The landscape of college athletics is evolving and Notre Dame football is in a perfect position to benefit, improve and potentially dominate because of it.
The university is uniquely positioned to take advantage of changing rules and regulations, however flexible, with the resulting possibilities to make more money, land even better talent, and be an even bigger asset in a crowded university landscape. have some.
Is your school rich? Do you have a good media deal with potential to be even better?
Much, MUCH better? (Save it for another day).
Do you have a base of followers and alumni with the will and means to do whatever it takes? Do you have an already great situation that could be just one or two adjustments away from moving to a whole new lounge level?
It’s a big yes to all of that when it comes to Notre Dame, and he has the coach and the drive to get there soon, if not now.
But forgetting about the boring administrative stuff and all the policy changes, and figuring out how to divvy up the gargantuan amount of revenue, the most immediate and tangible positive for Notre Dame is the move to the College Football Playoff.
During the ten years of the CFP there was a strange surprise: TCU beat Michigan two seasons ago. And even then, the SEC came to breakfast when it came time to decide a national champion.
Simply making the four-team tournament was an honor over the past ten years, but the CFP has not been the NCAA Tournament or any playoff in any other sport. You couldn’t just heat up from three, or get a quick run off a goalie standing over your head, or use an epic shooting performance to overcome a talent disparity.
In the four-team College Football Playoffs, yes, maybe you beat Alabama, Ohio State or Clemson in the right year, but that meant you had to beat Alabama, Ohio State, Clemson or a 2019 LSU or a Michigan of 2023 to win the national title.
Notre Dame has been able to take its cuts for more than the last decade, only to find out how far it was from being a true rock and roll.
Alabama 31, Notre Dame 14, and it wasn’t even that close in the College Football Playoff semifinal of the 2020 season.
Clemson 30, Notre Dame 3 at the end of the 2018 season, and no, it really wasn’t that close, although some have tried to argue with me on this.
Alabama 42, Notre Dame 14 in the BCS Championship at the end of 2012, and it REALLY wasn’t that close.
But the 12-team playoff should be different.
Longer playoffs, more chances for injuries, more chances for top players to get a case of NFLitis, more chances for strange things to happen now that this is all going on at the end of January.
And then there’s the other key thing that could happen in the future: this goes back to new changes and regulations. With Marcus Freeman, maybe Notre Dame will come up with a juggernaut like 2023 Michigan, or 2022 Georgia, or several Alabama teams, or that 2016 Clemson team.
At the very least, with eight double-digit winning seasons in the last 12 years, two more nine-win seasons and only one real failure in that group, Notre Dame continues to put itself in position to succeed.
The 2021 team would have made the expanded CFP. The 2019 team would have been there as well, along with the 2014 and 2017 teams. That would have been six expanded playoff appearances, and very, very close to seven, in the last ten years.
Keep winning, start participating in this new College Football Playoff on a regular basis and keep fighting. Eventually, one of these Irish teams will break through and have the right run from late December into January.
The 2024 Notre Dame Fighting Irish could be the one to do it.
Keynote USA
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