ramster wrote: ↑1 year ago
rhodylaw wrote: ↑1 year ago
ramster wrote: ↑1 year ago
Here is Notre Dame's Schedule for 2022 including Preseason AP Ranking:
Play @ #2 Ohio State, @#22 Brigham Young, #4 Clemson, @ #8 USC
Notre Dame is Ranked #5 Pre-Season
@ #2 Ohio State (cheapest ticket $329)
Marshall
California
@ #30 North Carolina
@ #22 Brigham Young in Las Vegas
Stanford
UNLV
@ Syracuse
#4 Clemson (cheapest ticket $259)
@ Navy in Baltimore
Boston College
@ #8 USC
Fun..now do last or the year before and tell me that those schedules are more difficult then a typical SEC schedule.
Nah, not going back any more, enough research.
I already went back 5 years and showed you how Notre Dame was ranked. Their WORST Ranking in the last 5 years at the END of the season was #12.
Sounds like you are now moving the goal posts. This is what you said
"ND cannot compete with the top of the SEC. They are ranked high because they generally avoid those teams, a full schedule against the SEC would be a problem unless they significantly lower their academic standards. I think going to the SEC would be a mistake"
Give Notre Dame the NIL and I'll be very surprised if handing out tons of money doesn't make their team better than it is now. Notre Dame has fans all across the country. I remember as a kid when every Notre Dame was televised in Rhode Island. RI is and was heavily Catholic and heavily Irish.
Notre Dame is Ranked Preseason #5 and is playing
AT #2 Ohio State, they are
hosting #4 Clemson and they are playing
AT #8 USC. Hardly the look of a team trying to avoid competition or the look of a "Pretender" as RR@ refers to them.
I am not even a fan of Notre Dame, but the Conference that lands them, if any conference ever does, I doubt will be feeling they landed a Pretender.
Overall Record/End of Season Rank, (Highest Rank During the Season)
2021: 11-2, Ranked
#8, Highest Rank 5th
2020: 10-2, Ranked
#5, Highest Rank 2nd
2019: 11-2, Ranked
#12, Highest Rank 7th
2018: 12-1, Ranked
#5, Highest Rank 3rd
2017: 10-3, Ranked
#11, Highest Rank 3rd
I don't think he's saying that ND isn't a perennial top 25 team. Sometimes, at their best, they're a top 10 team. At their absolute best. Even as a top 10 team, they get the advantage of catching one or two legit teams during the year, and coasting through a fairly easy schedule. This year notwithstanding (though acting like a ranked BYU is comparable to having to play a multitude of SEC teams with SEC recruits - ranked or not - is wild).
There is an OCEAN between 10-5 when it comes to college football. In big games when the Irish have been "undefeated" they get SMOKED.
In the 2 semifinals and the 1 national championship they've been to in the last decade they've been outscored 103-31. They didn't deserve to be in the same conversation, nevermind the same field.
5-15 in bowl games since 1994. The only ranked team they beat in that stretch was #17 LSU.
In the last 20 years, for the top 10 teams that they've played in bowls? 0-8. Outscored 300-133. Average loss by 3 almost 3 TD's.
No one would have a problem if ND just said - yeah we're a good team but we're not a perennial national championship contender. But they don't. Their fans don't. They pretend that a bunch of titles won before the internet was invented (all of them), we put a man on the moon (80% of them), or before the end of WWII (1/3 of them) - that they're still the kings of college football.
Their fans are insufferable, their greed and singular participation in the BCS ruined college football, and Brian Kelly killed a kid.
I am excited for them to disappoint their fans in a legitimate bowl game, or celebrate another Camping World Bowl win.