what might become a problem for ND: recruiting. As USD points out, NC continues to draw great talent; however, that may change.
Over the last five years, the big ten has become the conference with the best collection of coaches. Today, with Brohm going to Purdue...it got even better.
Suddenly, ND has to compete in its backyard for players against Myer, Harbaugh, and now Lovie Smith, who absolutely will draw talent. On an academic level, ND still has to compete for kids with NW. Now, for the first time in a long time, ND has someone in its own state to compete with at Purdue.
If that was not bad enough....
With the reemergence of PSU, ND will have to compete with Penn State and I can tell you as a DC resident, Under Armour is really trying to make Maryland the east-coast Oregon. They are getting better and MD is drawing in huge talent from local national powerhouses like that have not in the past. Rutgers is dumping money into its football program at a pace faster than any in the country.
Let's not forget, USC is getting its scholarships back, which competes for socal and hawaii with ND and unlike even 5 years ago, the state of Texas, wherre ND has gotten some stars, now has: AM, Baylor, TCU, Houston, and Texas.
It's true, all the top programs have to compete nation wide for top talent, but IMO, it seems like ND gets hurt from every angle with the emergence of these schools.