Darn it, we've had this discussion for a number of years, as NDChief bloody well knows.
When the objective facts are put on the table (ulukinatme, we have a search function), Notre Dame's schedule and Ohio State's average SOS are virtually equivalent over the years, although Ohio State's has been tougher during the past decade.
That's not the point that posters are making here. The point is that being out of a conference allows Notre Dame to schedule "tough game-creme puff-creme puff-tough game", whereas in conference play, you can face three tough games in a row. Uh, Army, Navy, uh...
So, let's assume that Notre Dame has played tough schedules and examine the objective facts. This will allow us to move away from a "mine's bigger than your's" discussion and to stop the pissing contest.
Notre Dame haven't lost less than three games a year since 1994 and have lost 4.5 games on average every year.
Now, you may argue that this is because they play such a tough schedule, but as I said, we have analyzed power ratings, win-loss records and etc over the years and that simply is not so.
What does emerge from any analysis is that when Notre Dame plays good programs when those programs are not rebuilding, they have a very high chance of losing.
Let's examine the last ten years, 1996-2005. Surely to refer to anything past a decade is to make comparisons that have no meaning anyway. Otherwise, we're debating the glory years at Oberlin.
So, how do your beloved Irish perform against the name brand teams mentioned in this thread?
In the last ten years, Notre Dame is 0-2 against Nebraska (who lost two games both years that they played. They are 2-2 against Tennessee. Tennessee lost a combined 5 games the years Notre Dame lost to them and a combined 9 games the two years Notre Dame won.
In your trophy series with USC, Notre Dame is 3-7 the last ten years and has won only in years that USC lost at least 5 games (and as many as 7 games).
Against Florida State, you are 1-1, winning the year they lost 5 games. Hey, you did beat Oklahoma by four points at home in 1999, uh, yep, they lost five games that year.
You are even only 2-1 against Brigham Young, despite the fact that they did not lose less than 6 games any year you played them. Ohio State and Notre Dame did both play Brigham Young in 1993, they blew you guys out by more than three touchdowns and we beat them.
As for North Carolina State being no a no name brand, we beat them in 2003 44-38 and they put an ass-kicking of note on you guys in your bowl game, winning by more than three touchdowns!
Objective facts speak for themselves. Even if schedule strength is roughly equivalent, you guys have a knack for scheduling "name teams" during down periods and being out of a conference lets you fill the middle the schedule every year with creme puffs.
Now, what about Ohio State?
Between 1996 - 2005, only Florida State and Miami won a higher percentage of games than Ohio State (77.4%). Notre Dame is tied with West Virginia for 30th place (60.8%).
If Ohio State should lose just one or fewer games this year, they will become the winningest program in the 1997-2006 decade, even with the meltdown in the final Cooper years. By any objective measure you wish to choose, computer power ratings, whatever, this has not happened because Ohio State played a softer schedule.
It happened because Ohio State, not Notre Dame, is the premier power in college football. And no matter what Knute Rockne thinks about that, he can't change the facts about what Notre Dame has become.
And this isn't name calling, it's also an objective fact. We have had three modern era games between Ohio State and Notre Dame. Notre Dame was not even in any of those games after the first quarter. There is no comparison and there hasn't been for a long time.
it wasn't too long ago when Washington was a national power and boasted some the the nastiest defenses that college football had ever seen... somewhere around the last time that ND had any relevance in the college football landscape... as it stands, the Huskies won the Pac Ten in 2000, and- get this- THEY WON THE ROSE BOWL. and we all know that winning a bowl game has been something that ND hasn't been able to accomplish since 1993...
This is actually delusional. I just put the facts on the table. And so have the posters since this incredibly silly post. 
