They see the unveiling of the preseason US LBM Coaches Poll earlier this week, and see Notre Dame planted at No. 5 and are forced to accept the reality that its path to the playoff is a layup line.
They see an Ohio State schedule that from the middle of October until Thanksgiving weekend includes games at Indiana and USC, and Oregon and Michigan at home — that’s four Top 16 teams in the preseason poll.
An Ohio State schedule that also includes a September nonconference game at No. 4 Texas, and an Illinois team that — look it up, I’m not kidding — won 19 games over the past two seasons.
They see every SEC schedule — pick a team, any team — and can come to only one reasonable conclusion: Notre Dame hate.
Welcome to the club, younglings. Check your jealousy, I mean envy, at the door.
Imagine having annual “rivalries” with Stanford and Navy, and then ending an annual rivalry with Michigan more than a decade ago because of a “deal” with the middling ACC that gives you nearly half of your schedule every season.
Imagine haggling with Southern California over one of the top three rivalries in the sport, and then ending it — before deciding to resume it four years later.
Gen Z doesn’t care about Notre Dame’s ability to dictate when and where it will play on national television, and how with its NBC media rights deal, earns as much annually as SEC and Big Ten teams. Or that with a deep CFP run, makes more than SEC and Big Ten teams.
In other words, we don’t need your stinking conference. We don’t need to play in an elite conference where every week is a grind, and everyone knows your personnel year after year and every road game is a 50-50 nightmare.