Bagpipe Monday: Do you like Notre Dame’s ridiculous neutral site agenda?

Welcome to another Bagpipe Monday on One Foot Down! Friends, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish are having a bit of an odd season for sure, and after their win over the Purdue Boilermakers, they play their second Big 10 team of the year in the Wisconsin Badgers.

@phillykelly

This game is the biggest game of the week, and has both FOX and ESPN doing their college football preview shows on location (Big Noon Kickoff and College Gameday) but rather than being on location at Camp Randall Stadium in Madison, it will be at the neutered down — neutral location — of Soldier Field in Chicago.

What a waste. College football is at its best when we have big-time matchups during the season — IN A COLLEGE STADIUM.

This game, of course, is part of the deal that would have sent Notre Dame and Wisconsin to Green Bay last year rather than Notre Dame Stadium. The COVID-19 pandemic eventually saw to it that the game was cancelled (and then rescheduled for a later year). So now we’re stuck with this abomination.

I have never held back on the topic of neutral site games and the Shamrock Series before, and almost all of you already know my stance. But just because you know what I’m going to say — well that will never stop me from saying it loud and on repeat... neutral site games suck ass.

The arguments in favor of neutral site games are more like wishes of what these games can be, rather than what they actually are. The recruiting element, for example, is largely overblown — like it’s not even in the top 10 of factors involved with a recruit’s decision (as was confirmed with 247’s Tom Loy on the OFD Podcast). As to the fan excitement element, I suppose that’s more subjective. There’s no way, however, that this game is better served to the public in Chicago rather than Madison — not as far as the “big game” level is concerned.

I realize that these games aren’t going away at Notre Dame, but that doesn’t mean I won’t call it out for being lame each and every time. I can forgive the dumb Maryland at FedEx, or Army at Yankee Stadium — or whatever — but taking a game against one of the better programs over the last 25 years and moving it off of campus is a terrible life choice.

Enjoy the pipes this week. Chicago dogs...