Notre Dame is by far the most popular team in the nation. One of the national sporting journals, I think it was the Sporting News, conducted a comprehensive national poll that indicated there were twice as many ND fans as the next most popular school, Penn State. Certainly, they didn't need a poll to confirm this basic fact, which merchandising sales and tv ratings bear out.

No other school can get its own major national network deal. In fact, their games have been broadcast by radio "from coast to coast and around the world" for decades. Does any other school capture such a national audience?

That said, like the Yankees and the Cowboys, ND is also the most reviled. You love them or hate them. Therefore, it is rare that you get a disinterested opinion about them. The detractors always tend to claim that ND has no right to play in a bowl game and overstate how bad they are while the supporters tend to overstate how good they are.

The way the stystem is now, ND will always be invited to the most prestigious bowl game, for which any argument can be made for them to attend because the sponsors want them and beg for them as they bring the most fans from across the country, who spend the most money. The school creates a big buzz and guarantees a huge TV rating for them. The haters watch them as much as the supporters, if not more.

It is not accidental that they've lost 9 bowl games as they have been placed in bowl games that other teams of comparable talent would not have been considered for. When ND was picked over Oregon, which had a similar record as ND, for a BCS bowl game and lost to Ohio State, I think. Some detractors clamored in hindsight that ND didn't belong. The fact is that they did belong because they delivered the pay day whereas nobody east of Salem gives a rat's ass about the University of Oregon. If Florida and Ohio State had three losses, they would be a mere blip on the national radar and buried in the Liberty Bowl.

Right or wrong, that's just the way it is until there's a play-off.