to count our Lady The great Brady Quinn is among those who are not on board with Fighting Irish and have never played an FCS rival. Quinn was discussing Notre Dame scheduling Tennessee State on the Fox Sports podcast “2 Pros and a Cup of Joe,” and she broke down the decision.
You can’t schedule it and go, ‘Okay, it’s historic for this reason.’ I get all that. I do not care it. It’s not about equity and all those things or trying to say hey, we’re helping an HBCU school. It’s not about that. It’s about trying to win a national championship…
It’s a no-win for Notre Dame, no matter what you think about it. It doesn’t help to enhance their schedule. You are not winning a recruiter for this. You’re not winning in the eyes of the College Football Playoff Committee, or the Associated Press, or whatever the recruiter wants to talk about…
It’s a dramatic departure from what it was before and it crushes me to watch it. Notre Dame in this instance, when it has always been one of its kind, is now really trying to mingle with almost everyone. And that hasn’t been his MO.” — Brady Quinn
Personally, I’m not thrilled with the idea of playing an FCS opponent, even if it’s an HBCU like the state of Tennessee, but I can remember where it hurt Notre Dame’s resume so badly.
Sure, recruits aren’t going to see the state of Tennessee on Notre Dame’s schedule and don’t see it as a reason to play football for the Irish, but let’s be real, was someone doing it when UMass, Bowling Green , Miami (Ohio), New Mexico, or many others appeared at Notre Dame Stadium in recent years?
And can we get over the fear of Notre Dame being punished by the committee for this game? I get it, it was fun to make fun of the SEC for their scheduling of FCS opponents and it’s not fun to give credit to USC for anything, and that leaves us now to do that, but would anyone in their right mind? Thinks Notre-Dame playing Tennessee State instead of, say, even the in-between Mac team makes a difference?
Now is the time to remind you that Clemson’s visit, as well as home dates with both Ohio State and USC, are also on Notre Dame’s 2023 schedule. Whether or not going 11-1 with that slate would make it incredibly difficult to keep Notre Dame out of the college football playoffs, Tennessee State.
Again, I’m not dancing in the streets for the fact, but I actually think a good portion of Notre Dame fans have a misunderstanding of the games that are being scheduled for years.
