It's about time we do something about Notre Dame
 

Agree? Disagree? This is worthy of debate:


http://www.faniq.com/blog/Notre-Dame...nce-Blog-60220

Last night, Notre Dame got absolutely obliterated by Alabama in the BCS title game. Just like I said they would. More than once.

This should have come as a surprise to exactly no one.

No matter how anyone tries to hype up Notre Dame's regular season schedule, there's not a chance in hell that they actually proved that they deserved their #1 ranking.

They stumbled into the #1 spot by default, because great SEC football teams beat other great SEC football teams.

Alabama's only loss was to fellow SEC powerhouse Texas A&M.
Georgia's only losses were to Alabama and South Carolina, both from the SEC.
Texas A&M lost a couple nail-biters to fellow SEC schools Florida and LSU.
South Carolina's only losses were also to Florida and LSU.
Before losing their bowl games, Florida and LSU had only lost to SEC teams.

All 6 of those teams could be considered among the top 10 teams in the country. And they all had to play several games against each other, because they're in an elite conference loaded with talent.

Other teams in top conferences have stretches of 6 to 8 games in a row in which they have to play top level teams.

Then, if they're fortunate enough to have a successful season, they have to play a conference championship game, which essentially amounts to one additional game against an elite team.

Notre Dame, thanks to their independent status, doesn't have to worry about that.

They can schedule their annual cakewalks against service academies and their "rivalry" with fellow Catholic school Boston College. They can use their other "rivalry" game against USC to pad their strength of schedule, and hope that no one notices that USC finished the season unranked and was one of the most overrated teams in the country.

They can play close games against mediocre teams like Purdue, Pitt, BYU, and Michigan, and still manage to default their way into the the National Championship game.

Let's ignore the fact that Georgia and Alabama were both far better teams, but had to play each other in the SEC Championship, essentially eliminating one of them.

If there was an 8-team playoff, Notre Dame would have gotten rolled by the #8 team, who would have been South Carolina, the 4th-best SEC team.

If you look at Notre Dame's recent bowl history, it's clear that they've benefited from their delusional (but large) fan base, and the fact that they haven't needed to actually win a conference to get into a BCS bowl.

Notre Dame has lost 11 of their last 13 bowl games.

They're 0-4 in BCS bowls (including last night's championship), and lost those 4 games by a combined score of 158-57.

That's right. Notre Dame has lost their 4 BCS bowl games by an average of 25 points per game.

Is there any doubt that they're being overrated and overhyped coming into bowl games?


The solution:

The NCAA should ban Notre Dame (and every other independent team, for fairness' sake) from bowl games until they join a conference.

It's absolutely insane that Notre Dame gets to play by a completely different set of rules than every other team, but still gets treated as if their undefeated record is just as impressive as another undefeated team.

Until the Irish have to go through a legitimate conference schedule and win a conference championship game, they'll continue to be placed in bowl games that they don't deserve. They'll continue to get blown out by teams that earned their bowl bid the hard way, and they'll steal BCS spots from far more deserving teams who had far more difficult roads to the postseason.

Until the NCAA forces Notre Dame's hand, fans will continue to suffer through these atrocities. It's simply not right, and fans deserve better.

It's college football. I don't understand how people still don't get it.

Agree
Posted via Mobile Device

Great, another SEC circlejerk thread. Dakcman and Setsuna should be along shortly to jizz all over each other.

that's what it will be lol
Posted via Mobile Device

Total horseshit.

I'm no Notre Dame fan. But they had every right to be in the National Championship game. And I don't remember this same shit being talked about when any Big 12 team or Pac 10 team made the championship game. Usually on a schedule about as challenging as Notre Dame's this season.

And it's not like we're talking about 3 undefeated teams competing for a national championship game. Notre Dame went undefeated.

Just a bunch of haters. I've bitched about the lack of a playoff game for years. If anything, that's the problem, not Notre Dame not being in a conference.

Agreed. If they have playoffs I care. Until then, I watch MU and MU bowl game and thats all I really care about until the draft~

Playoffs give credibility. BCS shit is stupid.

