As far as the dillution of the schedule goes, I feel your pain. No doubt it is difficult to get quality opponents with the 7-4-1 formula. That is why we have the Tulsa's and WMU's on the schedule. They need the payday and the exposure and we need a game.

It is understandable that we will have problems attracting upper tier D-1 schools for a one and done format. It won't happen. The best we can hope for is for conference door mats that need the same things that the mid major teams need, see Washington State. You cannot get something for nothing. We either go it alone and take our chances or succumb to the wishes of NBC. The alternative is to join the Big 10. Pick your poison.

As a graduate, I have always felt we were different. Some will see that as arrogant……I did not say better just different. This is how I describe ND to people in the Southwest. I attended the USC game and sat next to two ex-players during the game. One said to me that he hoped the students appreciated the fact that football is important to the school. History and tradition…….enough said.

As much as I would l prefer a return of teams like Tennessee and Penn State to the schedule, the addition of MAC schools who recieve BCS votes no more degrades the schedule than playing schools such as Idaho and Neveda.

If ND is williing to play lower caliber BIG 10 schools, in all honest EVERYONE in Michigan considers the MSU program to be a joke, and other not so prominent programs what is the harm.

"Natural Law–noun. A principle or body of laws considered as derived from nature, right reason, or religion and as ethically binding in human society. Contrast with 'positive (man-made) law'."

Natural law is a term derived from the nexus between theology and jurisprudence–two disciplines that used to intersect as a matter of course. It is often related to general revelation (as opposed to special), i.e., that which can be known about God through the natural order. "Natural law" and "natural selection" (which you refer to with the "survival of the fittest" remark) have nothing to do with each other.

I would also remark that whatever the pre-reqs for graduation from ND (or any other school claiming Catholic identity) the "pre-reqs" for calling oneself Catholic are well established by a higher, outside authority, and all the discussions and resolutions by the Faculty Senate or any other body at ND can never change that simple truth.

Go Irish. And thanks for posting this stuff, Mike.

David Thomas, '86

This article isn't a critique of the 7-4-1? It isn't opposed to that type of schedule? It's just addressing the school's reaction to people's reactions?

I must have read it wrong because to me it sounds like he's complaining about both decisions and about the fact that the University defended them – very productive. That said I don't have a very well developed chest.

"But that itself is the problem. The powers that be don’t want the supposed scheduling problem solved. Rather, while alumni have always overwhelmingly opposed joining a conference for football, those in the Dome and JACC – specifically John Heisler – "know better" and want it (and for reasons having nothing to do with athletics and everything to do with those whose opinions matter in academia)."

Haha, are you kidding? This sounds like it was written for The Onion. Criticizing the idea that the administration might make a decision which affects the football team's schedule but is aimed at improving the university's academic standing is ridiculous. It's called perspective, Pimentel. Try to find some. I also like Coffey's point(s) here:

"ND is not a secular research school and never has been. It should aspire to do well what it's always done — give a quality education to undergraduates."

There seems to be a problem with cognitive dissonance here. Joining a conference and reaping the subsequent research-related benefits would not advance the university's goal of providing quality education to undergraduates… because… why?

Look, I love ND football. That's why I come to NDNation. But while reasonable minds may have been able to differ about whether or not it was a good idea to invite a pro life president to commencement, I don't think they can differ regarding whether the football team's scheduling traditions or the university's academic aspirations are more important. And I just know someone is going to say that I'm using a straw man, that that's not really the argument here. But read Pimentel's words again. As near as I can tell, this is part of what he's trying to say: "The administration is using the schedule to nudge the university towards joining a conference because doing so would benefit the school academically. And that's bad, because the alumni don't want to join a conferece!" Pretty depressing.

I don't agree with everything the administration has done in the last 10 years/wants to do in the next 10, but I can't really take issue with their desire to advance the university's academic standing by joining a conference. I couldn't care less about how my fellow alumni feel about the issue. The inmates shouldn't be running the asylum. "We've never been in one before, and change is scary!" isn't a good argument, yet it seems to be the unwritten foundation of the article. We're not going to be able to put together the kinds of schedules the team had during the Holtz era whether we're in a conference or not. Staying out of one isn't going to magically make SEC or good ACC teams decide they're OK with playing us. In case you hadn't noticed, college football is changing. Refusing to adjust on the grounds that "ND is different and special and should try to keep doing all the same stuff it's done in the past" would be dumb and counterproductive.

I'd like to know what you mean by this:
"Despite the scandal of giving an honorary law degree to a person who dishonors natural law." How does Obama dishonor survival of the fittest? Or were you talking about man-made law?

If it is abortion you're alluding to by "natural law", do you think every ND Law School grad is pro-life? Is that a pre-req for a degree?

Also, I was commenting on these posters' comments, not the article.

Rather than a small Purdue with a dome, as Dr. Cronin wrote. I submit the effort is well underway, to transform Our Lady's University, into Duke with a dome and a few statues.

Is the football team not aligned with our Catholic identity? Gold helmets, Touchdown Jesus,etc.

I keep thinking about the pre-game locker room scene in Rudy – "Notre Dame Our Mother…PRAY FOR US!"

Given the lack of "Chest" effort in recent years, to maintain and protect her Catholic identity, I really wonder if she's still listening?