Last year was a mulligan for everyone. Nothing in the database from last year should point to anything meaningful. It would have been no different than if no games were played any where. There is a difference in playing a conference part time (ND now) and full time.

I really have little desire to debate this issue with you because I think Notre Dame has "independenced" themselves into an irrelevant footnote. You are obviously an ardent fan for your institution and I expect you can only see the circumstances from that point of view. But you might see the clues for what they are, ND has just lost it's coach 24, hours before finding out if it is in the CFP or not. The resume to put ND in the playoff is the weakest of all those school sunder consideration and yet there was still a decent chance ND would get in.

Your coach not only left, but left for a school mired in legal, social, moral and financial troubles of massive proportions. They have gone through several coaches in a quick span of time and showed no fairness or loyalty to any of them from the first day they stepped on campus and yet Brian Kelley chose to go there. Ask yourself why someone would do that?

Notre Dame as a conference member has one over riding fear, becoming a school like VT in the process. An older name of some clout but essentially a no body on the modern college football stage. Notre Dame would move from being a guest in the house to getting up each day and doing the chores along with everyone else. Notre Dame thinks they are too good for that and every one should know, but the truth is, Notre Dame would have to learn how to be part of a team and they have zero skills at that and thus their meshing in a conference will always be work to them. The other members of the conference would wonder why you can't do your part and Notre Dame would think they are killing themselves to fit in when all they would actually be doing is whining about their lot in life. Notre Dame is not cut out to be a in conference because it is SO MUCH more than just playing 8 conference game sin football.