Navy to Join the Big East: The Push Towards Notre Dame Joining a Conference is Growing
Navy, after 130 years of football independence, will be joining the Big East as a football only school starting in 2015.
Some of you might not think much of this news; it's the Big East and Navy, not exactly known for being football powerhouses. But I find this quote telling,
Navy has been playing football since 1879 without conference affiliation, but academy officials said they believe independence will be too difficult to maintain as other powerful leagues grow. Athletic Director Chet Gladchuk said scheduling games late in the season, landing desirable television deals and securing bowl bids will become a problem for Navy.
“Opportunities to exist as independents into the future are clearly in jeopardy,” he said.
Link: http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/news?slug=ap-bigeast-navy
(Note: if you don't want to read anything about ND then don't read anymore. The rest of this thread is me talking about the effect of this and other events on ND's slow roll towards a conference)
Can you think of another notable independent school? Perhaps one about 3 hours away from Ann Arbor? One that has been stuck in a state of perpetual ineptitude for about the past 20 years? If you thought of Notre Dame, well, you were correct.
I think the push for ND to joing a conference is getting louder and louder by the proverbial hour. ND's schedule breaks down like this: They play 3 Big Ten teams (Michigan, MSU, Purdue), 2 Pac-12 teams (Stanford and USC), Navy, and Pitt every year. Looking at their 2012 schedule, they fill the rest of their schedule with 3 more teams from the ACC (Miami, Wake Forest, and Boston College), Oklahoma, which is just a home-and-away, and then some middling team from a terrible conference, next year it's BYU.
With the B1G and Pac-12 entering into their agreement, the Pac-12 will play 9 conference games, on top of the B1G games, and while the B1G will only play 8 conference games, Delany wanted to go to 9 conference games before this agreement went into place and presumably he still wants to go to 9 conference games eventually. With Pitt going to the ACC, and the ACC going to a 9 game schedule, 4 of the teams on ND's schedule will soon be crunched for the space to schedule ND. With the Big East intent on becoming a super conference of incompetence, they'll likely be going to a 9 game schedule as well. It wouldn't be a stretch for the B1G, the ACC, and Stanford to drop ND from the schedule. I figure USC and Navy are two pretty "important" rivalries that will get preserved.
You think NBC will continue to shell out money for ND to play Idaho St. and Alabama Tech? NBC's already moved some of their games to Versus. With the money the BTN is making the B1G schools, I think the Big Ten is going to start to look pretty appealing to ND sooner, rather than later.
January 25th, 2012 at 10:45 AM ^
As for Navy, at least they're somewhat geographically accruate to the Big East. The rest of the new conference still looks like this...
January 25th, 2012 at 11:08 AM ^
Their AD recently spoke at a Wake Forest alumni event, and repeatedly stated that they are not interested in a conference affiliation. They feel that playing football as a team that travels nationally has helped to build their school, and still attracts their student body from all over the country. Come hell or high water, that's the way they're going to keep doing it.
Their alums are strongly opposed to conference affiliation. You can't blame them; it's the way they've always done things. It's their revered tradition. Michigan has its traditions that we all love, ND has theirs.
I believe they'll do everything they can to stick to that tradition and seek ways to justify it.
By the way, Navy was an important football power back in the 60s and I think won a MNC with Roger Staubach, and BYU, the middling school from the "terrible conference," now an independent like ND, beat Michigan in a bowl game in the 70s if memory serves. Back in the day, Navy was a frequent Michigan opponent; games with teams like Navy were more fun than playing against the Michigan directional schools for some reason.
In any event, as soon as the BCS removes the AQ distinction, the Big East will revert to being an Eastern basketball league, as it makes very little sense for the Idaho, Texas and California teams to travel such long distances.
But ND will do what it's always done. If they're for some inexplicable reason forced to join a conference, it won't be the Big Ten.
January 25th, 2012 at 4:00 PM ^
It was in the 1984 Holiday Bowl that undefeated BYU eked out a 24-17 win over what was then the crappiest U-M team I had ever seen (finished 6-6).
I wasn't impressed and didn't think they deserved to be #1.
January 25th, 2012 at 11:18 AM ^
As long as they can cherry-pick a schedule using teams like Michigan, they have no incentive to join a conerence. It is a bit of an analomy that both Sparty and Stanford are playing at a high level, and that has made their schedule a little tougher.
Over the years, more often than not, a truly elite ND team would have two tough games on their schedule: Michigan and USC. Sparty and Stanford would be a level lower, and the rest of the teams would be the equivalent of playing a "mid--major' in basketball. This would normally "guarantee" that a really good ND team is going to have only one or two losses.
