Even my Buckeye friends were commenting about they belong in a Rose Bowl but are tired of Bama, Clemson with a OK, OSU alternative.
ND played 5 ACC. The ACC seemed to be really down when watching the teams this year. Yet Clemson and ND are looking in. Are they the best? What a mess.
It used to be that conferences were regional and you had those once a year meetings with familiar teams. Then almost thirty years ago, Penn State joined the Big 10. That started a 25 year process that just destroyed the whole order of things. Look at these conferences now. Rutgers, Maryland and Nebraska in the Big 10. No more Nebraska-Oklahoma game or any of those rivalries. "Eastern" football doesn't even exist anymore. The Pouties in the Big 12 was a necessary move but their nearest conference opponent is on the other side of the Mississippi River. No more Pitt, VT, Penn State, Syracuse, BC, Rutgers, Temple, or Maryland.
These conferences were built on media markets more than anything else. Ironically, fewer people seem to be paying attention. Definitely not as many are attending games.
One thing I admire about the MAC, they stick together. No one seems to talk about moving conferences among the old guard. Even U of Buffalo seems to have settled in. To me that is comforting. And despite everything that is wrong with the MAC I really wish that our last stint in it would have worked out. I think our attendance would be better and there would be more fan interest playing BGSU, Miami and Ohio every year than playing Charlotte, ODU, and F (I/A) U. Because we have history there. It will take beyond my lifetime to build that kind of history with the teams we have in CUSA v3.0.