It's about time we do something about Notre Dame

[MatriculatingHank]

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.

[DaKCMan AP]

Originally Posted by Guru

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

[notorious]

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?

[okcchief]

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.

[htismaqe]

Originally Posted by DaKCMan AP

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.

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

[TEX]

Originally Posted by okcchief

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.

This

[Saul Good]

Originally Posted by htismaqe

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

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.

[Rasputin]

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

[Rausch]

Originally Posted by ILChief

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

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

[notorious]

Originally Posted by Saul Good

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.

THIS.

[ChiefGator]

Originally Posted by notorious

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?

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.

[Marco Polo]

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

[blaise]

Originally Posted by Marco Polo

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.

[Rausch]

Originally Posted by Marco Polo

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

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

[DaKCMan AP]

Originally Posted by htismaqe

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

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

[Rasputin]

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.