It's Time For Notre Dame To Stop Playing Stanford
Notre Dame won’t be playing teams on the West Coast this season thanks to the Pac 12 making the decision to have conference only games this season. That means Notre Dame won’t be playing USC for the first time since 1945, and the Irish won’t be playing Stanford for the first time since 1996.
I fully expect Notre Dame and USC’s rivalry to commence in 2021, and the odds are strong the Irish and Cardinal will play again in 2021. USC and Notre Dame is a long-time rivalry, a great rivalry, and it should go nowhere. Stanford is a different story, and this latest situation should cement the decision to end the “rivalry” when the current contract ends following the 2023 season.
Honestly, what does playing Stanford really do for Notre Dame?
I like the idea of like-minded institutions playing each other, and Stanford is certainly a high-academic place. But Stanford doesn’t value football the way Notre Dame does, and for that reason they don’t have the same reputation. Even when Stanford was dominant (2010-15), they were never on the same level as other top programs from a prestige standpoint.
Beating Stanford has been good for Notre Dame from the standpoint of it giving the program a big win at times (2012), but big picture it does very little for the Irish program. Does anyone think Notre Dame would struggle to recruit the West Coast if Stanford was dropped from the schedule? I sure don’t.
Beating Stanford doesn’t really move the needle for Notre Dame on the recruiting trail. What recruits look at that win and say, “Oh yeah, Notre Dame is big time.” When Notre Dame loses to Stanford, something it has done six out of ten times during the Brian Kelly era, it hurts more than beating Stanford helps.
I would much rather see Notre Dame only play Stanford periodically, maybe four times in a decade, and use that game to get an extra “national” game.
One of the pushbacks I often get is the “tradition” of ending the season on the West Coast every year, but let’s be honest, that’s a recent “tradition” that began in 1999.
But Notre Dame needs to get past the whole “finishing on the West Coast” tradition that has come during a stretch where Notre Dame has won zero national championships. I’m not saying that’s the reason, but I am saying this “tradition” hasn’t helped Notre Dame win a title either.
The next pushback is the “recruiting” advantage it gives the staff by allowing them to hit the road and stay on the West Coast following that game.
Look, if Notre Dame wants to hit the West Coast recruiting trail right after the season they can fly from wherever they play. The way recruiting is going now, for the most part the recruiting class is at least 90% filled by the time the regular season is over.
When you consider how few Notre Dame signees are actually from northern California, the reality is the staff needs to get on a plane anyway. Los Angeles is six hours from Stanford, so I highly doubt the Irish coaches are hopping in a car for six hours to see the top recruits in California.
If Notre Dame is dead set on playing a West Coast game, fine, then do a rotating schedule where you do home-and-homes with other Pac 12 teams. I’d much rather see a rotation of Stanford, UCLA, California and other Pac 12 teams than just playing Stanford each season.
I’d much rather see a scenario in which Notre Dame uses that open date to schedule Stanford four times during a decade with a pair of home-and-homes, and then use the other seasons as an opportunity to add programs from other parts of the country. I’d much rather see a rotation that includes Stanford, UCLA, Big 12 teams (TCU, Texas) and the occasional SEC opponent.
If it were up to me, Notre Dame would play a home-and-home with Texas every decade, if not two home-and-homes. I would add TCU to the schedule, I would look to add another SEC program to the schedule. All of those home-and-homes would add far greater recruiting value to Notre Dame’s reputation than having Stanford on the schedule every single season.
That’s my two cents. In the comments section below let me know your thoughts on the issue. If the comments section isn’t showing up just click HERE.
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