Why Notre Dame gets a say

Yesterday, the commissioners of the BCS conferences met and came to a consensus that college football needed a playoff. Though, they were joined by Notre Dame’s athletic director Jack Swarbrick.

If Twitter and Facebook are any indication, it seems like a lot of people do not understand why the Fighting Irish get to be represented in that meeting. I’m an OU guy, but I get it. Technically, Notre Dame isn’t in a BCS conference, but their independence allows them to make it to a big BCS bowl game with an at-large bid.

Still, I get where some fans are coming from. Notre Dame does need to join a conference. It is not going to happen, but I would love to see Notre Dame every year playing in the Big 12 conference.

However, they like their only child status. They love being special. And there is nothing wrong it.

It may not be as big of a deal nowadays, but Notre Dame has an exclusive television deal with the channel NBC. However, if your team is relevant, you are going to be available on everyone’s cable box.

And relevancy is why a lot of people have a problem with Jack Swarbrick announcing a historic moment in college football. The Irish are not a perennial power like they once were, but people need to look at the bigger picture.

Notre Dame gets to be in the meeting, because of their past. However, have they haven’t changed much since their days as a college football power.

Sure they have high academic standards, and let’s be honest
with ourselves, not every five-star athlete does well in the classroom.

And they don’t just hold themselves to that standard. Their schedule isn’t exactly filled with a whole lot of North Texas or Western Kentucky.

They go on the road to Oklahoma, Southern Cal, and Michigan State this season. They get Stanford and Michigan in South Bend, and the Miami Hurricanes in a neutral site. Not to mention their trip to Dublin to play Navy.

When they schedule like that, I don’t have a problem with their independent status. Notre Dame isn’t looking for a Big 12 right now, because they like the tradition of their program.

Eventually down the road, the Irish will probably have to team up with the Big Ten or whoever, but for right now, people need to get over the fact Jack Swarbrick is in the meeting with the BCS commissioners and purely enjoy the fact playoffs are coming to college football.