Independents sneak peek: Burning questions for Notre Dame, Army, UConn and

Costs Connelly, ESPN Staff WriterMay 19, 2023, 07:00 AM ET

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Bill Connelly is a personnel writer for ESPN.com.In 1988, the last time Notre Dame won the national title, 4 of the top 5 teams in the last AP survey– the Irish, plus No. 2 Miami, No. 3 Florida State and No. 5 West Virginia– were independents. So were Penn State (No. 1 in 1986), Pitt (No. 4 in 1981), Syracuse (No. 4 in 1987), Boston College (No. 5 in 1984), South Carolina (No. 11 in 1984) and East Carolina (No. 20 in 1983). There were 25 indies in 1988, 33 a decade before that.Now there

are four.Granted, we were down to simply three as just recently as 2010 prior to BYU and some other hipsters attempted to make independent living cool once again. However the Cougars are off to the Huge 12, and Liberty and New Mexico State hopped aboard the Conference U.S.A. train. So now it’s just stalwarts Notre Dame and Army and 2 northeastern teams– UConn and UMass– that most likely would join a conference if it made sense.( They must persuade Vermont, Maine, Rhode Island and New Hampshire to jump to FBS and reform the Yankee Conference of old!)Regardless of all the maneuvering and the combination of brands within the SEC and Big 10, Notre Dame remains

an indie, meaning that stays a feasible course. How much longer will that stay the case? It’s difficult to state. Forever would be great. However for now, let’s sneak peek 2023’s independents!Every week through the offseason, Expense Connelly will sneak peek another department from the Group of 5 and Power 5 exclusively for ESPN +, eventually consisting of all 133 FBS groups. The previews will consist of 2022 breakdowns, 2023 sneak peeks and burning concerns for each team.