updated 12:44 p.m. ET Sept. 2, 2008

SOUTH BEND, Ind. - The last time Notre Dame claimed a national championship, this year’s freshman class...wasn’t alive.

Such a statement once was unimaginable to Irish players and their fans. But it’s true, for the first time since Knute Rockne roamed the sidelines.

The Irish haven’t been champions since Lou Holtz led them to a title in 1988.

That’s the longest drought in school history — but it’s not just the lack of championships. It’s Notre Dame’s inability to compete for titles. During the longest previous dry spell, which began with the 1949 championship and ended in 1966, the Irish finished in the top 10 seven times.

So why can’t Notre Dame win like it used to? Whether it’s been Holtz, Bob Davie, Tyrone Willingham or Charlie Weis coming out of the tunnel in Notre Dame Stadium, the Irish just haven’t been on top at the end of the season.

There is a litany of standard responses about why. Some blame Notre Dame’s high academic standards. Others cite the facilities. Others say Notre Dame’s schedule as an independent is too tough. Last year, Notre Dame faced 10 bowl teams.

Notre Dame has taken steps to address some of those concerns. It built a 96,000-square-foot athletic complex with generous amenities three years ago, and this season began practicing on two new artificial turf fields and another new grass field.

Before leaving for Duke in May, former athletic director Kevin White took steps to soften Notre Dame’s schedule. The Irish open this year against San Diego State and next season start against Nevada and will play only four road games. Charlie Weis has recruited three straight top-10 classes, so academics don’t appear to be the problem.

Observers, though, say there are other factors making it harder for Notre Dame to hit the heights it reached in the past.

Bobby Burton, editor-in-chief of Rivals.com, says the changing football landscape has hurt the Irish.

Before 1970, schools could give an unlimited number of scholarships. In 1974, when Joe Montana was a seventh-string quarterback for Notre Dame as a freshman, the NCAA allowed a maximum of 105 scholarships. Two years later, scholarships were cut to 95, then to 92 in 1992 and gradually to the present 85 by 1994.

"So yesterday’s third-string quarterback at Notre Dame might be starting at Central Michigan or some other place," Burton said.

Murray Sperber, a visiting professor at the University of California, Berkeley, who wrote "Shake Down the Thunder," a history of Notre Dame football, points to a 1984 Supreme Court decision that ended the NCAA’s monopoly on selling football television rights. That decision cleared the way for more games to be shown on television.

Greater TV coverage allowed more teams to compete nationally with Notre Dame for recruits, Sperber said.

"TV in the '80s shrank America," he said.

When Notre Dame surprised the collegiate world in 1990 by becoming the first school to negotiate its own contract with a major network, some thought that having all its home games on NBC might give the Irish an unfair advantage. But since then there has been a proliferation of cable networks and a proliferation of college football games on TV.

Tom Lemming, recruiting analyst of CBS College Sports, said being on TV helps when the team is good. "It also could be to your detriment if you’re a weak-looking team and there’s a lot of flaws and not a lot of enthusiasm," he said.

No one wanted to watch the Irish last year as they struggled to a 3-9 finish, drawing the lowest ratings since NBC began broadcasting their games.

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