No Cupcakes
USC and Washington are two of just seven NCAA Division I-A programs that never faced a non-Division I-A opponent since the current division setup was established in 1978. The others that have yet to play a non-Division I-A opponent since the advent of the current format are Michigan, Michigan State, Notre Dame, Ohio State and UCLA.
That's three Pac-10 schools and three Big Ten schools for those keeping score
Scott I find this post offensive to USC.
but Notre Dame plays Army and Navy, so they may as well be playing non-Division I-A opponents every year.
Whoever used my name fraudulently (which is actually kind of funny), at least sack up and use your usual screenname to take credit for it. Be a man, for crying out loud.
How is the post offensive to SC? It is showing we don't schedule pansy schools
Let me guess...David? OMG? Eddie? 'Fess up.
The SEC hogs them all. There is not enough 1-AA to go around after the hillbillies play them all.
That score will change next year as Ohio State is scheduled to play D-1AA Youngstown State.
Matthew's right. Notre Dame has beaten Navy 42 consecutive times and haven't lost to Army since 1958. Talk about overmatched opponents.
osu plays youngstown state next year...so the list will be down to six.
Dude i think someone should let Notre Dame join one of the conference Big east or something
Well, in the next several years we are getting Idaho and San Jose St. on the schedule, not exactly top tier Div 1-A heavies, but will also be adding Ohio St. at the same time!!!
No more hogs to feed on.
thats why they call us the big dogs
the rest of the D1 schools who sack up and play NCAA Division I-A programs only are a ok in my book
the rest are pussies
I agree 110%. When was the last time a Notre Dame-Navy game meant someting? 1963 with Roger Staubach? Notre Dame-Army? 1946? Both of these teams are basically Div. II teams, yet the Irish keep playing them. "For the history" I hear...I would laugh but Notre Dame's whole schedule is basically a joke..except for playing USC...
Patrick -
The ND "joke" schedule this year includes Georgia Tech, Penn St., both Michigan and Michigan State, Purdue, Stanford, UCLA, North Carolina, Army, Navy, and Air Force, and of course USC.
Not exactly the joke you might have thought.
One of the tougher schedules in the country, including 3 Pac-10, 4 Big-10, two ACC, and 3 Service academies.
Interesting info. Thanks, Scott.
Carter, Congrats ND on winning the Commanders cup; the three service academies are a joke and don't give me the Navy record, its done against mostly teams without a pulse including Stanford, speaking of... the P10 besides USC is the Farm (woo hoo) and FUCLA which you don't see ND fans worried too much about, and the 4 Big Ten (MSU (loses to Illinois nuff said), Michigan (great team), Purdon't (woo hoo again), Penn State (looking pretty bad), ACC Ga Tech (looking pretty good right now), North Carolina (they blow)
In the End ND plays two excellent teams in SC & UM; one very good team (GT) and the rest flat out stink. Its a 3 game season for Irish and they are 1-1.
I believe the past three seasons, Notre Dame v. Navy has been a big game with Navy actually being competitive in two of them. Army just stinks, but their coach is the highest paid civil employee in the country!
That said, the tough games for ND are: GT, PSU, UM, MSU, UCLA and USC. I guess 6 out of 12 ain't bad...
carter: you might have to take another look at Notre Dame's schedule. While ND "usually" has a pretty tough schedule based on the schools they play, which justifies scheduling Div. II caliber teams like Army, Navy and Airforce, this year's schedule is very soft (based on the caliber of the teams this year) with the exception of SC (who will beat ND) and Michigan (who crushed ND), and "maybe" G-Tech (who looks solid). Purdue, Michigan State and Penn State are all down from years past, Stanford and North Carolina are horrible and then there's Army, Navy and Air Force = joke schedule...this year!
It's not like UCLA hasn't thought about it. In the early 90s, the Bruins tried to schedule Cal State Northridge who just moved to I-AA. But the Westwood boys wanted to pay the Doormats (think about that Matador fans) a pittance that wasn't worth the risk of injuries.
In any given year Penn State, Purdue, Michigan State and UCLA can be dangerous teams. These schedules are set years ahead of time so you can't seriously think ND knew that these teams would have off years in 2006.
ND is overrated! Should have stuck with Willingham. Your "genius" coach better get it together for USC.