The Notre Dame football program has long frustrated a faction of fans who think it’s time that the Irish should take their talents to one of the nation’s power five conferences. I’ve long been over how Notre Dame absolutely does not have to join a conference. They just don’t. Them joining a conference proves nothing. A “13th data point” proves nothing for a program that regularly plays one of the most difficult and diverse schedules in college football.
Before Notre Dame reached an agreement with the ACC, they essentially were in a conference without actually being in a conference: Michigan, Michigan State, Purdue, Boston College, Pittsburgh, Stanford, USC, and Navy were the teams in Notre Dame’s “conference.