The college football mad Midwest is a region that runs roughly from Central Pennsylvania to Western Nebraska and encompasses all the cornfields, factory towns, and major cities there. They have been playing there since 1879 when the University of Michigan defeated Racine College 1-0 (do not ask).
Over the next 141 years, the love of the game’s region – and everything that goes with it – can be seen in 100,000 seats, talking first-name gates and massive marching bands.
This is the Midwest. College football is not only popular. It’s a way of life.
Just not this fall. The 125-year-old Big Ten Conference canceled its 2020 season on Tuesday, just days after the second tier Mid American Conference canceled its campaign. Maybe some areas still play small colleges, but Saturday afternoons that have been about the sport for generations will be dark.
Well, except for one place… South Bend.
There in northern Indiana, smack dab in the middle of a region with 65 million people, the University of Notre Dame, is still, as of now, planning to play this fall. Yes, the Fighting Irish, who are easily the most despised rival of all non-ND fans from Harrisburg to Lincoln, may have a season when no one else can.
The Irish have long resisted polite invitations, sincere begging and political pressure to join the Big Ten. They held on to their independence instead. It has led to a lot of hard feelings, usually compounded by the vocals and pride of / alumni in the neighborhood / office / local bar.
(Q. How do you know someone went to Notre Dame? A. Wait two minutes and they will tell you.)
Here in the midst of a pandemic, Notre Dame has joined the Atlantic Coastal Conference, which is still advancing with a season that would begin on 26 September.
Irish fans cheer in the first half of a Notre Dame game in 2019. (Roy K. Miller / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
That means for fans with football hunger in the Midwest, this could be a season of watching as Notre Dame, of all the damn places, gets to continue with all the damn fun.
Or put it this way: If Irish hosts Clemson as Florida State this season, fans of Michigan and fans of Ohio State and fans of Wisconsin will … rake leaves?
“We are always looking for new fans, that we want to welcome them all on board,” Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick said Wednesday. “Although, I’m a little hard to think we have a lot of converts.”
Probably not. If anything, it can build even more resentment.
To be clear, Notre Dame is not the only school in the Midwest that is still planned to play. The universities of Pittsburgh (ACC), Cincinnati (AAC) and Iowa State (Big 12) are still pushing ahead. None of them have the tradition as a fan base of the Irish already.
In addition, Swarbrick is quick to point out that although the ACC did not pull the plug during the season and move after playing, it is not yet certain that actual games will take place.
“All of us decided to go ahead and take another step instead of competing, but we will continue to listen to what the doctors and science tell us,” he noted.
He respected the very difficult decision that Big Ten leaders had to make this week. There is nothing wrong with that. This is not over.
Still, there is hope for Notre Dame in a way that is not there for everyone else.
Wednesday was a day of collective mourning in the Midwest. Anger, frustration, depression … and not just players and coaches of canceled programs.
Fans who spent their entire lives building their water around college football are now staring away in a string of Saturday pumpkin picks and cider factories. Of soksawat.
Or maybe, Notre Dame watching (or trying to ignore) playing a string of great games and competing for a championship.
“It’s an interesting place to be in,” Swarbrick said.
He was already theorizing that the Irish could get extra media attention in area markets such as Chicago, Indianapolis, Detroit and Cleveland. He made it clear that even if sitting in a socially distant Notre Dame Stadium can be limited to upright fans and students (at all), team marks are available on the department’s website for anyone who wants to attend the season .
‘Maybe there can be one [clothing] line about how this is the only college football for 800 miles, ”Swarbrick suggested.
It is certainly possible that a few new college football diehards will follow the team. But Swarbrick knows that when things get back to normal, they will go back to Badgers or Boilermakers. Which is good.
Notre Dame just hopes it can play. The rest of the region is stuck without the possibility.
“I hope they agree on the broadcasts, though,” Swarbrick said. “Even if it’s too deep for us.”
