"... the benefits of independence are worth the inevitability that there will be a year where our independence hurts us. We’re fine with that trade-off."

That is the single statement that sums up ND's mindset about independence, in a nutshell.

They prize independence to the point where it is more important than winning a championship --- and I think you can also say that it's more important than money, as well.

To every other program, that concept, as you point out, is foreign. Every other program wants to make as much money as possible and win as many championships as possible. Notre Dame wants to stay independent, above all else.

So, when thinking of Notre Dame, fans of other programs need stop looking at ND through the money-and-championships lens, and look at them through the independence lens. Then, their behavior becomes predictable (as much as any entity's behavior can be predicted).