It's a good thing they decided to move to a real playoff, however inadequate it may be at this point...because if they had not, the game last night would have forced the issue. Now, let's move beyond the bullshit 4 team playoff to at least an 8, or preferably a 16 team format--and we can all stop bitchin'.

I like 8.
1 vs 16 2 vs 15 type games may look a lot like last night.
At 8 you are in the argument but at 16 can you really argue you are one of the best? It's not like hoops where the little guy wins a lot. Just an occasional fluke happens in college football where David beats Goliath.

Bukakke

the button that turns on your tv is the same one that turns it off.

Nevar!

Stolen from a friend:

But but but look at the murderers row Bama faced.

Arkansas 2-6 conference
Ole Miss 3-5 conference
Missouri 2-6 conference
Tennessee 1-7 conference
#11 Miss. St 4-4 conference
#5 LSU 6-2 conference
#15 Texas A&M 6-2 conference
Auburn 0-8 conference

So to play in their conference champ game, they played 2 teams with WINNING conference records. Look deeper, 12-36 conference opp record when you exclude LSU and Ass to mouth. Included Bama still played a conference opp record of 24-40. Quite the murderous row to drive through.

I ave up on college football in the 80's
do whatever the **** you want...
make me give a ****
was a diehard husker until they would not spend money ion the library, but put bob and tom on milke cartons to build a indoor practice facility
**** COLLEGE FOOTBALL

Notre Dame didn't make it because the SEC beat up on each other. They made it because Kansas State and Oregon lost.

Oh....and go **** yourself.

this

As someone who doesn't watch much college football, I have no problem with ND being in the NCG. If Oregon and KState or Georgia wanted to be in it, well, don't have huge lapses in your most important games.


Oh, and I loath ND entirely.

You get past the few good teams at the top and the rest of the SEC is pretty mediocre. Same as any other conference.

^

Every conference beats their own conference up, all teams play such a light out of conference schedule that it isn't likely that they would lose anything but in conference games. Unless they are really bad, of course.

that game last night summed up an earlier point I made about college football on this board

IT SUCKS because there is little parity

BIG GAME = BIG BLOWOUTS most of the time...I actually enjoyed the A&M blowout because Manziel is great...but last night's game blew. It was awful. Last years NC blew. The one before that sucked. The Colt McCoy got injured game was terrible.

doesn't happen that often in the Super Bowl

last years Super Bowl was TREMENDOUS, the Packers Super Bowl was a great game, in fact...

I can't really remember the last non-entertaining Super Bowl

I love the whole..."Notre Dame would have gotten rolled by South Carolina" bullshit. Really? The same South Carolina that barely beat Michigan.....the team that the Irish already beat?

****ing rampant SEC homerism.

the game kind of butterflied after that could've been muffed punt but still

awful, terrible, boring spotlight game

seems to happen more often than not in college football

that and the fact you filter players in and out every year...I just can't cheer for college athletics. No fun for me. I love basketball march madness, though. Awesome.

but I've always been a pro guy so I realize some people are different

JUST LIKE PARITY

SEC homers won't be happy until the SEC is the only conference allowed to play in the championship game. I'm so damn sick of hearing about the greatness of the SEC. Alabama had a cakewalk this year.

That's some piss poor logic.

Texas A&M handed bama their only loss of the season, but that doesn't mean they would of rolled ND 50-0.

I think your hatred of the pro-SEC reporting is getting in the way of the article's point.

That is EXACTLY the point of the article. ND gets to pick and choose who they play, rather than being forced to run a gauntlet through a conference. USC is the only team of any merit that they play. Maybe Michigan.

Nine out of the 12 SEC teams had winning seasons. That's pretty good. In conference play, there were clearly tiers of teams. Florida, Georgia, LSU, Alabama, A&M. Then, coming down to South Carolina and a suprising Vanderbilt. Then you just had some teams that did not match up at all in the SEC, like Arkansas, Kentucky, Auburn, Missouri, and Tennessee. But even those bottom tier teams were 14-6 when playing outside the conference.

I have no problem, absolutely none, watching Notre Damn get annihilated in the BCS National Championship. I can watch that again next year.

