TerryD

He is a former NBC Sports director, but he is also an ND alumnus and a former football player (a walk-on) under Lou Holtz. I don't know if anyone else mentioned has a similar background.

I suggest that you call Pete Bevacqua on this. Let us know if he agrees with you.

ND is serious about football independence. That is where the juice is and the money to stay independent. ND basketball was independent for 100 years, until the damn conferences made that impossible, mores the pity. (ND really only cares about football; the other sports can be dumped into a conference) IF ND basketball could be independent, it would be. That is the preferred status for all sports, but only football has the revenues and structure to stay independent. It is the football program that needs to be protected by independence and kept free from the clutches and control of a collective. That the Big Ten tried to boycott and smother the ND football program is hardwired into every ND fan's DNA. ND administrators/alumni/fans/donors simply do not trust any conference to protect ND's best interests. ND people believe that conferences only want ND football so they can siphon off its excess value and will then try to smother it again. Conferences are the root of all evil in college sports, especially the bloated, made-for-tv collectives of today. ** Edited by TerryD at 1/11/2026, 2:14:47 PM

The status quo is preferable.

.... regarding football independence.

...would ND lose if it ditched the NBC deal and joined the ACC for football? ESPN would have to pony up $50 million a year extra to ND just to make ND whole, just to break even. How much more would ESPN pay over that to provide more money to ND and the other 17 members?

Should get a bye or a home playoff game.

I wish that people would leave ND alone with its current setup and not try to change things.

...if you can ? Look, ND is not going to be interested in this or any other such scheme. But, the deal is that not many can pull off what ND does. Almost none could make independence work; they are afraid to try, or they make too much money in a TV collective called a "conference". ND has been able to pull off football independence and put its other sports in a collective. The Irish are not going to give that status up. Sorry. It took a lot to build that structure.

...to care about the state of college football. The ND administration works for ND, not college football writ large. This is especially true when the rest of college football are adversaries to ND's football independence. You don't care for and support ND's independence and try to destroy it. Why should ND care about you in return ????.

...from 1925 until 1969. It also opted out of bowl games a number of times in the past 30 years. This is nothing new. Do you propose going back to the Forties when ND played in zero bowl games? Back to the future ??? Look, conference expansion and the playoffs killed the game you used to /know/love, not ND. ND actually has stayed the same. Everyone else changed. You should know that, being a childhood fan and all ** Edited by TerryD at 12/27/2025, 7:58:43 PM

....24/7/365, for some reason it seems. Why, I don't know.

That series was just a convenient counterpart to the USC annual series. It was an opportunity to end each season in California. Now? Not so much. Note that there are no future Stanford games on the ND schedule.

Hockey, no. Football, no.

I never want ND to bend the knee and capitulate to the damn conferences.

Along with making the playoffs as an independent. Championships? Sure, as a football independent with a high grad rate. Winning a championship as just another cookie-cutter conference member? Not quite as appealing. ** Edited by TerryD at 12/25/2025, 9:30:09 AM

I keep hearing that ND will have "scheduling issues" which will force it into a conference against its will. I then see ND do home-and-home deals with many Big Ten and SEC programs, even after being told it can't happen. I put "scheduling issues" in the same category as the other twenty or so "sure fire" things to force ND that have come and gone over the last couple of decades.

Not a "victim card". It just is and was. You have never experienced sixty years of hate, so you are not qualified to comment on it.

USC was only willing to do a two year extension, even with its bait and switch to and Week 0 red herring. ((Under the rules, only games overseas can be played in Week 0). Don't be conned by USC propaganda.

It was just a single game per season. BYU replaces USC the next two years. Presto. USC who?

According to Nicole Auerbach on Twitter: "Nicole Auerbach @NicoleAuerbach · 4h A person with direct knowledge of the communications between the Big Ten conference office and schools confirmed to @NBCSports that all 18 schools received the full language of the CFP MOU, which was unanimously supported by all current and incoming members in March 2024." Nicole Auerbach @NicoleAuerbach · 3h The MOU language as it relates to Notre Dame has not changed since it was communicated to Big Ten schools last year, a second source says." USC is a big, fat excuse-making bait and switch liar.

I have often said that ND view opponents as fungible. This is an example of it. Out with USC, in with BYU (and others). End.

...at the last minute. The schools were set to announce a two year extension, leaving the games as they have been for sixty years. Then, at the last moment, USC tore up the negotiations and demanded a Week 0 game, figuring ND had no choice but to bend the knee to USC/Big Ten. ND got upset at that and scheduled BYU instead. Also, week 0 is a scam. You cannot have a game that week unless it is overseas per current rules.

But, likely nothing more than that.

Hello, BYU. Goodbye, USC.

..the ND hate is par for the course over the last sixty years. No different than in the Seventies, just more places to see it with the internet.

This is all Lincoln Riley not wanting to keep getting his ass beat. The rest is cover. USC was already caught in a lie about the MOU.

ND replaced USC with BYU in short order. USC tried the ole' bait and switch on ND at the last moment, on the cusp of announcing an extension, then changing the date of the games negotiated. USC believed its own propaganda that ND needed the series more and would have no choice but submit. Instead, ND said adios and promptly scheduled BYU instead.

Notre Dame's future schedules include home-and-home series with Auburn, Alabama, Florida, Michigan, Michigan State, Texas, BYU, and Indiana. Also, a 12-year deal with Clemson. Plus, the 5-6 ACC games. Where is evidence of ND's desire to not "play a solid SoS?

There is no objective evidence that ND is trying to leave the ACC.

USC backed out at the last minute.

The two schools were close to an extension but talks fell apart late. USC is not on any future ND schedules. They will try to renew the series in 2030.

...wherin ND was not a "great partner" with the ACC. ND has fulfilled every requirement of its membership agreements with the conference.

He has an axe to grind after ND kicked him out of their locker room after last year's title game. He posted the original article....all unsourced, no names, no links, no nothing. The rest of the internet ran with his "article"....regurgitating what he claimed. I think it is made up.

It is your board. I am just a visitor. No quarter or special favors requested.

Forcing a school to join a supposedly voluntary group of schools against its will? Sounds Stalinist.

Did anyone other than ND ask for this and push for it?

** Edited by TerryD at 12/15/2025, 4:09:48 PM

** Edited by TerryD at 12/15/2025, 4:10:04 PM

The Big Ten and the SEC want 4, the ACC is hoping for two. How are they different than ND's? Your justification doesn't fly if non-champion conference schools qet an AQ.

In 1989, ND won all of its games except one against Miami. Both ended up with one loss. ND was told "Head to head matters more than anything"/ In 1993, ND went 11-1, losing to BC but beating FSU head to head. FSU and ND both finished 11-1. ND was told "Head to head isn't determinative, it doesn't matter more than anything, you have to look at the whole season". In 2025, ND was told "Head to head matters more than anything"..............

..that ND should just sit in a corner quietly when the rug was pulled out on them at the last moment is ridiculous. I would submit that no school, administration or fanbase would be quiet and act like good little soldiers if that happened to them.

.....out of how many schools? 130 FBS? 64 P4 schools?