Set Number: X162091 TK1 Old enemies, future friends? With summer upon us and any number of conference-realignment shenanigans possible in the college football landscape, I thought I would take some time over the next few weeks to survey all the different possible long-term destinations for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and see if I could talk myself, and possibly some of you, into them. These options will include the Irish maintaining the status quo of independence along with alignment to all of the remaining major conferences: the ACC, Big 10, Big 12, and even the SEC. I’ll do my best to not tip my hand as to my own opinion during this process and just adopt the perspective of someone arguing for this, and in return I’ll ask that we keep the feedback from getting too personal. We’re at the end here folks, after a brief hiatus during which I went on vacation. Now we get to take on the meatiest and most heretical/sensible option based on your perspective - the Irish finally slaking the acquisitive thirst of the Big Ten conference. 
Unlike the ACC, the Big Ten has never welcomed Notre Dame into its ranks, but the Irish have been an unofficial player in the conference’s plans and intrigues for most of their shared history. Whether by maintaining decades-long rivalries with core members of the conference, competing directly for recruits and fan market share in its (historical at this point) geographical backyard, or simply frustrating its plans for expansion by remaining independent, Notre Dame has established itself as the Integer’s most strategically important frenemy over the last century-plus of glorious pettiness. For its part, the Big Ten (led, as we know, by the treacherous Skunkbears of Ann Arbor) spent much of the 20th century working to suppress Notre Dame and keep it out of the clubhouse, but by the end of it had turned on a dime and begun working to recruit the Irish into their ranks. These historical tensions make the idea of joining the Big 10 outrageous to many Irish fans, particularly those of an older vintage who remember the days when that blood ran incredibly hot. But looking ahead from the vantage point of 2024, the idea has a lot to be said for it. First, it must be established that the Big Ten we see today is a different entity than the regional country club that Fielding Yost, for reasons ranging from ethno-religious bigotry to competitive jealousy, manipulated in an unsuccessful effort to undermine Notre Dame. Beyond the obvious (but still relevant!) fact that no one currently leading the conference or its member schools was alive to participate in these events, the formerly Midwestern entity now stretches from sea to shining sea, with recent entrants from the coasts now comprising nearly half of its membership. The Big Ten of 2024 and beyond more resembles a conference from the realm of professional sports than the regional league it was for most of its history. The same is increasingly true of the SEC, and the more this bipolar power distribution coalesces, the less this move feels like what it would have been 20 or 30 years ago. 
Photo by Robin Alam/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images With that established we are free to consider the upsides of moving to this move, and there is quite a bit consider in that regard. From a scheduling standpoint this would be a bonanza and, strangely for such an unprecedented move, a return to historical norms. As of this coming football season, the Big Ten now contains all of Notre Dame’s major historical rivals (no, Navy is not a major rival). For me, and I think most Irish fans, the ritual of the yearly September Michiana tour has never quite been replaced in the ACC-affiliated era. Even critics of this move would have to acknowledge that the return of annual clashes with Michigan, Michigan State, and to a lesser extent Purdue would be a welcome development from a fan experience perspective. Joining the Big Ten would not only mean the likely returns of these series but would also secure the future of the USC rivalry. Beyond the return of these formerly annual rivalries, this move would bring the Irish back into contact with several other programs with whom they have interesting history (Washington, Penn State, Ohio State, etc.) and, despite the conference’s national scope, likely result in a decrease in travel and associated fatigue on a year-to-year basis. The Big Ten is also, whether we might want to admit it or not, the best culture fit for the Irish of the major conferences. 
Photo by Robin Alam/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images All of this familiarity with the schedule, and the excitement it would generate compared to an independent or ACC-affiliated future, makes joining the Big Ten seem like a good way to balance Notre Dame’s need to secure its competitive future in a changed college football landscape with the desire we have as fans to preserve as much as we can of what has made this sport so fun - the rivalries, the history, the culture and fan investment. Indeed, it would even allow us to regain some of that which has been lost in the last decade. Everything else about the benefits of joining a major conference that we have covered in past entries of this exercise - a path to a first-round bye in the playoffs, etc. - still applies, with the added benefit that joining the Big Ten places the Irish squarely in the center of the sport’s future. This is as opposed to the ACC or Big 12, which are likely headed to the margins of competition; in the Big Ten, the Irish will have a shot every year to be at the center of the title conversation, and they could do it in the context of their oldest and most cherished rivals. Seems like a pretty good move all things considered, but I could be wrong. That’s it, folks; we’ve looked at all the options. What do you think? Source: https://www.onefootdown.com/2024/7/1/24 ... -alignment