Newsstand: Andy Staples determines if Notre Dame is a blue blood
Is Notre Dame a blue blood? According to On3’s Andy Staples, the answer is yes… for now.
A blue blood, as Staples (with help from a fan on social media) defines it, is a college football program with three or more generations of elite history. One of those generations has to be in the past two generations. Additionally, the program has to have won a national title (eliminating, for example, Oregon).
With this criteria in mind, Staples placed the Irish in the blue blood category alongside Alabama, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Michigan, Georgia, Texas, USC and Penn State. Nine schools just missed the cut, making the “blue blood contenders” category: Florida State, LSU, Clemson, Nebraska, Miami, Florida, Auburn, Tennessee and Oregon.
“The Fighting Irish dominated the sport for generations, but they haven’t won a national title since 1988,” Staples wrote. “So why are they still on this list? Because Brian Kelly made them nationally competitive again by taking them to a BCS national title game and two CFP appearances.”
Despite Kelly’s success — which was a major step up from the 15 years prior but plateaued short of winning a national championship — the weight now falls on Irish head coach Marcus Freeman to maintain blue blood status.
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“In the era of the 12-team College Football Playoff, though, Notre Dame is going to have to actually win some of these high-stakes postseason games to stay on the list,” Staples wrote.
The Irish did not win a college football playoff game in the 10-year history of the four-team playoff, and they’re expected to make the 12-team field this season.
Notre Dame tweets of the day
What a journey it’s been for Xavier Watts.
Good intel here.
The Irish haven’t dropped in the rankings since Ivan Taylor‘s decommitment.
Quote of the day
“When you look at guys like Kyle Hamilton and Jeremiah Owusu[-Koramoah] and X, they have this innate instinct about football. They’re violent, and they’ve got ball skills.”
— Former Notre Dame safeties coach Chris O’Leary on Xavier Watts
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