Is Notre Dame’s Independence College Football’s Last Sacred Tradition?

As college football season begins, Notre Dame's independence remains as strong as ever

Pete Bevacqua, athletic director for the University of Notre Dame, announces Pat Garrity as the new men's and women's basketball general manager, during a press conference at Notre Dame Stadium on Thursday, May 22, 2025, in South Bend. | MICHAEL CLUBB/SOUTH BEND TRIBUNE / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

As college football kicks off its 2025 season Saturday, recent changes across the sport are apparent at every turn.

Although there wasn't a major realignment this off-season, Oklahoma and Texas in the SEC still takes some getting used to, while the 12-team College Football Playoff feels like it's just a matter of time until it expands, and hopefully not in a major way.

While realignment has caused the ends of several great rivalries and the transfer portal has made the word commitment feel non-existent at times, one constant in college football still remains in 2025, and God willing it will forever.

Notre Dame Remains the Only Major Independent Football Program

(EDITORS NOTE: caption correction) Jan 9, 2025; Miami, FL, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish head coach Marcus Freeman and quarterback Riley Leonard (13) celebrates defeating the Penn State Nittany Lions in the Orange Bowl at Hard Rock Stadium. | Sam Navarro-Imagn Images

Seemingly every year, something happens in the sport of college football that brings up the question of whether or not Notre Dame will finally be forced to join a conference.

In years past, it has been conference realignment, access to the College Football Playoff, and financial fears. As it turns out, Notre Dame has not just gotten by in all those categories, but has seen the program thrive under fourth year head coach Marcus Freeman.

Most recently, the SEC's decision to move its conference schedule to nine games raised concerns about Notre Dame's independent future. It then took less than a day for reports to come that all the SEC schools that include Notre Dame on the schedule currently will most likely continue to do so.

Notre Dame's Independence, and Why It's Not What's Hated

When you ask a fan of a team from almost anywhere nationally about Notre Dame's independence, you tend to get the same kind of response.

"Oh, they think they're better than everyone and don't need a conference."

Simply being independent in today's college football world draws the ire of millions, like it has for decades. But it's not that Notre Dame is independent that irritates others, it's the fact that other teams need to be in conferences while Notre Dame doesn't.

Jan 9, 2025; Miami, FL, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish quarterback Riley Leonard (13) runs the ball in the second half against the Penn State Nittany Lions in the Orange Bowl at Hard Rock Stadium. | Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images

Penn State head coach James Franklin is the perfect example of this. Last year, before the Orange Bowl between the two programs, he pleaded that all teams should be in a conference for football.

Never mind the fact that Penn State found it couldn't resist without the Big Ten's paychecks in the early 1990s and chose to join the conference instead of remaining independent. To my knowledge, there wasn't anyone holding Penn State hostage to make that decision at the time, it was something they willfully did.

So why should Notre Dame be forced to change its ways after over a century of independent football?

Notre Dame's Independence Hate Comes from Jealousy

To understand Notre Dame's independence is to understand history. The program tried long ago to join the Big Ten, but Fielding Yost at Michigan made sure that didn't happen, and encouraged other Big Ten teams not to schedule Notre Dame at all.

So, Notre Dame went its own way and found its biggest games possible from coast to coast. As a result, it became the most popular college football team and has been as successful as any.

The reason many dislike Notre Dame's independence is the same reason they hated the NBC TV contract decades ago: Notre Dame figured out a way to make it work, and they didn't.

Notre Dame's independence isn't universally loved, but it isn't going away anytime soon. It seems as strong as it has in a very long time, and for the ever-changing world of college football, where there is seemingly no care for the history and traditions that built the game, hopefully Notre Dame can continue to thrive on its own for decades to come - much to the chagrin of the "join a conference" crowd.