Why is Notre Dame even in the BCS?

Question

arent they ranked like 11th or something.

Answer 1

If you want the detailed answer to why, the answer is below. If you want the short version, it because the team that got bumped
from the BCS game (Wisconsin, which was ranked #7 in the BCS standings), was the Big 10 #3 team, meaning they would
have been locked in to the Outback Bowl, because the Big 10 #3
team during the regular season is granted an automatic berth in that game against an SEC opponent. However, since there
is a creation of the BCS championship game, the Big 10#1, which would normally be guaranteed a berth in the Rose Bowl,
if they're not playing in the BCS championship game, has their
spot taken by the Big 10#2 team. Wisconsin, because the two
teams above them in the Big 10, got essentially promoted to bigger bowl games, was taking the place of Big 10#2, in the
Capital One bowl, where they played SEC#2, like last season.
Notre Dame, finishing #11 in the BCS standings, and being an independent team instead of a conference team, was the best team in the BCS standings not locked into a bowl, because of the Wisconsin situation. This only happened, because Ohio State, being a BCS1 or 2, like Florida, were locked into playing this game. It also affected SEC teams as well, because traditionally SEC champion plays for the Sugar Bowl, unless they are locked into the national championship game. If you want an example of which conferences are locked into which bowl games go here:
http://www.collegefootballpoll.com/2005_archive_bowls.html

This explains it to the fans who take the time to study the BCS and how the college football bowl system works in NCAA 1-A football. That's about the best explanation you're going to get.

Here's the more detailed reason.
The BCS is ...

# The Bowl Championship Series (BCS) is a five-game arrangement for post-season college football that is designed to match the two top-rated teams in a national championship game and to create exciting and competitive matchups between eight other highly regarded teams in four other games.

# The bowl games participating are the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl, FedEx Orange Bowl, Rose Bowl, Allstate Sugar Bowl and the BCS National Championship Game which will be played each year at one of the bowl sites.

# The BCS is managed by the commissioners of the 11 NCAA Division I-A conferences, the director of athletics at the University of Notre Dame, and representatives of the bowl organizations. The conferences are Atlantic Coast, Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, Conference USA, Mid-American, Mountain West, Sun Belt, Pacific 10, Southeastern and Western Athletic.

# The conference commissioners and the Notre Dame athletics director make decisions regarding all BCS issues, in consultation with an athletics directors advisory group and subject to the approval of a presidential oversight committee whose members represent all 117 Division 1-A programs.

# The five BCS games are part of the overall bowl structure. All bowl games provide meaningful season-ending opportunities to teams.

# As one conference commissioner said, "the celebration that occurs among the student-athletes, coaching staff and fans at the end of each bowl games is an indication of the importance of all bowl games."

# The BCS places great premium on the regular season of college football. Football weekends are an important ingredient in the overall college experience-going well beyond simply what occurs in the athletics department. A significant amount of the revenue that supports all athletic programs is generated by regular-season football. And so it is of great importance that the regular season remains strong and vibrant.

# The top two teams were matched in bowl games infrequently before the BCS, when conferences were contractually obligated to certain games and there was no flexibility to attempt to match the top teams.

# The 2006 regular season (2007 bowl games) is the first year of a television agreement with Fox Sports. ABC has an agreement to continue to televise the Rose Bowl through 2014.

Schedule of Games, January 2007

Access for teams without automatic berths will expand significantly beginning with the 2006 regular season, when the fifth game is added to the BCS structure. Four at-large berths will be available, as opposed to the previous two. The schedule for January, 2007, is as follows:

January 1 - Fiesta Bowl
January 1 - Rose Bowl
January 2 - Orange Bowl
January 3 - Sugar Bowl
January 8 - BCS National Championship Game (Phoenix)

Automatic qualification

1. The top two teams in the final BCS Standings will play in the national championship game.

2. The champions of the Atlantic Coast, Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-10 and Southeastern Conferences automatically qualify for BCS games each year.

3. One team from among the champions of Conference USA, the Mid-American Conference, the Mountain West Conference, the Sun Belt Conference, or the Western Athletic Conference automatically qualify for a BCS game if either: A. Such team is ranked in the top 12 of the final BCS Standings, or, B. Such team is ranked in the top 16 of the final BCS Standings and its ranking in the final BCS Standings is higher than that of a champion of a conference that has an annual automatic berth in one of the BCS bowls.

