When the Notre Dame Fighting Irish are undefeated towards the end of October, and are looking at making a run to the playoffs, certain conversations tend to have a little bit more of the spotlight than the actual games.
With the Irish, many in the national media can not (and perhaps will not) ever accept that Notre Dame can rise to the top of the sport again as an Independent. Never mind the fact that they are ranked #3 in both polls this year, played in the national championship game, and were ranked in the top 5 of the playoff rankings in 2014, 2015, and 2017.