Texas, USC and the 7 college football fan bases living in the past

2. Notre Dame football fans love to bring up the past.

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish are one of those football traditions that go down from generation to generation. A lot of Fighting Irish fans remember watching games with their grandparents, as they hoped for one of the most popular teams in college football to go all the way. Notre Dame is so popular, they have their own contract with NBC to air its home games every Saturday. NBC re-signed the contract to go through 2025.

Despite the off the field success, Notre Dame hasn’t seen much success on the field. Under Brian Kelly, they’ve gotten back to prominence, however, they still haven’t been a convincing title contender. They made the College Football Playoff once since it’s inception, but they didn’t make much noise. They have three-straight 10-win seasons, but they just didn’t seem like a true contender.

The Fighting Irish are coming off an 11-win season, but they weren’t even in the preseason top 10. Notre Dame should be a program that’s constantly thought of as a national contender, but they don’t get that recognition anymore. There’s a reason for that.

Notre Dame hasn’t won it all in more than 30 years. Lou Holtz brought the Irish to the promised land back in 1988 for the university’s 11th title. It seemed like they’d have 20 by now, but they are still sitting on that 11 number. When a team has come close but lost when it mattered so many times, the polls don’t take favor to you.

However, if you ask the faithful in South Bend, Indiana, this is still one of the greatest names in college football. They expect to be one of the best, but they always come up short. Sometimes the disappointment comes early in the season, or other times it comes late. However, for 30 years one thing is for certain, the disappointment always comes.