Why is Notre Dame so highly regarded for a mediocre team?

[dragon4ever]

I don't understand how a team that has been mediocre for the past decade is always rated as a ****** program. Furthermore, why is Notre Dame's conference prestige an A+ while Navy is a C? Aren't they in the same conference for crying out loud? Looks like Notre Dame is garnering the success from the laurels of their past tradition.

[NoDakHusker]

Notre Dame and Navy aren't in any conferences, so technically they aren't in the same "conference". That rating might have to do with the schedule they play? Idk. But tradition does have an impact on a lot of that.

I do see what you're saying, though and I'm no Notre Dame expert, as I despise them really. Maybe someone with more knowledge can give more insight.

[Gotmadskillzson]

Name recognition. Notre Dame will always be ranked high because of their history. Same thing goes for FSU, Miami, Penn St, etc.

And yeah they aren't in a conference, not for football anyway. Independant is not a conference. Their conference prestige is so high because of the strength of schedule. Notre Dame every year plays top rated schools. Where as Navy and Army, they pretty much just play smaller rated conference schools.

[uclabruins4ever]

Love them or hate them, Notre Dame is THE biggest brand name in college football and they are able to recruit players from all over the country.

Despite having poor coaching, they always have elite athletes because of their tradition and prestige. Every home game is on national network TV and they sell out stadiums when they go on the road.

Learn your history

[Ramminyou]

ND currently has the #9 recruiting class for 2011 according to ESPN, so they're still regarded as a highly prestigious school to a lot of the youngsters.

[Card-me]

Quote: Originally Posted by uclabruins4ever

Love them or hate them, Notre Dame is THE biggest brand name in college football and they are able to recruit players from all over the country. Despite having poor coaching, they always have elite athletes because of their tradition and prestige. Every home game is on national network TV and they sell out stadiums when they go on the road. Learn your history

This is spot on. For the record, I hate Notre Dame, and nobody gets more tired than I do of the wank-fest Notre Dame gets from sports media for doing basically nothing for the last 15 years. But it's still a brand that has a lot of history and clout and a huge fanbase, no matter how mediocre they've been, and they're always a force in recruiting. The way EA's system is set up requires them to be a 6* program because if you went by things like championship contender ratings and on-field performance, Notre Dame would be struggling to get elite recruits, which unfortunately just isn't realistic.

As far as the conference prestige rating is concerned, I agree that the A+ rating is stupid. I have no qualms with it being high and much higher than Navy, but A+? Yes, they play good teams like USC, UConn, Michigan, etc, every year, but they also some pretty mediocre teams every year (like Navy). Add in the fact that all those good teams that they play are in conferences with conference prestige ratings maxing out at A, and I just don't get it. The fact that they have no auto-bid status (unless they're ranked in the top 8) alone should take them down.

[dmacgreg37]

Their conference prestige compared to Navy/Army is probably because ND isn't in a conference because they don't have to be (to make loads of money), and Navy/Army aren't in a conference because they aren't wanted/can't compete in a conference as football schools (yes, admittedly, they have more important matters to tend to).

Army tried a few years back and it was a flop.

[Pielet]

Here's your answer.

How much did CBS pay for the ENTIRE SEC conference package? $55.5 million for 15 years for a Saturday game a week.

How much did NBC pay for little old Notre Dame? $45 million for 5 years for a Saturday game a week.

No argument SEC is an A+ conference, no argument ND is an A+ "conference" of its own.

Now the SEC network funnels $17million/yr to each conference member, but remember ND is a member of the best basketball conference, and high dollar one, in the entire country too. I don't have the figures for Big East basketball, but I am sure they're pretty high from ESPN.