Not as crazy as you might think. The core of big time donors, whose point of view is well represented here by TerryD and goldomer, still holds sway but many believe Jenkins and Swarbrick would join yesterday if that big money tipping point is reached. It would be interesting to see if allowing ND to compete for the 2020 championship would be a difference maker.
The final paragraphs:
Recently, CBS Sports defined the “modern era” of college football as 1992, when the SEC playoffs, scholarship cutbacks, BCS system, television rights, etc., began to merge. No “championships” have been won by Notre Dame since then while 14 other schools, predominantly from the South or warm-weather sites, have.

An opportunity to play for merely an ACC division or conference title is anathema to much of the “older guard” such as myself, because it comes across as a continuing lowering of the bar and becoming “Schembechlerized.”

Yet… I confess that the older I’ve grown and the less Notre Dame has annually competed for a national title, the thought of joining the ACC full time in football doesn’t sound as repulsive as it once might have, be it in 2020 temporarily or somewhere by 2030, if not later.

It seems nobody wants to be known as the administrator who relinquished Notre Dame’s football independence.

Sooner or later, though, one can’t help wonder if that stance will become more passé if the decades continue to roll on without the brass ring. ld make a difference.
The final paragraphs:
Recently, CBS Sports defined the “modern era” of college football as 1992, when the SEC playoffs, scholarship cutbacks, BCS system, television rights, etc., began to merge. No “championships” have been won by Notre Dame since then while 14 other schools, predominantly from the South or warm-weather sites, have.

An opportunity to play for merely an ACC division or conference title is anathema to much of the “older guard” such as myself, because it comes across as a continuing lowering of the bar and becoming “Schembechlerized.”

Yet… I confess that the older I’ve grown and the less Notre Dame has annually competed for a national title, the thought of joining the ACC full time in football doesn’t sound as repulsive as it once might have, be it in 2020 temporarily or somewhere by 2030, if not later.

It seems nobody wants to be known as the administrator who relinquished Notre Dame’s football independence.

Sooner or later, though, one can’t help wonder if that stance will become more passé if the decades continue to roll on without the brass ring.
[Post edited by PaNDalum at 07/15/2020 10:16AM]