Left Seater wrote:Good discussion.
Sounds like you think USC, Navy, Pitt and Michigan are untouchable. I can see that. I don't know though with Stanford or another lower level west coast team you can have three Big East teams.
If they want to play so many Big East teams each year, why not join the conferece? (I know another discussion)
My strength of schedule numbers came from google. Should have gone with Sag.
With two service academies, Pitt, Stanford, and two big east teams each year, I don't think that schedule does ND any favors. Sure some years half of those schools will be decent, but in most years they start off working from behind. Even in years that those schools are better they are still working to overcome voter bias of those schools.
You'll note that I suggested dropping the annual matchup with Stanford in favor of a game rotating among various western schools including Stanford. Stanford would play one home-and-home vs. ND per decade under my suggestion. Of the other schools on my list, Cal, UCLA and even Arizona State are better most seasons than Stanford (or at least, than Stanford has been in recent years). Hawaii's a bit tougher to gauge, but they're only included to give ND a thirteenth game two seasons every decade.
The Big East rotating schools would include West Virginia. For that matter, Cincinnati, Louisville and USF all have shown flashes of brilliance at times, and Rutgers and UConn have been respectable in recent years. Syracuse has been the conference doormat recently, but they have enough tradition to turn things around under the right circumstances.
I never suggested that playing two service academies was mandatory or even desirable. I did say it should be the limit. I used an extra service academy only by way of illustration. For that matter, also by way of illustration, I'd like to see Swarbrick reverse White and schedule the home-and-home with Minnesota to include Minnesota's dedication game at its new stadium. I'd also like to see ND schedule neutral-site one-off games vs. both Virginia Tech and Northern Illinois (at Washington, D.C. and Chicago, respectively), given that both schools suffered a shooting on campus in the relatively recent past, with a portion of the proceeds going to a non-violence organization. Again, just some examples of what I'd like to see.
I'd also consider returning Michigan State and Purdue to annual status, if, and only if, the Big Ten gets rid of its September-only policy with respect to scheduling ND. But I think ND will need two available dates in September, not just one, to pull off something like this.
