How To Get Notre Dame Football in the Big East

(Photo by Jeff Gross/Getty Images)

Think about it. Eight out of every 10 years, Ohio State is probably going to be participating in the Championship game anyway, assuming it ever comes to fruition. By themselves, Ohio State can pack 100,000 rabid Buckeye Fans into the Horseshoe. Michigan and Penn State can pack in 100,000 fans into their stadiums as well. Those are three pretty good bets to be representing the Big 10 in a conference championship game in any given year. 

Does anyone honestly think the Big 10 couldn't find 80,000 fans to pack the RCA Dome for a championship game in Indianapolis? The Metro Dome in Minneapolis? Ford Field in Detroit? A conference championship game would not only work, it would work great for the Big 10... if only we could get them to wake up.

Before we go any further, let's get one thing out of the way. As long as Notre Dame is an independent, the Big 10 will have 11 members. Notre Dame is who the Big 10 is holding that spot open for, bar none. Notre Dame will never join the Big 10 however, because they would have to compete for top-dog status and prove it on the field.

I don't think Notre Dame wants to face a gauntlet of Ohio State, Wisconsin, Michigan, Penn State, Michigan State, Purdue and Iowa every year.

Those are seven potential losses every season, meaning Notre Dame couldn't schedule their way into a bowl game if they wanted to. Granted they wouldn't face those seven schools every year, but in the years they faced Illinois, Northwestern, Indiana, or Minnesota, they could also be facing a team in an up year, as all of those schools have shown the ability to pull out a big year pretty regularly.

And even if Notre Dame split its conference record at 4-4, they still face a loss to USC, so we are talking about a season record of 7-5, what...90 percent of the time? How long would a coach last at Notre Dame going 7-5 every year? How long would the fans accept that?

So we have established that Notre Dame is never going to join the Big 10. Now what?

Well, if not the Big 10, how about the Big East? With all due respect - again - to Ed Cunningham (who did not come across as informed, at all, on ESPN's "College Football Live" by saying that Notre Dame "wouldn't fit with the Big East schools" despite having been a conference member with the Big East for over a decade and establishing a partnership and relationship with those schools over that time) I have to disagree.

The way I see it, Notre Dame would fit the Big East better than they would the Big 10. How can anyone say that you ask? Well, because Notre Dame wants to be the unquestioned "Top Dog" wherever it goes, and in the Big East it would be. Maybe not always on the field, but even an 0-12 Notre Dame would have to be listened to by the other Big East football schools.

In the Big 10, Notre Dame is just another player. In the Big East, they would be the top voice, without question. Even if Notre Dame never puts out a winning record against a Big East Conference schedule, they would have the strongest voice in the room. And that is exactly what Notre Dame wants.

So, how do we go about getting Notre Dame into the Big East? It is pretty simple really...with money and power. Forget all that "We value our independence garbage." They have no problem selling their independence in every other sport to ensure they get paid and have a seat at t

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