Pete Thamel details Notre Dame's path to joining a conference, hurdles with ACC

As questions regarding the future of college football continue to linger, the biggest fish in the ocean remains the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.

If the historic program decides to end their time as an independent and join a conference, they would be the prettiest girl at the dance. While the Fighting Irish have been associated with the ACC in all of their other sports, Pete Thamel of ESPN doesn’t foresee things trending that way on the football field.

“If Notre Dame was to join a league, it’s unlikely to be the ACC. That’s especially with the way things are trending financially,” began Thamel. “If the Irish are still in the ACC in all their other sports, as they are currently, they are required to join the ACC in football if they join a league. But the Big Ten wouldn’t take Notre Dame as a football-only member, so it would have to pull out of the ACC and pay any relative fees and deal with any grant-of-rights issues for the non-football sports.

“Notre Dame isn’t going to make a knee-jerk move, as it has thrived amid more than a century of independence. It is the best asset left, and there’s a drop to No. 2. So it will be compelling to follow.”

As Pete Thamel pointed out, there’s plenty of legwork to do for Notre Dame if they choose to join either the Big Ten or SEC. Nevertheless, the Fighting Irish are going to do their due diligence before making a move — and the college football world will wait for their decision.

Pete Thamel opens up on Notre Dame’s future in the CFP

Continuing, Thamel shed some light on Notre Dame’s current mindset and doesn’t think anything will happen right now. After all, the Fighting Irish still have their media deal with NBC, which provides a national audience. But the big question remains about the CFP, and Thamel said there’s still a path for Marcus Freeman’s group to make it into the top four.

“It’s not expected that this move will prompt Notre Dame to react and attempt to join a league,” Thamel wrote. “Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick has said for years that there are two bedrocks of Irish independence — a broadcast partner that gives them a national audience and a fair and reasonable path to the playoff.

“Notre Dame is well-positioned from a TV perspective, as its NBC deal ends in 2025. If the Playoff path closes completely, it would have an issue. But TV partners would likely still want Notre Dame included in any postseason. Unless that postseason gets too narrow. (The SEC likely wouldn’t block Notre Dame from the postseason, as it would then likely force the Irish to the Big Ten.)”