I agree. 76 HS grad. ARMY had unbelievable teams in the 40's. I have no recollection of ARMY being great. Great respect for the academy, but I have no memory of ARMY being good.
I am way younger than you (wasn’t even born until after you would’ve been long done with college) and ND has been relevant my entire life. Perhaps they don’t care about 1988, but they do consider ND relevant. This is evidenced by our top ranked recruiting classes under Weis, BK and Freeman, despite our academic requirements, horrible weather, horrible location, and unwillingness to participate in NIL.
There are over 10 million ND fans, it dominates the TV and media discussions, it is an iconic brand with movies and films made after it, it’s well known in every corner and pocket of the country with rabid fans, and we’ve been to a national championship game, a Heisman candidate, two playoff games, and several top 10 team finishes. It is known for its elite academics, uniforms, famous alumni, extreme wealth, and sure, rich history. I have no idea how anyone makes the argument that ND isn’t relevant. I get why a kid picks Bama, Georgia, Ohio State over ND. After that, it’s a steep drop off and nobody is better than ND, unless they’re dropping bags (which is a valid argument).
Maybe you’re not saying ND is not iconic to kids. I agree they don’t care much about 1988, but there’s a reason why so many 5 star recruits put ND in their top 5 and hat picks.