2023 Football Schedule

[FaithInIrish Forever 4,690]

 

[NYGoldenDomer 2,046]

Sure wish they could have moved both bye weeks up a week so they were before USC and Clemson instead of after them.

[NDhoosier 1,221]

The middle of the schedule is going to be tough... Two BYE weeks in the 2nd half of the season could keep them pretty fresh down the road, just wish they were before a tougher opponent.

[EddieAngel 508]

To NYs point, seems like they could have gamed the system a little better to put those bye weeks into more strategic locations. Guess we will be well rested and prepared for those juggernauts Pitt and Wake.

[TexasDomer 1,281]

At least we get Tenn State at home 

[Tailgate Approved 248]

8 minutes ago, EddieAngel said:

To NYs point, seems like they could have gamed the system a little better to put those bye weeks into more strategic locations. Guess we will be well rested and prepared for those juggernauts Pitt and Wake.

On the other hand, they get to put everything into 2 of the toughest games knowing that they have a week to recover (in a potential playoff push).

[Jersey Irish 205]

1 hour ago, NYGoldenDomer said:

Sure wish they could have moved both bye weeks up a week so they were before USC and Clemson instead of after them.

Agree. Two of them this year and neither one is in the right spot to help

[jessemoore97 1,270]

6 minutes ago, TexasDomer said:

At least we get Tenn State at home 

That one still pisses me off.  One of three schools including USC and UCLA who have not lowered their scheduling standards to play non FBS schools.

And I've seen some argue, others sites, that its so great that ND is recognizing a historically black college by scheduling them.  Horse shit.  Its a woke move 60 years too late.  If they wanted to make a statement like this they should have done it in the 60's or before when it actually would have been a) a worthwhile game and b) during a time when this game would have had real social meaning.

And by worthwhile I mean scheduling Grambling with Eddie Robinson coaching, and at a time when those HBC had an immense amount of talented players from the South when the SEC and the like were still segregated.  That would have been a pretty competitive game.

Since the end of Segregation those schools lost most of those talented athletes to the bigger institutions and the level of play is nowhere near what it once was.

[The Captain 19 370]

[TexasDomer 1,281]

See I think of it as just a small school, I didn’t even know it was a HBC.  Don’t really care one way or the other about the race of their students.

 

but sure, feel free to rant about “wokeness” if it helps.  I think of them the way I think about playing Central Michigan, Rice, or any directional state school the SEC plays.

[The Captain 19 370]

I just liked being one of three that hasn't played an FCS team. 

Edited January 19, 2023 by The Captain 19

[NDhoosier 1,221]

Yup, one of the best arguments ND had to fight the "13th data point" was that the other schools faced a FCS opponent, so it really was not 13 games.

I just hate ND lower their standards to play a FCS school simply because of racial pandering...

[Tailgate Approved 248]

It's not pandering if they believe in what they're doing. The school has a long history of participating in the civil rights movement (Fr. Ted with MLK, students fighting the Klan when they tried to parade through South Bend).

I didn't know of Tennessee State until they announced the game. So, it has already raised their profile by one person. 

[USAFA03_HUGENDFAN 242]

It won’t matter if it was an HBCU or one of the Dakota schools. ND should never be playing an FCS team. If they lose only one game next year, only having 11 games against FBS schools will come into play with the committee. 
 

They would have been better off playing a good Mountain West or Sun Belt school.  Hell TN St isn’t even a good FCS fball school.  Football should not be about anything but playing a competitive schedule to have a shot at the playoff.

Edited January 19, 2023 by USAFA03_HUGENDFAN
Typos

[jessemoore97 1,270]

5 hours ago, TexasDomer said:

See I think of it as just a small school, I didn’t even know it was a HBC.  Don’t really care one way or the other about the race of their students.

 

but sure, feel free to rant about “wokeness” if it helps.  I think of them the way I think about playing Central Michigan, Rice, or any directional state school the SEC plays.

Hence why I laid out what I said in the order that I did with historical context.  I'm namely pissed that we are giving up another uniqueness of being at ND, not lowering our schedule by playing FCS schools.  As others mentioned it doesn't matter who its against NDST(who's really good) or a crappy FCS team like these guys or every FCS team the SEC schools play.  We lose that data point in playoff discussions comparatively.

I've been critical of our weak scheduling of non P5 schools, except Navy or a BYU type, since this became our schedule trend within the last 15 or so years.  We gave up historical match ups with Purdue and Mich State for example and replaced them with non P5 teams run by former assistants in some cases.  Now we just keep it going without the assistant angle.  These directional games do nothing for our profile and its lose/lose when we play these teams.

As to the wokeness angle its a legit complaint historically speaking.  For all ND did that others mentioned for civil rights, ND's premier product, football, was not scheduled against the great HBCU of the day when the recognition and societal impact would have been the greatest.  Not to mention the talent amassed at those institutions would have made the game noteworthy and very competitive IMO.  Now its a backhanded slap in their face as merely a tune up game for us.

 

[XanderCrews 16]

4 hours ago, Tailgate Approved said:

It's not pandering if they believe in what they're doing. The school has a long history of participating in the civil rights movement (Fr. Ted with MLK, students fighting the Klan when they tried to parade through South Bend).

I didn't know of Tennessee State until they announced the game. So, it has already raised their profile by one person. 

Yes, ND is participating in aiding Civil Rights by kicking the living s**t out of TN St in football. I don’t really care one way or the other but people making a big deal of this are dumb. 
 

A schedule with Ohio St, USC and Clemson is plenty tough enough to put them in the playoff if they go 11-1. 

[XanderCrews 16]

5 hours ago, NDhoosier said:

Yup, one of the best arguments ND had to fight the "13th data point" was that the other schools faced a FCS opponent, so it really was not 13 games.

I just hate ND lower their standards to play a FCS school simply because of racial pandering...

Pandering for what? This is the same level as a Rice or UNLV. I really don’t care that it’s an HBCU, but they play 3 top 10 teams in the regular season. That makes up for no 13th data point. 

[XanderCrews 16]

2 hours ago, USAFA03_HUGENDFAN said:

It won’t matter if it was an HBCU or one of the Dakota schools. ND should never be playing an FCS team. If they lose only one game next year, only having 11 games against FBS schools will come into play with the committee. 
 

They would have been better off playing a good Mountain West or Sun Belt school.  Hell TN St isn’t even a good FCS fball school.  Football should not be about anything but playing a competitive schedule to have a shot at the playoff.

That means they would have beaten two top 10 teams, they’re in at that point. 

[NDhoosier 1,221]

1 hour ago, XanderCrews said:

Pandering for what? This is the same level as a Rice or UNLV. I really don’t care that it’s an HBCU, but they play 3 top 10 teams in the regular season. That makes up for no 13th data point. 

I dont care that it is called a HBCU either, I care that it is a FCS team and ND is breaking a huge tradition that many are proud of and most other schools cannot share.

[Rocketsan 766]

we bloody well better be 4-0...