As we head into the second season of the college football playoff, a number of coaches took shots at the Irish, arguing that Notre Dame needs to be in a conference with a playoff in order to be considered for a spot in the sport’s final four. Yesterday, Dan Wetzel crushed those “intellectually lazy opinions” by pointing out that the Irish play a twelve game schedule that is every bit as tough, if not tougher, than any of the conference pretenders.
In case you haven’t heard, Missouri’s Gary Pinkel said that Notre Dame should be forced to join a conference. Simple as that, really. Yesterday, Frank Beamer said that Notre Dame needed to join a conference or play thirteen games. Duke’s David Cutcliffe said that mandatory conference-membership was the “only way to a level playing field.”
We all know another one, though: the other guys can stop playing FCS opponents. Basically, if you’re not playing a FBS school, you’re looking to put the cheer squad through its paces. FCS schools are different from their FBS counterparts in a few important ways, the biggest of which is that FBS teams offer 85 athletic scholarships and draw more than 15,000 fans per game. Simple things, on paper, but they entail an enormous capital investment on the institution. And, while enough FCS players make the NFL to make me mention it, and enough FCS schools pull upsets, it’s just not equal.
Find it at The Helmet Project
find it at The Helmet Project
So, who are the complainers playing? Well, Missouri opens against the Southeast Missouri Redbirds. Maybe there’s some sectional or regional appeal there, like when the Irish play Michigan, but Michigan’s at least in the FBS. And, Missouri didn’t play the Redbirds last season. Instead, they played South Dakota State. You may know them as the “Jackrabbits.”
Find it at The Helmet Project
Clemson’s going to open the 2015 season against the Wofford Terriers, best known for their fight song, God Loves a Terrier. Duke plays North Carolina Central. Even Pitt gets in on the FCS-capades with Youngstown State. FSU will play the Mocs, out of Chattanooga. At home.
So, let’s start with getting everyone to play a complete non-FCS schedule. Because, let’s face it, if you’re playing the Mocs en route to the conference championship, you’ve only played eleven games.
Hating Hurricanes Since 1990.
Bayou Irish is a Jersey boy and Double Domer who fell under New Orleans' spell in 1995. He's been through Katrina and fourteen years in the Coast Guard, so we cut him some slack, mostly in the form of HLS-subsidized sazeracs. But, when he's not face down on the bar and communing with the ghosts of Faulkner and Capote at the Carousel Bar in the Hotel Monteleone, he's our man in SEC-land, doing his best to convince everyone around him that Graduation Success Rate is a better indicator of success than the number of MNC's won in the last five years.
- Finding Flaws in a Diamond: Clemson’s Rushing Offense - December 17, 2018
- Why Nobody Will Cotton to Notre Dame - December 3, 2018
- Irish Finish Regular Season Perfect 12-0 - November 26, 2018
Truth!