Notre Dame Football: Is Talk of the Irish Joining a Conference Over?

It seems as though the conference realignment talk has subsided but speculation continues to run amok throughout the college football world regarding Notre Dame.

The Big East, Big 12 and ACC all were reportedly interested in the historical powerhouse and the Big Ten still makes a lot of sense to join because of the proximity to the other schools.

There is absolutely no way the Irish join up with the Big East, and the Big 12 seems entirely out of the question because they don’t regularly play anyone from either conference. With the ACC at 14 teams and the Big Ten seemingly content with 12 teams, it doesn’t look like Notre Dame will have to join a conference.

If all of college football went to a bunch of superconferences with 14-16 teams, it would be a different story, but since only the SEC and ACC have done it, it looks like that situation will not play out.

That said, the odds of the talk dying down regarding the Irish joining a conference are slim to none. Notre Dame is ultimately one of the biggest prizes for any conference that is realigning and while it may want to remain independent, not many other schools do.

The program gets a lot of hate around the country for getting perceived special treatment by the BCS in terms of getting a bowl and for having essentially its own network on NBC. The topic of television contracts have become an increasingly hot button topic with the Longhorn Network coming out.

But at the end of the day, it is Notre Dame’s decision to make, and it has been made abundantly clear that the goal is to remain independent.