4. Notre Dame will automatically qualify for a BCS bowl if it is in the top eight of the final BCS Standings.

5. If any of the 10 slots remain open after application of provisions 1 through 4, and an at-large team from a conference with an annual automatic berth for its champion is ranked No. 3 in the final BCS Standings, that team shall become an automatic qualifier.

6. If any of the 10 slots remain open after application of provisions 1 through 5, and if Step No. 5 has not been applied and an at-large team from a conference with an annual automatic berth for its champion is ranked No. 4 in the final BCS Standings, that team shall become an automatic qualifier.

7. If any slots remain unfilled after the placement of all teams qualifying for an automatic berth, then the bowls shall choose their participants from the "pool of eligible teams" (see below.)

Pool of Eligible Teams

If berths are available after the automatic qualifiers have been identified, then the bowls shall select at-large participants from the "pool of eligible teams," which shall include any Division I-A team that is bowl-eligible and meets the following requirements:
A. Has won at least nine regular-season games, not including exempted games, and
B. Is among the top 14 teams in the final BCS Standings

The BCS is Working

The BCS is succeeding. The nation's No. 1 and No. 2 teams met only eight times in bowl games in the 57 seasons between 1936 and 1992, when the "bowl coalition" (a predecessor of the BCS) was created. No. 1 and No. 2 have met eight times in the 15 years since 1992. In the eight-year history of the BCS, the AP's No. 1 and No. 2 have met five times.

The BCS is not ...

# It is not a playoff system. It is nothing more than attempt to match the No. 1 and No. 2 teams within the bowl system and to create exciting matchups in four other bowl games.

# It is also not an exclusive system that rewards only a few. The University of Utah demonstrated in 2005 that a team from a conference without an annual automatic berth can have access to a BCS bowl game. The selection process has been further adjusted to allow even more such access in the future.

Revenue

Before the BCS was created, conferences without automatic berths in the "major" bowl games received no revenue from those games. In the first eight years of the BCS system, more than $50 million was distributed to conferences that do not have an annual automatic berth in the system.

Economic Impact

The total economic impact in the host cities from the five BCS games in January, 2007, is estimated at more than $1.2 billion.

A word about a playoff

The NCAA membership has not proposed the creation of a playoff.

Answer 2

They are an independent school, so they by definition cannot win a conference. If they were a member of a BSC conference, then they would have to win their conference or finish second if the first place team in their conference was playing for the BSC Championship.

So, what it boils down to is money. Notre Dame has a major national following. They WILL draw a crowd, regardless of where the bowl game in played. Tickets to BSC games sell for a huge amount of money. For example, my brother-in-law is stationed at Luke AFB in Glendale, AZ. The base had tickets for the Insight Bowl, those had a face value of something like $75 each. They also had some tickets for the Fiesta Bowl. Those had a face value of between $150 and $250 each. For the BSC Championship game, those same tickets would easily exceed the normal BSC Bowl game.

It is pretty much a sure bet that you will sell all of the Notre Dame tickets to whatever bowl game they go to. If you can get them in a game with a high face value ticket, no doubt they will go because of the large national following.

I do think that Notre Dame's national following is dropping somewhat, but it is still large enough to let them have a contract with NBC for all of their home games to be televised, no revenue sharing with other members of a conference they don't belong to. That is HUGE.

It's all about money, and Notre Dame alumni and many fans have plenty of it.

Answer 3

Notre Dame is in the BCS as an at large team. Since they are in no Conference, that's all they can get(or #1 or #2 for the NC.) They usually have a hard schedule to stay up in the ranks.

Answer 4

To listen to some of the Notre Dame fans, the season should only be to determine who plays the Irish for the national championship

Answer 5

Because the teams they lost to were by ranking a sum of 8 in the BCS poll and LSU is 11

Answer 6

The bowl committee feels that Notre Dame will draw the most fans to their game. The answer is money.

Answer 7

Because they never stop praying to Touchdown Jesus every day and he rewards them by taking away some other colleges legit chance at a BCS game.

Answer 8

It's the $$$$'s! ND has a huge fan base and is highly overrated! Therefore they get bowl bids every year! LOL...I just find it absolutely hilarious that tonight will be there 9th bowl loss in a row!!! YAY ND!

Answer 9

Ben, I wish I knew, my friend.

Answer 10

I dont know they stink GO LSU♥