re: Will Notre Dame ever have a dominant football program again?

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This. As long as Notre Dame continues to hold academics in higher esteem than athletics they will not consistently be a powerhouse. Need to drop standards and/or start allowing redshirts.

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Meh, it's really not that bad from an admissions standpoint. The main thing is it's really, really hard for JUCOs to transfer in. Also, there might be some kids that really have struggled badly academically that won't get in, but it's pretty rare. You don't exactly need to be a rocket scientist to get into ND as a football player.

Also, ND does "redshirt", but doesn't call it a redshirt and ND lists players by academic year. So if you go to the Website, it might say "SR" by a player's name, but he's a junior from an eligibility standpoint. The fifth-years will say "GS". I don't know if it's an official or just kind of expected, but most/all of the fifth-years graduated in four years, and then are offered to come back for a fifth year if accepted into a graduate school program, rather than completing an undergraduate degree (or "being in the process" of completing an undergrad degree) in five years.