Curious Timing for Notre Dame-Texas Renewal

"We have a wonderful relationship with Notre Dame, and [athletic director] Jack (Swarbrick) and I have become great friends," Texas men's AD DeLoss Dodds said in a statement. "I really admire and respect him and am excited we were able to pull this off."

Less than a month after Texas spurned the Pac-10 to stay as the anchor of a 10-team Big 12 and Notre Dame resoundingly affirmed its independence in football, Doss and Swarbrick announced a four-game even split football series between the second (Texas) and third (Notre Dame) all time winningest programs in college football history.   

Conspiracy spinners, including many from the Big East 8 football teams, maintain that there is more to this announcement than meets the eye.

An often forgotten beneficiary of the Longhorns' decision is Notre Dame.

When the Pac 10 did not expand to become the Pac 16, the Big Ten's Jim Delany was off the hook. Already acting off his calendar by inviting Nebraska six months before he was ready to expand the Big Ten, Delany didn't need to pull in Big East teams.

Surely a 16-team Pac would have instigated a super conference stampede.

Notre Dame has increasingly made clear of its desire to stay independent in football and a member of the Big East for other sports, especially men's basketball.

The Irish know a sweetheart deal when they see one. The Fighting Irish football team can continue to rake in about four times more than the Big East Eight, and can continue to reap the prestige and television exposure of the 16-team strong Big East basketball conference.

John Marinatto, a passive guy when dealing with Swarbrick and Delany, hasn't insisted that the Irish make any contribution to the league's eight football programs, except to play a few of them in football when convenient for the Irish. 

He doesn't believe the Irish should have to sign a contract to that effect.

Notre Dame views any disruption in the Big East as a potential threat to its athletic program. If two teams had bolted to the Big Ten, the Big East Eight might have crumbled. 

Notre Dame could have found itself in an all Catholic basketball league with two high profile programs in Villanova and Georgetown and five middling programs.

That scenario would not have been acceptable to Irish fans.

Like Texas, the Irish always place its interests above everyone else's. 

Maybe one day, Pittsburgh, Syracuse, Louisville, Rutgers, Cincinnati, South Florida, Connecticut, and West Virginia will find the courage to do the same.