This is exactly the year that Notre Dame shoud NOT be in a conference...
Notre Dame is nowhere near good enough to win even the ACC - not with Louisville ascending, Clemson remaining strong, and FSU probably on a short 'rebuilding' track (don't forget they played as well as Bama did against Ole Miss, with a redshirt freshman at QB).
So Notre Dame is just another upper middling ACC team in 2016, but stuck playing 3-4 games with absolutely no appeal, probably two against schools in a state (NC) from which they draw few students.
Now, Notre Dame gets to keep their star-studded national schedule with multiple games in Cali, Texas, New York, and Florida, etc. - west, midwest, northeast, southeast - all covered. I don't think Notre Dame wants half its schedule jammed up in the southeast with an ACC schedule.
So, when the Irish are not that good, a conference makes absolutely no sense. In particular a conference with eight schools concentrated in a very small area of the southeast. 'National Schedule' is a term used often for Notre Dame for good reason.
The only time a conference makes sense is the hypothetical-yet-to-be-proved year in which they finish 11-1 and get locked out of the playoff. If they go undefeated with a schedule that looks anything like 2016's, they are IN.
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In response to this post by CobbCountyHokie)
Posted: 09/18/2016 at 10:39PM