Notre Dame Football: Reasons to hate playing Tennessee State in 2023

A few weeks ago we kicked off a “hate” series for the 2023 football season and I promised the overzealous that this wasn’t just about the nonsense of Navy still being on the schedule. So now I keep that promise and we move forward with the Tennessee State Tigers.

College football is full of good old-fashioned hate even when you think none exists.

Let’s get after it...

An all-time villain makes an appearance

When this game was announced, one of the handful of tidbits thrown our way was that this was something Marcus Freeman wanted to do with/for fellow Ohio State alumnus, Eddie George. While it’s easy to dismiss Marcus Freeman’s time in Columbus (if those things matter to you) because he had nothing to do with any ND loss to the Buckeyes — Eddie George is completely different.

George carried the ball 32 times for 207 yards and 2 touchdowns as he bullied the Irish defense inside the Horseshoe in 1995. But now, you just invite him to Rock’s House to help promote his program.

Al Tielemans /Sports Illustrated via Getty Images

Nope. I hate it.

So endeth the bulletpoint

I’m not sure of the exact stat off the top of my head, but I do know that Notre Dame and the USC Trojans were two of the last FBS teams to NOT ever play a school from the FCS. The stat itself is pretty much meaningless for every team in the country in this day and age (and the SEC’s love affair with the SoCon) but not for Notre Dame.

Part of Notre Dame’s defense/argument for years when the “13th data point” thing was thrown in their face, was that they were able to say that their 12 stacks up well against everyone else’s 13 because most of those schools with 13 had an FCS school on the schedule. Maybe that means even less with the expanded playoffs — but we aren’t there yet.

I hate it.

Next Up

We will find some reasons to hate playing the NC State Wolfpack.