{"id":285092,"date":"2025-11-11T10:24:11","date_gmt":"2025-11-11T10:24:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/285092\/"},"modified":"2025-11-11T10:24:11","modified_gmt":"2025-11-11T10:24:11","slug":"joey-mcguire-takes-shot-at-notre-dame-for-remaining-independent-not-joining-conference","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/285092\/","title":{"rendered":"Joey McGuire takes shot at Notre Dame for remaining independent, not joining conference"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s normal for head coaches to tip their hat to opposing teams after a game. After Texas Tech<\/a>\u2018s 29-7 win over BYU<\/a> on Saturday, it appeared Red Raiders head coach Joey McGuire<\/a> was doing just that. However, things took an unexpected turn when McGuire turned his crosshairs on another program.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have so much respect for BYU. I do,\u201d McGuire said<\/a>. \u201cI was really excited whenever they joined the Big 12 because I think that they carry a lot of weight and a lot of respect. I think that I have a lot of respect for them entering a conference and not playing an independent schedule like other people\u2014y\u2019all already know who that is.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, I have a lot of respect for that. I mean, they\u2019re earning their right just like everybody, but a couple of people in the nation, are earning their right through conference play and playing in some really tough places.\u201d<\/p>\n

Anybody familiar with the college football landscape knows Joey McGuire was referring to Notre Dame<\/a>. The Fighting Irish are one of just two FBS teams that compete as independents, meaning they don\u2019t belong to a conference.<\/p>\n

Notre Dame has come under heavy criticism in the past for its refusal to join a conference. Specifically, critics chastise the Fighting Irish\u2019s ability to choose their opponents, while teams that belong to a conference have approximately two-thirds of their schedule chosen for them.<\/p>\n

Critics believe this ability is an unfair advantage for the Fighting Irish, who could front load their season with difficult opponents, but sneak into the College Football Playoff<\/a> with easy wins in the back half of their schedule. As an independent from 2016-22, BYU also had the ability to handpick its schedule.<\/p>\n

Alas, in 2023, the Cougars officially joined the Big 12. It hasn\u2019t taken long for BYU to become one of the top teams in the conference.<\/p>\n

In BYU\u2019s first campaign in the Big 12, the team finished 5-7 and 2-7 in conference play. Alas, the Cougars excelled the following season, notching an 11-2 overall record and a 7-2 mark in conference play.<\/p>\n

BYU\u2019s loss to Texas Tech on Saturday was its first of the season. The Cougars are 8-1 on the season and 5-1 against Big 12 competition. In contrast, Notre Dame is 7-2.<\/p>\n

BYU landed at No. 7 in the first CFP rankings of the year. Notre Dame trailed three spots behind. However, with the loss, BYU will likely fall behind<\/a> the Fighting Irish when the CFP committee updates their rankings this week.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s normal for head coaches to tip their hat to opposing teams after a game. After Texas Tech\u2018s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":285093,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[67],"tags":[399,32689,398,396,397,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-285092","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-football","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-joey-mcguire-89-crowley","10":"tag-ncaa","11":"tag-ncaa-football","12":"tag-ncaafootball","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/285092","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=285092"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/285092\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/285093"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=285092"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=285092"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=285092"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}