Why Notre Dame football should be forced to join the ACC

The entire Notre Dame football joining the ACC argument has been prevalent amongst college football discussion topics for quite some time now.

However, last season really put the icing on the cake in regards to questioning why in the world Notre Dame is still an independent program, and why there are not any talks about how they should be forced to join the struggling conference.

As it has already been for several years, the Irish annually receive five out of their twelve regular-season opponents (almost half of their schedule) from the ACC for absolutely no charge. That alone is some malarkey, as they are still able to show off their continuously lucrative television contract with NBC and create the rest of their slate however they wish. The 2020 season, though, is what took those benefits to a whole new level.

Due to complications from the long-running COVID-19 pandemic, many collegiate leagues kept to their own yearly competition (with a few exceptions), which was about as safe of a decision as a conference could make without calling off their season entirely. This led to the typical FBS Independents, such as Notre Dame, being left to fend for themselves as far as constructing a schedule, as one can obviously not play in-conference games without actually being in a conference to begin with.

But then, just like that, the ACC swooped in to save their little damsel in distress. They welcomed the pitiful Irish into their league, arming them with a full-season slate. This gave them a chance to not just play football in the first place, but to battle for a conference title, and even a national one (both of which they subsequently got very close to obtaining).

Now one may think to themselves, “what about the other Independent teams?” They, not very surprisingly, got no such treatment. As a result, they had to make do with whatever scraps were left for them to face off against. Some other Independents did actually manage to find some foes of their own, but they were no match for the red carpet that the Irish received.

Perhaps the saddest example of this wrongdoing is BYU. In 2020, the Cougars amassed their fair share of national relevance by ripping off a final record of 11-1. If the Cougs had put on such a display with a schedule as formidable as what they are used to, they would have had both a playoff argument and a guaranteed top-10 finish on the year.

But unfortunately, their opponents were so weak that they never even had a chance.

Was BYU the best team in the country? Heck no. However, we would have never known if they were; and a big reason as to why is because they were not given the golden opportunity that Notre Dame was.

I would say that the worst part of all of this is that the Fighting Irish will do nothing in response to everything that was handed to them. Rather, they will return to going at their own pace and calling their own shots in 2021, and that is absolutely sickening. Notre Dame should not be allowed to access the milk and honey of Power Five clout whenever it is convenient for them.

Either join a conference or suffer like those who cannot.