Today, it’s not uncommon for college football teams to become national brands. Schools like Alabama, Michigan, Ohio State, and Clemson have extended past their surrounding area and have become national brands. You can go to any state in America and find a group of fans from that school. However, none of this wouldn’t have happened, had it not been for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.
The major difference between these schools and the Irish is how they gain that national brand. At the same time, the other schools didn’t set out to become a national brand. The Irish did due to necessity. Sure, winning 11 national championships helped. But, Notre Dame wanted to be a national brand from the start. After being denied entry into the Big Ten due to the University being Catholic, they decided to travel around the country. That way, they could recruit from around the country and be able to keep up with the talent the big conferences had while being Independent.
It’s a tradition that Notre Dame follows until this day. This upcoming season alone, they’ll play two neutral site games in New York and New Jersey, as well as travel to Texas and California. All of which stretch way outside Notre Dame’s “regional border”. However, the annual trip to California might be in jeopardy and that’s a tradition that has to continue.
Why This Trip Might Be In Danger?
Since 1997, Notre Dame has had the annual tradition of playing Stanford. They coupled this with their annual game against USC. When Stanford would come to South Bend, Notre Dame would travel to California to play USC. Then the following year when USC came to South Bend, Notre Dame would travel to play Stanford. It’s become a tradition engrained in Notre Dame culture. No matter which team they play, the last regular season game would be played in California, allowing the Irish to keep the tradition of traveling around the country for games.
Now, the reason why this tradition is endangered is because of conference realignment. With most of the PAC-12 bolting for the Big Ten and Big 12, Stanford was left scrambling trying to find a seat before they were out of the newly forming Power 4. This caused them to make the unexpected move and join the ACC. Because a team playing California perfectly fits in the Atlantic Coast Conference.
But, this will end Notre Dame tradition because of the Irish’s deal with the ACC. During the last round of conference realignment, the Irish made a deal with the ACC. They would move all their sports except football to the conference. They would also play five ACC opponents in football every season. These five opponents would alternate every season. With Stanford in the ACC, their game would fall into one of those five. This means Stanford would alternate in and out of the Irish schedule.
Why Notre Dame Needs To Keep Doing This
There is a lot of uncertainty in college football right now. Nobody knows when or where the next major domino is going to drop. At any moment, one school could make a major decision that sends ripple effects throughout the college football landscape. We don’t know what conferences are going to stay or go. What rivalries are going to stay or go? What traditions are going to stay and which ones will come to an end?
Notre Dame is in complete control over their culture. They won’t get affected by another team living their conference or not. They create their schedule and have complete control over where they play. Because of this, they need to keep the tradition of going to the West Coast alive. Whether they’re playing Stanford or not, they need to keep going out to California every year. They need to keep the tradition of being the national brand and playing all over the country alive. In a rapidly changing college landscape, the Irish have to hold on to tradition.
Thanks for reading! Credit for my feature image goes to Brandon Sloter. You can find more college football content at Belly Up Sports and follow me on Twitter/X.
