(08-04-2022 07:21 PM)Fighting Muskie Wrote:  

(08-04-2022 07:12 PM)Frank the Tank Wrote:  This should be obvious: USC-ND isn’t going anywhere regardless of whether ND joins the Big Ten or not.

The Big Ten’s TV partners absolutely, positively, 1000% badly want that game every other year to plug into the prime time slot on Thanksgiving weekend (after Michigan-Ohio State).

If USC decides on their own that they think the schedule is too tough, then that’s one thing. However, ND is as much as USC’s rival as UCLA, so I don’t believe that’s how they’re thinking at all. At the same time, the Big Ten absolutely wants that game to continue. They’re getting $1 billion-plus per year from its media partners to be completely flexible for Big Ten teams playing ND as much and as often as they want to.

USC-UCLA is just as viable in that time slot and it doesn’t require another Big 10 school to find an OOC game. If the rivalry continues, I doubt we see it in week 13 beyond 2026.

Unless Maryland or Rutgers is dying to play Army, UConn, or UMass that weekend I don’t see the Irish getting special treatment—they aren’t even a conference member for goodness sakes.

One of the most important rules of conference realignment is that there will ALWAYS be an exception for Notre Dame. You may not like it, but those are the facts. The TV partners are banking on USC-ND every other year in their rights fees calculations for the Big Ten, as well. The conference absolutely, 1000% wants that game to continue and if it needs to be on Thanksgiving weekend to do that, then that’s what they’ll do. It can’t be any clearer.