I want to thank you for the well written post and thank everyone here for putting up with me.

I try to lurk and not post much but ya'll post a lot of "ND to ACC" stuff. :)

I used to be in the "ND should join a conference" group about 20 years or so ago, but had a serious change of opinion then.

I hope my posts are not seen as arrogant or combative.

This is not my intent, especially as a visitor to your board. I think that this is a great board to discuss college realignment and football.


There is a lot in your post to reply to, so I will "bullet point" my responses:

--Yes, I may follow ND football a lot less if it joins a conference. That happened to me in basketball when ND joined the Big East in 1995. I preferred it as an independent.

--I fail to see how joining sooner will benefit ND. What will "leverage" bring? Navy as #16? Which division to be in? I see these as minor, inconsequential things.

--I don't see what the ACC can do to pressure ND. There is a contract until 2027.

--I am starting to worry that if the pressure is on ND to join a conference in full, it just might head to the Big Ten either right before 2027 or right afterwards.
(Big Ten wants it, will take it and will pay the most)

--If ND has to go all in, why the ACC and less money versus the Big Ten and the most money?

--The main reason ND headed to the ACC in the first place was the partial member deal. Sure, there are more "like minded" schools and the East Coast and Southeast are great for games and recruiting, but isn't CR mainly about $$$$.

--The ACC move, like the Big East move before it, was primarily done to keep ND football independent and out of any conference.

--So, if the only choices are which conference to join in full, I am not so sure that the verdict will be the ACC.

--I am sure that Swarbrick wants to keep ND at the "Alabama-Florida State" level, but as a fan, I wonder if joining a conference is worth it and whether it would be better at the "Army-Navy" level as a true independent.

--A big part of my ND fandom is that ND is different, not "cookie cutter" as in a regular conference member, plus with other unique stuff like no athletic dorms, all players take Freshman Year of Studies like all regular students, a bit higher football admissions standards than the norm, etc.

--IF ND is just going to join a conference and be like everyone else, then as a fan, what is the point?

--I want ND to take the harder route, the solo route, the different, higher admissions standards route, the tougher schedule route and win despite those differences. That has made, and would make, winning it all that much sweeter in my book.

--If ND joins a football conference and all that "uniqueness" is gone, then so will a lot of my interest and that of many ND fans. It would be a run of the mill conference school doing the same thing as everyone else.

Where is the fun in that?

---If "specialness" is going to subside as you say, I would rather ND go down fighting as an independent than surrender to the bastard P5 conferences (I have always strongly disliked the very idea of conferences). That is just my take.

Anyway, thanks for the post and take care.



[Post edited by TerryD at 07/07/2016 12:53PM]