Notre Dame Football: 3 reasons Irish will never make playoff as Independent

Is it time for Notre Dame football to pick a conference? It seems as if the Fighting Irish will never make the College Football Playoff without one.

If you are a Notre Dame fan, the sky might feel like it’s falling after Miami beat down the Fighting Irish 41-8 on national television. I’ll give fans some comfort: at least the game wasn’t in South Bend.

With that being said, I’m going to give you a few reasons why Notre Dame won’t ever make the College Football Playoff due to their designation as an Independent.

3. Recruiting parity

Notre Dame is a prestigious school; the Irish have a rich history of winning football. As of late, they have been a good team. Besides the 2016 season, everything has been on the uptick for the Fighting Irish.

In the 1980s and 1990s, they were getting top recruit after top recruit. If you look at the history books, they snagged countless program-changing players from Tim Brown, Joe Montana, Rick Mirer (don’t base this off of the NFL, please), Jerome Bettis, Rocket Ismail, Ricky Watters and many others. Notre Dame was one of the top schools to go to and a lot of players dreamed of players for the Irish.

As of late, Brian Kelly has been reeling in quality classes to come play for the Fighting Irish, but the young men now are looking at Ohio State, Clemson and Alabama first before giving Notre Dame a chance. There’s not much they can do about it, it’s just a change in the times, those programs have it rolling right now and can pursued almost any young man to come to their school.

South Bend still has a top-tier program, but a lot of others have gained ground or surpassed the allure of Notre Dame.