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Notre Dame Football: The road to a title goes through South Bend

By Ben Belden

ARLINGTON, TEXAS - DECEMBER 29: The Notre Dame Fighting Irish take the field for warm ups before the game against the Clemson Tigers during the College Football Playoff Semifinal Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic at AT&T Stadium on December 29, 2018 in Arlington, Texas. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)
ARLINGTON, TEXAS - DECEMBER 29: The Notre Dame Fighting Irish take the field for warm ups before the game against the Clemson Tigers during the College Football Playoff Semifinal Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic at AT&T Stadium on December 29, 2018 in Arlington, Texas. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images) /
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On Tuesday, it was announced that Notre Dame football will play Georgia in prime time on September 21st. The Irish are, indeed, relevant.

Notre Dame football is relevant. But if you’re a regular reader of this website, you already know that. But the validation of Notre Dame’s relevance is sweet for Irish fans.

If you missed it, the Irish will travel to Athens, Georgia on September 21st to face the Georgia Bulldogs on September 21st. The game will be telecast on CBS and will be an 8 PM kickoff. The newsworthy part of that equation is that CBS only gets one prime time slot per year. They chose to put the Irish and the Bulldogs in prime time instead of Alabama and LSU later in the season.

And while this may be a surprising move to some, it’s not surprising given the impact that Notre Dame plays on a national stage year after year.

The truth is this: Whether or not Notre Dame is in contention for the College Football Playoff, one or more of its opponents often are… or at least they think they are. In short, Notre Dame is always a game teams circle as a difficult hurdle on the way to a potential National Championship.

Last season, Michigan had title aspirations nearly dashed after week one. They still managed to hold on to those aspirations until the last week of the regular season.

In 2017, no one necessarily knew the impact that Notre Dame and Georgia would play one of the most important games of the college football season, but that’s exactly what it was. Georgia nearly won the National Championship that year, but they wouldn’t have had the opportunity without their showing against Notre Dame.

In 2019, the same two schools have championship-type aspirations. Teams like Stanford and USC are assessing their route back to national prominence, thinking “We’ve got to be able to compete with teams like Notre Dame.”

Next. Notre Dame Basketball Nuggets 2019. dark

In short, Notre Dame is a measuring stick for other programs. It’s a program that other programs try to emulate. Fans may want more–and that’s okay–but the Irish have proven that they’ve arrived and that they’re here to stay.

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