I think it was mentioned elsewhere on Skybox that ND leads the nation with 11 bowl-eligible teams on its schedule. The lone exception is Purdue. Certainly, this is a debatable yardstick, but it speaks to those who would criticize ND's schedule. Using the simple math of opponents' records, ND's schedule is the second toughest in the country at 77-42 (.647). The following information is from Notre Dame Sports Information:
That's a rather impressive feat Sid. I have often thought that ND's schedule is much too painful on a yearly basis. If you ever do get back and win a national championship the quality level of the team will have to be on par with the NFL....
Florida has 10......and App State who is pretty good this year in Div 2 and is probably a favorite to win the NC in that division. And of course.......they beat #5 Michigan in the Big House and because of our struggles this year I was actually concerned they might pull it off again. Auburn will have 9 with the addition of SouCar. Why isn't Ohio State on the list.....I think there must be a mistake there because the Big 10 does have several bowl eligible teams.
While the Aggies only played 7 bowl eligible teams, a scant 5 of them have 10 wins. That is tough enough for me!
You make a very good point, Scott. That's why I said it is a debatable yardstick. You can't necessarily judge the overall difficulty of a schedule solely on the basis of the number of bowl-eligible opponents. There are other factors. My point is that at least by one measure, ND's schedule is competitive and respectable.
Bowl eligibility is certainly a good way to show that you at least didn't play any dogs, and I doubt anyone that has a lick of sense would say ND's schedules have not been "challenging". Some would say... "NUTS". Your thread got me to look a little closer at our sched, and that's when I noticed the wins. I could be wrong, but I don't think we've ever played five 10 win teams in a season before... I'm not sure I want to again either! Add in LSU, and we will end up with 6! :shock: