Has anyone changed their perspective on being an ACC member after this season?

[W8LNXYR]

We would have been 12-0 (likely) and in the Rose Bowl at #2 instead of a Bama sacrifice in the Sugar.

So ND plays #3 Clemson in the rose bowl and by some miracle (based on game yesterday) beats them, then beats Bama in the NC game, all because ND wasn’t in the ACC? Vs this year, beating Bama first and then beating Clemson in the NC? Why does it matter the order that ND plays the teams? Hard to follow how not being in the ACC helps win it all. I could see how it helps to get to the playoffs, but that’s it, unless that’s all you are arguing but then who cares unless ND wins it all.

 

[gradyjl]

Go Irish! Acc acc acc acc...!

 

[TerryD44]

Go Irish! Acc acc acc acc...!

Indy all the way.

 

[TerryD44]

In a 15 team ACC, an 8 game conference schedule will be kept. The reason is that 4 ACC members (Clemson, FSU, GT, Louisville) end their seasons Thanksgiving weekend against an in-state rival in the SEC. That means they only have 3 games to schedule each year. None of them will want to go to 9 ACC games.

In a 15 team league, you must play without divisions, like this year. That means, first, that any chance of a team losing the playoff because of losing the CCG to a team with 3 or 4 losses is gone. The two best teams always will meet in the CCG.

It also means that nobody will play 7 ACC teams every year. Everybody will play everybody often. The best plan would be to have each team have 2 annual rivals. That means that there will be 12 teams left to play. Those teams can be divided into two groups of 6. Each of those groups will be played twice every four seasons. So, everybody will play 2 teams every year and 12 teams twice over every four year period.

That leaves everybody with 4 OOC games per year. ND-SC is the largest and most important inter-sectional rivalry in the sport. It must be maintained, including the way it has been played (in Oct when in South Bend and Thanksgiving weekend when in LA) - assuming that the Pac will continue to allow that scheduling.

Navy is most important to ND football because Navy will play ND anywhere. ND football has no need to ever play teams from anywhere if ND can play periodic neutral site games in those regions/states. In other words, ND needs to play in TX every few years, but ND has no need to play either Longhorns or Aggies, nor Horned Frogs nor Bears. ND can meet its TX needs by playing Navy in Houston.

Stanford is not the same as SC and Navy, the two teams that ND has played most. Stanford is a recent rival, created as such to have a game to end the season in 'warm' weather in the years when SC plays at ND in Oct. So Stanford is not a Must Keep Annual Game as SC and Navy are. What Stanford provides (ending every season away from Sound Bend in good weather and playing in CA other than LA) can be provided in other ways.

The game has changed a great deal since ND last won a National Championship - 1988. I am among a large, and growing, group that says that ND cannot win a National Championship in football now unless it becomes a full conference member and gets in the habit of fighting to win a conference championship.

If any of you think that the worst can't happen, that this streak of more than 30 years of no ND National Championship can't continue much longer and that ND cannot lose any more status, should ponder how the nation would respond to UNC fans chirping about being a unique blueblood if our last basketball National Championship came in 1988.

If you cannot give up things that are not truly essential to your ability to reach greatness in order to avoid nearly worst case scenarios, then you are part and parcel of the bad that continues.

Joining the ACC will not help recruiting, which is the biggest impediment to ND winning a title.

Playing 8 ACC schools per year will not propel ND to titles. Just playing as a conference member will not jump start recruiting.

Hiring a great coach with a killer recruiting staff will go further than just joining the ACC.

ND usually recruits around #8-#13 or so. It has to get up into the top five to compete with teams like Clemson and Alabama.

Being in the ACC will not materially affect recruiting. Its not a magic elixir.

 

[TerryD44]

The SEC would never do that. The SEC does not care a jot about schools like ND (small, private). The Big Ten does not care about such schools either, but it might make such a deal now thinking it would hurt ACC football. If ND is stupid enough to have anything to do with the BT, it is stupid enough to blow its own foot off in the name of getting to top football glory.

ND football can never again be a true independent. That is the first fact to face. ND is now a 5/8ths member of ACC football. It is the only such deal that work well for the whole of ND's athletics department. The issue is whether ND football can become better by competing for football championships.

Agree that the SEC would not do an "ND type deal" with ND. The Big 12 and the ACC were in a weaker position than the SEC.

Irrelevant since ND has no interest in joining the SEC. That feeling is mutual.

ND is not 5/8's a member of the ACC.

ND has a five game scheduling agreement with the ACC.

That is not too much different than having a three game scheduling agreement with the Big Ten (Michigan, Michigan State and Purdue) and the Big East (Pitt, BC) in the past. Its a wash.

 

[NDinNJ]

IMO ACC fans don't want ND and vice versa. Time to cut the cord

Well then, lucky for the ACC it’s not up to what the fans want.

 

[BloodOfIrish]

Keep in mind. The ACC deal isn’t just football.

ND joined the ACC in 2013. Since then they already have 11 ACC titles across all the sports that compete in conference. To help understand that. Miami who joined in all sports in 2004. Has 8.

 

[tbonesays]

Keep in mind. The ACC deal isn’t just football.

ND joined the ACC in 2013. Since then they already have 11 ACC titles across all the sports that compete in conference. To help understand that. Miami who joined in all sports in 2004. Has 8.

Conference Tournament Champions
1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1994 (MCC) 2013 (Big East) 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2019 (ACC)

Conference Regular Season Champions
1985, 1986 (North Star) 1989, 1990, 1991, 1994, 1995 (MCC) 2001, 2012, 2013 (Big East) 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 (ACC)

Not hard to guess where they come from. But I was surprised to see that Women's BBall had relatively few Big East conference titles.