One Thing Remains Constant in Official New World of College Sports
As we cross the halfway point of the 2024 calendar year, life in a strange new world begins across college athletics.
The ACC today officially welcomed California, Southern Methodist, and Stanford as new members because nothing screams "Atlantic Coast" like institutions based in California and Dallas.
In the Big Ten welcome cards are being distributed to Oregon, UCLA, USC, and Washington. I know I'm not alone in being excited to see what the updated Big Ten commercial looks like.
Meanwhile in the SEC, salutations have been sent the way of Oklahoma and Texas as literal parties were thrown to celebrate the moves.
I can't imagine what would be going through my mind if I slipped into a coma a dozen or so years ago and woke up today:
Not just a College Football Playoff but one with 12 teams.
A Big Ten conference that spans from New Jersey, to Southern California, to the Pacific Northwest, and perhaps not long from now, to Florida and/or North Carolina.
An SEC that has swelled to 16 teams in the last few years and might not be done just yet.
It feels like a lifetime ago that I was growing up watching Penn State and Miami join conferences, while the old Southwest Conference met its maker.
We had no idea then just how seismic the change would be roughly three decades later.
Yet with all this change there is one thing that has stayed the same:
Notre Dame's football independence.
It comes to the chagrin of some, who would like Notre Dame to be like all the others, set flames to their history, and jump in a conference.
Forget the fact they tried to for years and were refused time and time again. Or that they built their own brand and powerhouse football program on their own, going anywhere to play anyone, to accomplish and create what they had aspirations of.
Forget the fact they've adapted accordingly over time and innovated again and again to keep their independence.
What some call arrogance, reality calls making it on their own because they had no other way.
Chip Kelly (now Ohio State's offensive coordinator) spoke on Notre Dame's independence roughly a year ago while he was the head coach at UCLA.
“Notre Dame is an independent in football, but they’re in a conference for everything else,” Kelly said,per the Los Angeles Times. “Why aren’t we all independent for football?"
That certainly won't happen as long as I'm alive.
However, with all the changes there have been, the fact Notre Dame has been able to stay independent in this ever-changing college sports world is worth celebrating.
They've been able to keep a national schedule with powerhouses like Ohio State, Texas A&M, Alabama, and Florida all being on recent or upcoming schedules.
In a world where traditional rivalries take more of a back seat by the day, Notre Dame's ability to remain independent keeps us linked to the college football world that was.
When Notre Dame comes to town, regardless of where it is, chances are strong they'll be bringing a lot of fans and won't be well-received by the home crowd. That's been the case forever and would be dampened significantly if independence were to ever end.
As Terence Mann says in Field of Dreams, "This field, this game: it's a part of our past, Ray. It reminds of us of all that once was good and it could be again."
Substitute Notre Dame and independence for field and game and think about how it keeps that link to the past, and you'll realize there is something there that all college football fans feel a connection too, whether they're a Notre Dame fan or not.
NICK SHEPKOWSKI