It All Comes Down to Notre Dame

As the college athletic world reels from USC and UCLA joining the Big Ten, there seems to be one key domino everyone is waiting to fall…the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame.

Earlier this week, seemingly out of nowhere, the Trojans of USC and Bruins of UCLA shocked the collegiate athletic landscape by leaving the Pac-12 Conference for the Big Ten Conference.  The rumors continued that fellow Pac-12 brethren Oregon and Washington could be joining as well.

However, according to sources, the Ducks and Huskies move east is on hold as the Big Ten is waiting for a decision by the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.

The last national power without a conference – Notre Dame – is the golden goose that all conferences are chasing.  The Fighting Irish have an affiliation with the ACC in football, are in the ACC in other sports and, of course, are in the Big Ten for ice hockey.

With the decimation of the Pac-12 already underway, could the ACC find a way to get Notre Dame to commit, essentially to save the conference? Or does the Big Ten pressing pause on adding Oregon and Washington mean the Big Ten is recruiting the Fighting Irish hard, which could then lead to adding some combination of Duke/UNC/Miami (FL)?

One thing is for sure, in the wild wide word of collegiate athletics, everyone wants Notre Dame to join their conference.  Penn State fans would sure love to welcome the Fighting Irish back for another White Out!