Notre Dame’s place in the College Football Playoff conversation has once again dragged the same old complaint back into the spotlight: the Fighting Irish need to join a conference.
That line gets repeated every time the rankings spark debate, but the latest CFP Top 25 only sharpened the double standard around Notre Dame. CFP Chair Hunter Yurachek was asked why Indiana sat at No. 4 while Notre Dame checked in at No. 11, and his answer centered on the kind of schedule comparison that has become familiar for the Irish.
“Yeah, I think comparatively Indiana has five, six games against teams that are .500 and above, and they’re 5-1 in those games. Notre Dame has two games against teams that are .500 and above,” Yurachek claimed when asked about the disparity.
“They’ve won one of those games and lost the other one of those games. I think Notre Dame’s overall body of work is against a strength of schedule that’s not as strong as Indiana’s. Again, Notre Dame has a great opportunity in front of them at home against the No. 1 team in our CFP ranking this weekend to get that signature win.”
That explanation may be easier to swallow if the two teams were separated by a wide gap in every category, but the larger issue is the familiar response Notre Dame gets whenever its schedule comes under fire. The answer is always the same: join a conference.
Except that argument doesn’t really hold up either.
The conference Notre Dame would most likely join is the ACC, not the Big Ten, even though the assumption often goes the other way. The Irish are already tied to the ACC in most other sports, and in football they already have a scheduling agreement with the league that covers half their slate.
This season, that means North Carolina, Stanford, Miami, Boston College, SMU, and Syracuse are already on the schedule. If Notre Dame were to add three more ACC games, it’s hard to imagine those spots replacing Navy, Rice, or Purdue.
And that’s the heart of the issue: a move to the ACC would not automatically make Notre Dame’s schedule tougher in the way critics like to suggest. Indiana’s non-conference slate includes North Texas, Howard, and Western Kentucky. If Notre Dame joined the ACC, the Irish would be giving up games like Michigan State, Wisconsin, and BYU.
At that point, the same people complaining about Notre Dame’s schedule would likely still be complaining. They’d just be doing it while ranking Indiana or Alabama, whose non-conference schedule is East Carolina, Florida State, and Chattanooga.
So yes, keep saying Notre Dame should join a conference if you want. But the idea that it would magically end the criticism doesn’t match how this debate actually works.
The Irish can already compete with the biggest programs in the sport, and they currently have the No. 3 recruiting class in the 2027 cycle. Joining a conference wouldn’t make the noise go away.
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CJ Carr Just Got A Huge Heisman Opening Before Miami Arrives
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For Notre Dame, the opening is less about celebrating an opponents setback than recognizing how quickly the Heisman picture can change in September. If Toney is sidelined for upcoming games, Miamis offense will have to redistribute production, and that can alter the way voters view Darian Mensah and other contenders around the country, including Carr and Jeremiah Smith. In a race this early, availability and opportunity can matter as much as highlight plays, and Miamis latest injury development only adds another layer to what was already a big stage. [Read more 🡒]