The main problem with their model now is that ND hasn't been truly elite since Lou Holtz left. Then, when teams like Sparty and Stanford have their flirtations with elite status, and a team or two from the Big East start playing very good, and they decide to schedule one or two tougher teams, ND suddenly has a lot of games on their schedule that they can lose.
Next year, for some reason, it's even more difficult for them. ND is playing the toughest schedule I have seen them play in forever. They have an eight game streak of Sparty, Michigan, Miami(YTM), Stanford, BYU, Oklahoma, Pitt, and BC. ND could get better without their record showing it. A bad ND team could easily go 2-6 during that stretch.
The bottom line: as long as good teams keep scheduling ND, they have no reason to join a conference. They get to keep all of their TV money and all of their bowl money. Because they are ND, they always get slotted into a bowl with a higher payout than most teams with their record.
They have it too good right now to change anything. We'll see how it works out for them down the road.
January 25th, 2012 at 11:18 AM ^
The only thing that will make ND join a conference is if NBC cancels their contract, or tries to renegotiate to a MUCH lower rate, AND no other network is willing to pick them up.
Nothing else will make them change. Nothing.
January 25th, 2012 at 11:33 AM ^
To hell with Notre Dame.
January 25th, 2012 at 12:21 PM ^
So if you add a bunch of mid-major teams, don't you essentially become more of a mid-major conference than an automatic qualifying conference?
January 25th, 2012 at 12:40 PM ^
Seriously. Who needs 'em?
January 25th, 2012 at 12:37 PM ^
If I had my druthers, we would breach the current contract and stop playing them altogether. What do we get out of it anymore? Now that we have taken three of the last four, the time is ripe to dismantle this rivalry. As much as I love beating ND, I hate losing to them even more. They are so annoyingly coquettish with their conference flirtations - it's beneath the B1G to keep getting blue-balled. I get they would be an ATM card to the Temple Of Mammon. But with the B1G Network printing money, I see no reason to extend the world's longest hand job any longer. Join the Big Least, I say!
To Hell with Notre Dame.
January 25th, 2012 at 3:24 PM ^
Seriously. ND needs us more than we need them. I would rather end the ND series and use the slot to schedule one-offs or home-and-homes against different BCS schools. Nebraska can take ND's place as our third rival now that we play them every year.
I'm sick of ND's pathetic fans who seem to live in their own world. Someone needs to tell them that there's nothing special about Notre Dame. ND is essentially a mid-major with a stick up its ass.
January 25th, 2012 at 12:48 PM ^
It would not surprise me if Notre Dame is pulling the strings behind this. The ND agreement with the Big East (ND in Big East for everything except football) requires ND to schedule 4 Big East football games a year. With Pitt and Syracuse bolting (not to mention Va Tech and Miami a few years ago) the options for ND scheduling in the Big East are suck and more suck. However, they have a long standing rivalry with Navy. Now ND can schedule Navy and have it count as one of its Big East games, freeing up another game for ND to do with as they please.
So, I actually think this pushes ND further away from a conference than closer.
January 25th, 2012 at 1:10 PM ^
NDNation and some other ND sites are busy exploding because of some comment that was made at a BOT meeting yesterday about how being a great football program is not worth the price (basically becoming a soulless oversigning machine like Bama).
Notre Dame has crippled itself with its insane fanbase that seems to some kind of outlook where they want to see the coach fail. The minute the coach loses more than 3 games they want the coach's head. No stability, an insane fanbase (that has at times over this past year considered: Stoops, Meyer, and Hoke as targets to replace Kelly), and a miserable college experience to sell (come to South Bend!).
I feel like Notre Dame is going to the ACC or Big East (likely the Big East, although maybe the ACC if the BE fails miserably) where they can be the big fish in the small pond. Kind of like how WVU ran the Big East for a time period since everyone else sucked, aside from Lousville being good for a year or two. In the B1G they struggle to be a tier two program.
Also it blows my mind how well they recruit, yet stink it up on the field.
January 25th, 2012 at 2:43 PM ^
To hell with Notre Dame. Their perpetual ineptitude on the field coupled with the evolving landscape will force them to find a conference eventually. Let them beg us for an invitation. I'm happy we added Nebraska and not Notre Dame. Great program with excellent tradition and a devoted fan base minus the unfounded arrogance and pretentiousness.
Again, to hell with Notre Dame.