Notre Dame AD says school may be interested in a conference

Notre Dame's storied independence might not be as rock-solid as previously thought, if comments today by ND AD Jack Swarbick are any indication.

"You can each come up with a scenario that would force our hand," Swarbick told a group of reporters in New York, including one from the Associated Press.

Such a scenario would result from a "seismic" realignment push like, say, getting Texas to join the Big Ten, along with, say, Missouri, Pitt and Syracuse. Tell ND that it would be team number 16 in that conference, with all the money that comes with it, and it's a game-changer.

Once the Big Ten is done, the Pac 10 is expected to expand up to 12. Colorado, BYU and Utah are among the schools always mentioned. And if the Big 12 does get its schools pillaged, they'll have to add a few teams as well - TCU, SMU, maybe grab Arkansas from the Big 12.

It would all be a massive shakeup, and Notre Dame doesn't necessarily want to get left out of that.

Oh, who am I kidding. This is all about TV revenue for the Irish, given that Notre Dame ignored its faculty who wanted to join the Big Ten back in 1999 in order to keep their NBC gig. The reason that's so significant is because ESPN's Adam Rittenberg estimated that the TV deal the Irish would get in the Big Ten could be twice as much money as they'd get by staying independent.

Money talks, and Notre Dame may walk... right into the Big Ten's arms.

A New Argument for Notre Dame to Join the Big Ten

After yet another season of mediocrity, a Chicago Sun Times columnist has taken an interesting tack to the question of whether or not Notre Dame ought to swallow their pride and join the Big Ten.

The argument in many ways makes sense, and it's what you've heard before. It's better for the non-football sports - especially men's and women's basketball. It's better for academics.

But as veteran writer Herb Gould points out, the best incentive for joining the Big Ten is that it would reduce the pressure on Notre Dame. "At Notre Dame, having no conference pretty much puts the Irish on a jittery tightrope from the opening kickoff every season. The Subway Alumni need to realize the days of Rockne and Leahy and Ara -- and even Holtz -- are over. Everybody's on TV. Everybody can recruit and play a national schedule."

Gould said the money issue with NBC could be worked out, and there's a really sensible way to do that. Give NBC the option on taking the #1 Big Ten game every week that Notre Dame is at home, and first choice of Big Ten games that don't involve the Irish when they're on the road. NBC would pay more and, in return, get the occasional Michigan-Ohio State, Penn State-MSU or Iowa-Wisconsin, big games that drive national ratings.

That said, Gould also calls for ND to fire Charlie Weis and hire Cincy's Brian Kelly (the guy MSU would have hired had it not been for one M. Dantonio). And that would make sense - so don't worry about that happening. Still, we can dream can't we?