College football insider reveals reasoning behind Notre Dame not joining a conference

The landscape of the college sports world is changing every day. And with USC and UCLA leaving the PAC 12 for the Big Ten conference, some believe this is a sign of significant changes beyond the horizon. However, the more things change, some things have remained the same like the Notre Dame Fighting Irish football program dragging its heels on joining a Power-5 conference. But there might be a good reason why, as college football insider Stewart Mandel recently revealed on the Paul Finebaum Show.

“One of, if not the main reason Notre Dame has always remained independent is that they like to play a national schedule because they have a national schedule,” Mandel said. “They play a game in California every year. They often play games in Texas or other parts of the country. Now, there’s a way to do that as a member of the Big Ten. You can play your game in LA. You can still have a non-conference game against another California school if that’s what you want. Does that change the equation for them? That they could actually still accomplish that objective but also get all of the benefits of being a member of what will soon be the richest conference in college football.”

From a geographical standpoint, it would make sense for Notre Dame to join the Big Ten. The campus is just under 100 miles from Chicago, IL, where the Big Ten headquarters is located. However, the school is currently a part of the ACC for all sports except football and hockey. And if they were to leave, they would likely face harsh financial penalties from the conference. Notre Dame may not be in the Big Ten right now, but it might be their best option down the line.

College football insider weighs in on Notre Dame potentially moving to Big Ten

Texas and Oklahoma are off the board, and as of Thursday, so are USC and UCLA. The expectation is Notre Dame can be the next domino to fall in conference realignment — and a college football insider hinted it’s a strong possibility.

The Action Network’s Brett McMurphy joined The Paul Finebaum Show and said based on what here’s hearing, the sense is Notre Dame could wind up joining USC and UCLA in the Big Ten. The latter two schools left the Pac-12 on Thursday to take the Big Ten to 16 teams. Notre Dame has long tried to maintain its independent status, but rumors are swirling saying that could change.

“Multiple people I talked to — again, this is nothing I report. I’ll tell you what I’m hearing. It’s not that I would report it as fact. They strongly, strongly believe Notre Dame will end up in the Big Ten,” McMurphy said. “It’s basically, everything that made Notre Dame attractive for Notre Dame as an independent is slowly falling away. Its own network deal, more money than the conferences, access to the Playoff. Those things … are slowly falling away. If the Big Ten could get Notre Dame, that would obviously be huge for that conference. They’ve wanted Notre Dame for a long time.