Notre Dame Football: Will Irish ever win College Football Playoff?

Notre Dame football is one of the most revered programs in college football history. The question is–can they go back to their winning tradition?

Another year, another college football season in the bag. For those of us that live and die by the start of football season, the next seven months are simply a hellacious, long placeholder until the gridiron comes to life again. It’s a time of reflection, and a time to opine about what might happen in the 2019 season. After seeing the CFP games this past season, one major question comes to mind—does Notre Dame have the stuff to win a national title? The answer, to the sorrow of Irish fans everywhere, is an unfortunate and resounding no.

Now, as we all know, college football is never predictable—chaos is the only certainty. Yet I feel confident in stating that Notre Dame will not win another national title anytime soon and definitely not in the next decade?

Notre Dame rests in the annals of college football legend. The school has a mystique. One has only to look at the gold-covered “Touchdown Jesus” mural that looms over the stadium as an avenging angel, ready to smite all those that would dare to take down the mighty Irish.

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The gorgeous architecture of the campus seems more suited to an Old-World college, and the school’s healthy love of ritual and tradition harkens toward its Catholic roots. For fans and alumni, Notre Dame is more than just a college football program—it is a way of life. The fanbase is steadfast; the team has sold out every home game since 1974.

But beyond all of that, Notre Dame football means big money. For any team that chooses to play them, they are guaranteed national exposure due to the school’s long-running contract with NBC. Catholics everywhere that have no particular loyalty to any football team will watch Notre Dame. Notre Dame boasts one of the biggest fanbases on earth, with almost three million people professing their love of all things Irish. It’s why Notre Dame made it to the CFP in the first place.

So, the question is, what happened to Notre Dame football? The answer—they can’t play postseason. Even if the pontiff had flown in from Rome to bless the team personally, the Irish had no shot. I am not denigrating Brian Kelly—a 12-0 season is awesome under any circumstances and Kelly has done that twice in his seven years with the program.

To put that into perspective, only Nick Saban and Urban Meyer have managed that in the same amount of time. But criminy. They looked awful in the CFP game against Clemson. They fumbled on almost every offensive possession, and gave up 306 yards in the first half. And let’s not forget about what happened in 2012, which was the last time before 2018 that Notre Dame appeared in a national title game. To recap, the Irish went down to the Tide 42-14.

Staying away from conferences, while ensuring Notre Dame all sorts of money and nifty television contracts, repudiates much of the recruiting cachet that they would get from being in one. Think about it. Pitt had a mediocre 7-7 season, but still has an ACC Atlantic trophy to show potential recruits. Notre Dame went 12-1 and has nothing to show for it. And the Gen Z recruits that are visiting campuses care less about Notre Dame’s hallowed traditions and more about getting their faces on television.

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Notre Dame had the talent and the resources to be in the national title conversation, they just didn’t have the gumption. With folks like Nick Saban, Kirby Smart, and Dabo Swinney demon-recruiting the best talent in the Southeast, Brian Kelly won’t find an easy road to get a 5-star recruiting class. Since the team remains a football independent and never establishes any sort of rivalry, they have no chance to hone their skills throughout the season. I get it—being independent is a 100-year tradition and part of the school’s history. But maybe it’s time to rewrite that history.

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