exactly what you were talking about. My original reply to Edgeman and subsequent replies was merely to get him to consider the highly unlikely probability that any program can sell itself as a national program for purpose of carriage negotiations with cable companies.

ND does a fine job of marketing and characterizing its football program as a national program and it might even strengthen/reestablish a valid argument if recent improvements/trends are sustained. The reality is that subsequent to Lou Holtz, ND's performance on the field did not measure up to those lofty aspirations for a fairly long time but, were instead propped up by NBC desperate for any sports property it could actually hold on to and the mystique of earlier glory days of the Fighting Irish. If Kelley can sustain and/or improve on recent performance they just might get back to that level but, it is going to take more than a season or two of solid performance.