Why is Notre Dame not in a conference for college football? Here's what to know as the Irish are set to compete in the CFP championship game on Monday:

Ohio State foe Marcus Freeman isn't the only one, by a long shot. A look at how seven Notre Dame football coaches were strongly tied to Ohio.

But evolution is also a choice. The dinosaurs didn't have to walk into the tar pits. And college football programs -- even old-timers such as Ohio State and Notre Dame -- don't have to walk into the quicksand of mediocrity, led there by the blinders of obligation to keep on keeping on the same way that Knute Rockne and Woody Hayes did.