Ha! I kind of agree with you. I've been a Notre Dame hater for years, although it's really more disliking the constant Notre Dame coverage, even when they have a 6-5 record. So, I lightened up on them this year; considering they were undefeated I at least understood the coverage.

As the game to end the season, I would rather watch a good game, like Oregan-K.State.

At least in a playoff system we get more well-matched games.

This argument is complete bullshit!!! Tell me why TCU or Boise State hasn't gone to the big game when going undefeated??? Explain that to everyone....dumbass

This.

It has nothing to do with ND and everything to do with how college football decides their champ...

Notre Dame scheduled Michigan, Michigan State, Miami, USC, Oklahoma, and Stanford and I'm supposed to think they schedule a bunch of cupcakes or something? Even BYU, Pitt, and Purdue aren't some kind of little directional schools. The idea that they played a soft schedule is dumb.

ND beat Stanford you drooling reerun. You know, the team that beat Oregon. The Irish played a horrible game and were dominated by Alabama. It happens, but that doesn't take away from their undefeated regular season and prove that they shouldn't have been playing in the game at all.

They have played Stanford for a long time, and they weren't really expected to be that good this year anyway. There is a reason Shaw is being considered for multiple Coach of the Year awards.

That is why I listed USC as a "good" team on their schedule. Scheduling Oklahoma is more impressive than Stanford and is really the team I missed on their schedule.

They played:

Navy
Purdue
Michigan State
An awful Miami
BYU
Pittsburgh
Boston College
Wake Forest

All of those are cupcuke games. EIGHT cupcake games. Kudos that Notre Dame managed to win on their weak schedule this year, but their schedule is weak.

Again...why does ND get a shot at the title when going undefeated when others don't?

Because they were the only undefeated team this year?

ND went undefeated when no one else did including wins against, prior to the bowls, #11 Oklahoma, #6 Stanford, and #18 Michigan. Yes - they should have lost to Pittsburgh, and perhaps Purdue. Yes - Taylor did get in the endzone in OT despite what the officials wrongly ruled. But they won those games and deserved to be in the NC game this year.


But don't worry. In 2014 we will get a 4-team playoff and it has already been announced that there will be no limit to the number of teams from a particular conference in the new four-team playoff format. ;)

Firing Squad.

ND belonged in the game as much as anyone. Nobody was beating Alabama that night, and the right tea won the title. The BCS is ****ed up, but they crown the best team as champions more than any other sport.

If Oregon and k state would have won they would have played for the NC and notre dame would have played in the fiesta

and Alabama would have been left out in the cold. All would have been right with the universe.

4 isn't enough.

If we had a 4 team playoff this year, Kansas State, A&M, and Louisville would have been out. Not that they should have gone in over Oregon, Florida, ND, and Bama but they all 3 ABSOLUTELY deserved a shot.

ROFL You're pathetic.

:D

What can I say. I can't stand the SEC.:p

Meh. At the end of the season A&M and Louisville both had two losses. K-State would have been the only 1-loss (debatable deserving) team left out and, consequently, they'd be the only 1-loss team that was 1) blown out and 2) blown out by an unranked team.

;)

Would you rather play a schedule of average to above average teams, or a schedule of average teams, some shit teams, and a couple of top 5's?

Notre Dame beat a pretty good Stanford team. I can remember Ohio State and OU getting blown out in National title games. This is no different. Notre Dame won all of their games and deserved to be there. I don't like the system that gets them there, but until you have a playoff it's the same old story.

It needs to be at least 8 teams, can we agree on that?

:clap: This

It needs to be exactly eight teams. 16 is pointless, as nine through sixteen bring nothing to the conversation, and the tournament would last a month. Having Nebraska, Northern Illinois, and Oregon State in the playoff would be a farce.

K State got blasted in their bowl game against the Ducks. Did they belong or deserve that bowl game?

If ****** would have made one of 3 FG's KC would probably have another ring right now...

THIS.

That's a good question really.

I would like to see a team that had to go through the gauntlet of a conference championship game to get to the national championship game personally.

