If Notre Dame loses to Ohio State, they will never have another game this big at home ever again.
A noble spirit embiggens the smallest man and many factors can embiggen a college football game. When I say that we might never have another home game as big as this one ever again, I’m not saying that a loss would do irreparable damage to the football program. It’s just that the only game that Notre Dame will ever play at Notre Dame Stadium that could be as big as this one is the USC game in three weeks. If we’re both undefeated, that game will be embiggened to a level even greater than this one. And then we will never play another home game that big ever again. I’ll get to why in a bit, but how big is this game? Is it the biggest home game since Florida State in 1993? There are surprisingly few contenders for that title. There’s a pretty obvious answer and it’s also the wrong answer. Let’s go through the contenders.
2005 USC- Pete Carroll’s team of highly paid mercenaries was coming off a half national championship and a forfeited national championship (for employing professional football player Reggie Bush to play college football) the previous two years. They were ranked number 1 and we were ranked number 9. Charlie Weis had us believing (it sounds crazy now, but he did make that offense into a powerful attack that seemed good enough to beat anybody). They were our biggest rival and we had lost to them by 31 points every year under Tyrone Willingham. They hadn’t lost in forever. The bigness of this game was slightly diminished by the fact that we already had a loss. But with a win over USC, we would have been in the top five at that point. If we had won, it would have been either us or Penn State in the National Championship Game against Texas with the way the rest of the season played out.
2012 Stanford- It was the biggest home game of the magical 2012 season and it was a classic. Stanford was pretty much at the height of its power. If they didn’t have a loss already, this game would probably be the answer for the biggest home game since Florida State. That Stanford team was good. They finished the season ranked number 7, but they were 17 at the time.
2017 Georgia- This one was too early in the season. Georgia was starting to become what they are today. They finished the season ranked number 2, but they were only ranked 15 going into this game and we were ranked 24 (and coming off an inexplicably disastrous season under Brian Kelly). If this one had happened later in the season, it might be the right answer.
2018 Michigan- We were ranked 12 and they were ranked 14. Again, this was too early in the season (it was the first game). There was hype for this one, but there would have been a lot more if we had already won some games that season.
2018 Stanford- This one was probably more hyped than Michigan because it was later in the season. We were ranked 8 and Stanford was ranked 7. But it’s definitely not the answer because Stanford was past its peak at this point. It turned out that Stanford was nowhere close to being as good as that number 7 ranking.
2020 Clemson- This is the obvious answer. And it’s not the right one. Unlike the 2005 USC game, we were both undefeated. We were ranked number 4 and they were ranked number 1. They had won two national championships in the previous four seasons. Some might discredit this one because there were only like 10,000 fans at the game and Trevor Lawrence didn’t play. But for me, those factors did not debiggen this game (embiggen is a perfectly cromulent word so I figure debiggen must be the opposite of embiggen). This game was debiggened by the stupidity of conferences. At this point in the season, we pretty much knew that it was game 1 of at least 2. Because of the pandemic, we were in the ACC and it didn’t really matter who won the game because we were just going to play them again in the ACC Championship Game and then possibly a third time in the College Football Playoff (we both ended up making it). So yeah, conferences are stupid.
2021 Cincinnati- This might have been the most consequential game. It determined a playoff spot. But it was just a little too early in the season (October 2). We were ranked 9 and they were ranked 7. It wasn’t clear that it would determine a playoff spot. If it had come later, maybe we would have known that with more certainty. Also, Cincinnati as a program just isn’t on the same level as teams like USC, Georgia, peak Stanford, Michigan, or Clemson.
And then there’s this game. We’ll see how it looks in retrospect. Like if we win and then Ohio State turns out to just not be all that good, it would be hard to say that this was the biggest home game since Florida State in 1993. But going into the game, the hype feels like it is at least as big as USC in 2005. I have USC 2005 as the biggest home since Florida State before this one. We were coming off of blowout losses in three straight seasons against USC. Ohio State isn’t a rival like USC is. We’ve only played them five times since World War II started. But we’ve lost them all so the desire to finally beat them does embiggen this game. I’m giving this one a slight edge since both teams are undefeated.
So why is USC in three weeks the only home game that could ever be even bigger than this one? Much like the looming conference championship game in 2020 debiggened the Clemson game that year, the expanded playoff will debiggen every future regular season game. If this game was next year, it would not be nearly as big as it is this year. The loser would still have a very solid chance of making it to the College Football Playoff. A loss would just be like, oh well, and definitely not a soul crushing defeat.
But wait, Notre Dame could have a home playoff game under the new format. Couldn’t that be just as big or bigger than this game? Unless the playoff format changes, the answer is no. We could only have a home game in the first round and then the rest of the games would be at neutral sites. So we would have a home game if we were seeded in the 5-8 range. If we’re seeded 5th, that means that we’re actually somewhere between the first and fifth best team (because the format is stupid and we’re not eligible to get a bye). If that’s the case, we would play the 12 seed, who is just not all that good. And we would potentially have three more playoff games. So that game just wouldn’t be as big as the Ohio State game this year. If it was a more even matchup where we were hosting the 8-9 game, we still have potentially three more playoff games, but more likely it’s just a battle to be the sacrificial lamb for the number 1 team in the second round.
So yeah, college football is being ruined. Conferences and the expanded playoff are stupid (even though it makes it easier for us to make the playoff). We have to enjoy this season as much as possible before next year. Hopefully we’ll have one more home game this big in three weeks. Go Irish!
