Read the opposing arguments from Sports Geek and Bleacher Fan.
Perhaps no program in college football is as polarizing as Notre Dame. There’s usually at least one team in every sport that fits that bill. MLB has the Yankees. The NBA has the Lakers. The NFL has the Cowboys. NCAA basketball has Duke. That’s just the way it is. With all of the talk surrounding expansion in college football, Notre Dame is right in the middle of every conversation. Should Notre Dame remain independent? Should it join the Big Ten and help it become a super conference? Should it join the Big East? We know what head coach Brian Kelly wants to do, but it will be interesting to see how this plays out in the coming months. As for my opinion, I believe Notre Dame should join the Big East.
If you go to the Big East’s Web site you will see a list of the programs that are members of the Big East at the top right of the page. There are 16 school logos listed, representing each of the Big East members. The very recognizable “ND” is the seventh one listed. The bottom line is that Notre Dame participates in every sport in the Big East… except football. The Fighting Irish just finished its baseball season as a Big East team. Remember the deep run the basketball team made in the Big East tournament back in March? Why not go ahead and join the Big East in football, just for simplification purposes? Sure, the Big East is a little down in football right now, but on the bright side, maybe it’d be easy to win a conference championship and play in a BCS game!
There is a lot of money involved for sure, though Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick has publicly said, “Questions of this nature are too fundamental to be about money.” In addition to the conference tie-in money Notre Dame would be allotted, I’d be remiss if I didn’t at least mention the NBC television contract, as Bleacher Fan has described in detail. Notre Dame also is in position to grab a BCS bid if it finishes in the top 12 of the BCS. That’s all well and good. But what happens if they finish outside the top 12? There is no pecking order for independents. If they finish the season 6-6, it’s not like they can be slotted into the Alamo Bowl. That’s the kind of record that gets you into the Hawaii Bowl, like it did in 2008. That’s also the kind of record that gets you fired, like it did for Charlie Weis at the end of last season.
Joining the Big Ten, as Sports Geek tries to explain, isn’t the answer, either. I’m not convinced by anything anyone has said from Notre Dame that they want to be involved in a super conference. That would mean pulling out of the Big East in all the other sports. I’m aware that college football is the driving force behind possible expansion, and with good reason, but the Irish has built rivalries up with other schools like Georgetown, Louisville, and UConn in college basketball. Join the Big Ten and Notre Dame would have to try to do that with the likes of Iowa and Northwestern.
Whatever happens is sure to create a wealth of discussion, and it’s something I’m sure The Sports Debates will revisit at the appropriate time. But for now, the best possible option is for Notre Dame to become part of the Big East in football!
