Notre Dame Doesn't Deserve Criticism From College Football Coaches Over Independent Status

The buzz this week has been all about Clemson coach Dabo Swinney — and several other coaches throughout the FBS — whining about Notre Dame joining a league. Gary Pinkel of Missouri stated, “They don’t have independents in the NFL.” That’s right, Gary. They don’t. But this isn’t the NFL; this is college football. And it is that very incongruity, that glorious, messy inequitableness, that makes college football great. So leave Notre Dame alone, dadgumit.

The independents keep college football interesting, and let’s face it, Notre Dame brings their well-deserved cachet to any town they visit. Tickets for this Saturday’s game against Clemson are going for $1,200 on Stub Hub. $1,200? Cripes. That is ten times the cost of comparable tickets for next week’s game against Georgia Tech. So yeah, I’d say Notre Dame changed the status of this Saturday’s matchup against Clemson from a business-as-usual matchup for the talented Tigers to one of Biblical proportions.

If you want to make this a game of numbers, Notre Dame has one of the biggest and most geographically diverse fan bases in the country. Whenever Notre Dame plays another college team ticket prices for that game soar into the stratosphere. While this can be tough on fans without the financial wherewithal to afford those tickets it is a huge boost for athletic departments. It also guarantees that your game will be viewed by more people than ever.

A normal ACC matchup between Syracuse and Florida State will generate little buzz. That game gets relegated to the outer reaches of ESPN 3 if it gets televised at all. But if the Irish come to town they bring a national television contract with them. Ratings are important in college football — and Notre Dame always has the ratings. At the end of the day college athletics is about the money —a nd Notre Dame brings it in.

If you want to make this game more equitable then let’s get all athletic departments equal funding so that they can afford better recruits. Let’s eliminate television deals for big schools. Or heck, let’s just break up the mighty SEC and distribute their elite teams to all the other conferences so that they have a shot at the playoffs. Gary Pinkel, I’m sorry that Missouri is mediocre this year, but making Notre Dame join a conference won’t change that.

Notre Dame plays a brutal schedule this year with six road games, three of which are against ranked opponents. If they go 12-0 they should have the same shot at the playoff as a conference team. College football has never been about equity, particularly in scheduling. Nonetheless, to single out Notre Dame as the bastard stepchild in a quest for parity is misguided. If you want to complain about Notre Dame’s schedule, play them and beat them. It would only be fair, Gary.