During the pregame conference before the Orange Bowl, Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman didn’t appear too pleased as Penn State head coach James Franklin took a needless shot at his College Football Playoff semifinal opponent, arguing that all teams in the sport needed to join a conference.
Complaints about the Irish not being a conference were a theme throughout the CFP.
Marcus Freeman is open to joining a conference
Months later, Fighting Irish head coach Marcus Freeman acknowledged that the program might eventually have to join a conference, and he believes athletic director Pete Bevacqua would do what it takes to keep the Irish relevant in football.
“I think that’s what I talked about earlier, is that it’s what this football program was built from,” Freeman said Monday on The Joe Klatt Show of the school’s independence. “And as long as we can, we will, right? And I have a lot of confidence in our administration and Pete Bavacqua, our AD, that he’ll always keep us in a position to be successful.
“So as long as we can keep that independence, we will. But if there ever comes a time that we are at a disadvantage because we’re not in a conference, I’m sure he’ll make the decision along with our president to say, all right, we’re going to join one of these conferences and position ourselves to not be negatively impacted by being independent.”
The Irish have joined a conference out of necessity before, playing with the ACC during the COVID-19 pandemic, the only season UND has not been independent in football.
Notre Dame could be forced to join a conference
Freeman thinks it’s possible conferences would eventually freeze the Irish out of the CFP if they remain independent.
“Because (if) the Big Ten or the SEC are saying, we’re going to play nine games, and we’ll play a crossover game, and who cares about Notre Dame? Well, then I think there’s going to be a point where we may be forced to join a conference,” Freeman said.
“But until that point happens, which it doesn’t look likely, we’re going to stay independent as long as we can.”
Freeman thinks college football may transition to a super league, where all teams become independent. That would be preferable to playing a small league where the conference championship becomes more important than the national championship, as we’ve heard from SEC coaches in recent years.
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