<p>I really believe it is football. There was a 15% surge when I applied if I remember correctly (Willingham’s miracle of a season) so it can happen. Also, 3% is a small difference, and it sounds like the quality of the applicant pool may still have gone up. Really, it could be good, it may make it so this year’s applicants really want to go to ND and aren’t applying for other reasons. Watch the matriculation rate, if it goes up, then perhaps there were just fewer impulsive football applicants</p>