Blowing Up The Argument: Notre Dame Would Dominate The Big Ten

Alright. This post has been coming for a few weeks now. The conference debate amongst Irish fans and alumni is getting as heated as it is one-sided. Heated, meaning that the topic is getting more and more discussion brewing on blogs, message boards, and Notre Dame media. One-sided, meaning that I would guess that 90% of the chatter is “Pro-Independence.”

While that shows that Fighting Irish supporters are fairly uniform in their desire to stay Independent, it has also given license to some of the crazier and more annoying Irish fans to shout out their opinions why Notre Dame should not join a conference and in particular, The Big Integer.

I am going to be very honest about my general opinion of Notre Dame possibly joining the Big Integer. I have explained it in the past, but I will gloss over it one more time before I continue.

• I am a 60/40 lean in joining, due to changes across the college football landscape and Notre Dame’s inability to manifest a schedule that garners a lot of excitement.
• I fully support the Pro-Independence movement. A contradiction, I know. Although I am a lean towards joining, I fully support the alumni, students, and administration that want to stay Independent. This is their school- I’m merely along for the ride.

What this post (and any future posts on this topic) will contain are counterpoints to some of the more ignorant statements made on the behalf of Independence. Because I do not want to start a war with any particular message board or blog, I will not name where I read such statements, because they are usually on more than one anyways.

I think a healthy debate is warranted for such a broad and game-changing topic, so I will merely provide myself as the devil’s advocate.

“The conference race would be boring, because every year it would only be Notre Dame, Ohio State, Michigan, and Penn State in the running to win.”

First of all, any conference race that has 3 strong candidates is a good one. Having 4 teams would be one of the better storylines in college football. The more teams in the mix, makes for bigger games and bigger rewards for winning those games on a national scale. Look at what the SEC and Big 12 has done in recent years. Irish fans may not understand the importance of “Big” conference games, but the national media (AKA voters) does and places great importance on these games. Win these games and a solid out-of-conference game ( for ND that could be a win over U$C) and the respect, the votes, and the attention are heaved upon the victor. Like it, or not that’s just the way it is.

Secondly, that statement completely dismisses the other quality teams in the conference such as Wisconsin and Iowa. ( BTW- Notre Dame is only 9-9 against Big Integer teams in the past 5 years: 4-1 Purdue, 2-3 Michigan State, 2-3 Michigan, 1-1 Penn State, and 0-1 Ohio State). Let’s take a look at the Hawkeyes and Badgers, and how they have done in the past 5 years.  

That gives these two teams, that are considered second tier teams in the conference, a combined record of 94-41 with Iowa having a 2-2 bowl record and Wisconsin having a 3-2 bowl record. Not too bad. In fact, it is better than our alternative. Out of Notre Dame’s non-Big Integer opponents the closest you could come to Wisconsin and Iowa would be Pittsburgh and Boston College.

Boston College and Pitt combined for a 82-45 record with Pitt having a 1-1 bowl record and BC having a 3-2 bowl record. Would you trade the BC and Pitt games for games against Wisconsin and Iowa? I would. Better opponents and more intriguing matchups.

And while we are on the subject of scheduling, Notre Dame would still have 4 out of conference games each year if they joined a conference. U$C and Navy could still be played every year- as they should be, and that still leaves two spots open for a Utah, a Stanford, or even a Tulsa.

The two teams that are viewed as the top two in the Big Integer, would probably be Penn State and Ohio State. The top two teams that ND plays in 2010 are probably U$C and Utah. Even if Notre Dame were in the Big Integer this year, they could still play U$C and Utah. Let’s take a look at those 4 teams, and we might as well throw our own numbers up as well.

I know I am falling a long ways from the original point, but I think the underlining point is the schedule itself. Notre Dame has had a .500 record against the Big Integer in the past 5 seasons. Saying the Irish would walk into the conference and position itself as the cream of the crop right off the bat is lunacy. The numbers back me up on this. Of course, you might be able to argue that the “Charlie Weis Factor” is no longer present, but we still have no proof of a dramatic increase of production.

And just to stretch out my point on the schedule, here is what the 2010 schedule could have looked like if ND was a member of the Big Integer:

• Purdue
• Michigan
• @Michigan State
• @Iowa
• Stanford
• @Wisconsin
• Navy
• Penn State
• Utah
• @Illinois
• Ohio State
• @U$C

That looks a lot more interesting then what is offered in reality.

Basically, you can take two things away from this insanely scattered post…

1. The Big Integer would not be a pushover- no matter how you want to look at it.
2. Notre Dame’s problems in perception, are directly related to how they schedule. The conference talk could be almost entirely muted , if ND would leave the 7-4-1 and go to a 7-5 format. They need the bigger games, and Tulsa isn’t cutting it.