...............................$108,885,086 Iowa State.....................$103,899,204 Kansas State..................$102,982,919 Houston.........................$100,162,965 Southeastern Conference Texas..........................$343,106,827 Tennessee....................$285,364,027 Alabama......................$244,551,544 Texas A&M...................$235,498,020 Oklahoma....................$234,426,470 Georgia........................$233,526,965 LSU.............................$223,457,268 Auburn.........................$205,275,913 South Carolina..............$204,566,524 Florida.........................$199,237,539 Arkansas......................$195,879,594 Kentucky......................$186,609,679 Missouri........................$181,114,849 Mississippi.....................$171,119,339 Mississippi State.............$157,301,826 Vanderbilt......................$146,388,389 ** Edited by TerryD at 5/11/2026, 7:38:40 AM

Nice to see others coming around.

He doesn't have the legal power and authority to rule by decree. EO's only affect Executive departments of the Federal government. A President can't "fix" anything in sports at all without Congressional legislation.

ND football is not joining a conference, any conference. If ND was forced to join one, kicking, screaming, surly and sullen, it would be one of the P2 conferences. "Saving" the ACC does ND no good at all if the price of saving it is to surrender football independence. The only reason ND is in the ACC at all is because it was willing to take ND without football. In your scenario, the "cure" is the same as the "illness", i.e. ND football in a conference.

Then every school in America except for about four or five fail that standard.

Stay tuned.

ND is 101-29 over the last ten seasons.

I didn't cherry pick five years out of the last 20. I suggest the last five years is more indictive of the current state of the program than 20 years ago. Also, I posted w/l records. Facts. No opinions. ** Edited by TerryD at 3/30/2026, 3:54:30 PM

24-4 in the last two years, 34-7 in the last three, 54-13 in the last five. Three playoff appearances since 2018, ND won 3 playoff games and was in the title game in 2024. Are there five or more teams with a better record over that time in America?