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There is nothing that Notre Dame value values more than its independent status; it is the essence of its football program and athletic program in general.
There is nothing in the present that would make it necessary for Notre Dame to give up its independence. ND can suvive and thrive very nicely, thank you, as an independent in 2011, 2012, 2013.
Thus there is one and only one consideration that both the university and athletic administration of the university wil make that carries any degree of relevance:
how they assess the ability to survive the future as an independent and without conference affiliation and the tipping point in time that assures a future or lack there of of the vaunted Irish football program.
It's as simple as that; all the rest is meaningless commentary.
Notre Dame does not want to join the Big Ten this week. It doesn't want to next year or the year after that. Notre Dame will only join in the next couple of days if it believes that not joining locks it into a meaningless future in a world dominated by megaconferences, schedules locked in to make them work, and a BCS restructuring that will leave no place for the Irish.
If they say "no" to the Big Ten this week, it means merely they believe they have time left in the next few years that they don't need to force a decision. If they say "yes", they truly believe this is the "last call". And without taking it, they are condemned to a future of South Dakota, Iowa State, Tulsa, Arkansas State, and Northern Illinis on the schedule and 20,000 fans "filling" Notre Dame Stadium.
The question isn't whether Notre Dame wants to join the Big Ten. Emphatically it does not. The question is whether it has to join the Big Ten, or, if you prefer, the Great Lakes 16, a conference that will coexist with the Pacific Grande and the SEC+. Such a new college landscape will leave no room for independent Notre Dame.
Interesting. I believe ND remains independent for a long time.
TNKY, or frankly anyone who wants to give this one stab:
why would Notre Dame choose between independence and extinction? Does it truly help Notre Dame to play a full schedule of nobody in front of crowds of zero? Do the Irish have a death wish? Or perhaps a desire to become Tulane, Idaho, East Carolina, or William & Mary?
If your arm has been mangled and is unsavable and must be amputated or it will cost you your life, do you say, "My arm is important to me; it is so much a part of what I am, so thanks, but no thanks, I'm going to keep it" ?????
Well, duh, of course your arm is important to you and if you were able to keep it with no harm, that would be a no brainer.
How does that differ from ND as an independent. Notre Dame would give its left nut to keep itself out of a conference. Unfortunately Notre Dame doesn't control the shape of the world of big time college football which includes super conferences, conference filled schedules (especially during the last 8 weeks of the season), and a championship format that will be far less generous to the needs of Notre Dame than the one set up by the BCS.
What is so hard to understand, folks. OF COURSE NOTRE DAME WANTS TO BE AN INDEPENDENT. But wishing and hoping and praying isn't the same as being. And that very being has been determined by others.
You can't be a football program and not be able to play with others, thus being stuck with only one option: playing with yourself. We're talking college football here, not watching an X rated video in the privacy of your bedroom.
I think they stay independent until the TV contract expires. With the bigger conferences having two divisions, Most teams will have 3 games in which to schedule out conference games. Will they continue to choose ND?
NBC needs to get over Notre Dame and ND needs to just go to the Big 10. Every conference will expand to 16 and if they find themselves out of a conference, they are in trouble. I believe the Big East has a chance to become a basketball only conference if the SEC and ACC expands.
I think they stay independent until the TV contract expires. With the bigger conferences having two divisions, Most teams will have 3 games in which to schedule out conference games. Will they continue to choose ND?
I don't know if it is an issue of continuing to choose ND, but a question of being able to schedule ND.
Let's look at it this way: in 12 team (or now 12 team +) conferences, with 12 being an even number, it seems to me that the last 8 games of the season are locked in to conference play.
There is little wiggle room; the conferences call the shots on scheduling and the middle to end of the season belongs pretty much to the conferences.
So if ND has a 4 week window of opportunity, I'm not sure that after that time all of U-M, MSU, Purdue, SC, Stanford are available to them.
I still think ND will join the Big Ten. There is just waaaaaaay too much money at stake. Also, ND has high academic standards like Big Ten schools, they play a few Big Ten teams every year and they just happen to sit in the middle of Big Ten country.
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