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The Notre Dame football program is a unique one for a lot of reasons. It is one of the most storied programs in college football, and there aren't a lot of others that have experienced the success that the Fighting Irish have seen. The big difference between Notre Dame and the other elite programs in college football is that the Fighting Irish aren't in a conference. They are an independent, but as the landscape of the sport continues to change, so could Notre Dame's conference stance.
Right now, the Notre Dame football team wants to stay independent. If it wanted to join a conference, it would. If the Fighting Irish join a conference, they would also lose one of their most unique characteristics.
“It’s what this football program was built from,” Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman said during an episode of The Joel Klatt Show. “As long as we can, we will [retain independence]. I have a lot of confidence in our administration and Pete Bevacqua, or AD, that he’ll always keep us in a position to be successful. So, as long as we can keep that Independence, we will.”
Seeing how the last few years have gone, Marcus Freeman knows that Notre Dame has to be ready to adapt at any second. If you aren't willing to change in this era, you will get left behind.
“But, if there ever comes a time that we are at a disadvantage because we aren’t in a conference, I’m sure he’ll make the decision,” Freeman added. “Along with our president, to say, ‘Alright, we’re gonna join one of these conferences, and position ourselves to not be negatively impacted by being Independent.'”
With the way that the College Football Playoff is trending, not being in a conference could end up hurting the Fighting Irish. Conference champions get special treatment like automatic bids, and teams in the SEC and the Big Ten seem to get looked at in a different light compared to teams in other conferences.
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“I think if you talk about being at a disadvantage to make the postseason,” Freeman continued. “Because you’re not in the Playoff. Or, if there comes a time when teams won’t schedule you because the Big Ten or the SEC are saying we’re gonna play nine games and we’ll play a crossover game and who cares about Notre Dame? Well, then I think there’s going to be a point where we’re forced to join a conference. But until that point happens, which it doesn’t look likely, we’re going to stay Independent as long as we can.”
Freeman has paid attention to what has gone down, and he has a good idea of where the sport is headed. He knows that Notre Dame might have to make this big change eventually.
“I can see it trending that way,” he said. “I don’t know when that time will come. When you start adding in TV money, you start adding in scheduling, there’s a lot of money involved with college football. There might come a time where there might be an outside entity that takes college football away from the NCAA. I don’t know, right? The future is uncertain,” Freeman said. “But I could see a college football system where everybody’s Independent and somebody else is — very similar to the NFL — somebody else is scheduling the games, when you play each other. Then, all of a sudden, it’s not based off TV deals with your conference anymore. It’ll be based off regional location and things like that.”
If the Notre Dame football team does join a conference, the Big Ten would make a lot of sense. The Fighting Irish are located in the heart of Big Ten country, and Notre Dame has two rivals already in the conference in USC and Michigan. It's a move that would make sense.