There should be no independent teams. Everyone needs to be on the same playing field.

The conferences aren't even playing on the same field. I don't know why it's a big deal that Notre Dame is independent. The reason teams like Penn State and Miami joined conferences didn't have anything to do with integrity or fairness, it was because it made them more money.

Yeah, because being an inde is a huge advantage...

To me, 4 is enough and anything more than 8 would be awful.

What I don't like is that the teams in college that go to bowl games have a month off from games. I think that creates too much down time that the players get out of rythm or be on the same page.

That is three to four weeks from their last game played. I just don't like the month long lag between the season and bowl games.

4 really isn't any different than what we have now.

There is no such thing as a level playing field. There are strong conferences, weak conferences, independents, conferences with championship games, conferences without championship games, teams that play strong non-cons, teams that play weak non-cons, etc.

Terrible article.

ND had the highest computer ranking in the nation, so SoS wasn't an issue. Padding their schedule with USC? Hindsight is awesome. If it was so easy being independent, we wouldn't be arguing about it for the first time in 25 years. The SoS thing comes up just about every year... it has nothing to do with independent teams.

Sure it is.

In 2006 only OSU, UF, and Michigan were discussed as title-worth and then there are the "individuals" who wanted Boise St too. (3-4 teams)

2007 was a complete mess, even with an 8-team playoff.

In 2008 there were only 4 teams with 1-loss or less (Boise State excluded since they lost to undefeated Utah). (4 teams)

In 2009 there were 5 undefeated teams - Alabama, Texas, Cincinnati, TCU, and Boise State.

In 2010 there were only 3 undefeated teams. (3 teams)

In 2011 there were only 4 1-loss or less teams (1-loss Boise State & Houston excluded). (4 teams)

Does a 4 team playoff solve everything? No. But, in most years it's enough - and those years where it may seem like more is needed it's debatable.

16 - No Way

8 - Maybe, but it might let in team that shouldn't be there (sound familiar?), and it would lessen the importance of the season. I would love to have 3 weeks of college playoffs, though!

4- Good Start

The problem is that a 4-team playoff is fine when you look at the FIRST ROUND matchups, but mathematically 4 teams isn't enough to create good SECOND ROUND matchups.

Who wouldn't want to see Alabama, Georgia, Louisville, Oregon, Texas A&M, and Stanford in a playoff right now?

http://ts1.mm.bing.net/th?id=H.45459...33392&pid=15.1

You can't look at it that way. You have to look at it prior to the bowls. If you had a true 8-team playoff, Louisville & Florida would never have played.

The 4-team playoff this year would have been:

Notre Dame v. Oregon
Alabama v. Florida

2nd round probably would have been Oregon v. Alabama.

Win.

Not talking about this year...I'm not a Boise State fan but they are in a conference of which they've won and gone undefeated numerous years yet never given a shot at the title. I admit their schedule has been as cupcake as ND's in the past but that still doesn't explain it...

What about Kansas State?!

Yes it does.

Right, and one could argue with hindsight that Florida should have never been there, based on what happened with Louisville.

Sure, Alabama vs. Oregon would have been more entertaining than ND vs. Bama was. But those 2 hypothetical first round games STINK.

.

This....

LMAO


Just baiting ya, buddy. They obviously didn't deserve to be in a playoff.

Not a valid argument. You don't get the benefit of hindsight and while Louisville dominated Florida it's not illogical to think a different Florida team shows up for a NCG-clinching playoff game.

Why do those stink? Again, you have to go back to the end of Week 15.

At that time Alabama's only loss was to A&M - Florida beat them.

At that time Florida's only loss was to UGA - Alabama beat them.

Notre Dame was undefeated.

Oregon's only loss was to 2-loss Stanford.

There is no reason not to setup the regular season and playoffs like Divison II.

Mohamed Ali, George Foreman, and Joe Frazier should all have been heavy weight Champions for that entire decade. They beat the hell out of each other. That is the way it goes sometimes.

8 teams > 4 teams > 2 teams > 16 teams

I've been wanting the Irish to join a conference for a long time now. But look at it from their perspective.....why the **** would they?