- Joined
- Sep 22, 2011
- Messages
- 772
- Reaction Score
- 703
It's easier to recruit when you are selling a chance to win titles, and not simply national ones. Notre Dame is in a situation unique in college football, as they are truly boom-or-bust. There is no safety net. If they don't make the playoffs, there is no hardware they can attain. No divisional bragging rights, or conference championship game, nothing besides a generic bowl somewhere in the desert. You ask the average football fan, Notre Dame has had one good season in 20 years. It's because they are completely off the radar if they aren't in the hunt for a national title. Their first loss, and the media stops paying attention to them. The media will follow FSU or Michigan or Washington past their first loss because there is still a divisional title on the line, and beyond that the conference title, and maybe redemption with a playoff bid. Notre Dame doesn't get that benefit now.
ND understands and accepts this. It has always been this way at ND. Football has never been in a conference, so those types of titles are alien to ND fans.