Todd Blackledge considers future of ACC, Notre Dame amid conference realignment

ESPN’s Todd Blackledge knows more college realignment is inevitable and the ACC and Notre Dame are at the forefront.

Notre Dame is still Independent, meaning probably one of the Big Ten or SEC will eventually get the school. Then the ACC’s premier programs could be poached as well, further putting the “big dogs” further ahead in the conference arms race.

Notre Dame is the big fish though, the Moby Dick, if you will.

“I mean obviously the two big dogs, the SEC, the Big Ten., I mean, everybody’s gonna want to try to land there,” Blackledge said on Always College Football. “You know I think both those leagues will be very choosy and very picky in which way they go. You could make an argument for both of them … and then I think the other wildcard which you know may be the sign of Armageddon for college football when it’s all said and done … Notre Dame is still the one that’s in play to me. 

“They have adamantly maintained their independent status and a lot of that is the old school people at Notre Dame that want to maintain that, but I just don’t know if they can continue to do that long term. I think ultimately, Notre Dame is still going to be the most cherished one to add to the league and it makes the most sense, I think, in the Big Ten just geographically and the way they align from a university standpoint.”

Clemson and Florida State made the most noise in terms of wanting to challenge the ACC’ grant of rights and possibly leave. Blackledge thinks there are a few that will be attractive options.

“But Clemson and Florida State both are former national champion winning football programs, good athletic programs,” Blackledge said. “North Carolina is a very attractive school as well. They’ll find a place to go if they do find a way out. There’ll be somebody that will take them.”

The Big Ten seems like the one that wants a footprint everywhere. With four west coast schools beginning their Big Ten tenure this year, Blackledge thinks the league is satisfied, at least for now.

“I don’t know man. He’s had a busy year,” Blackledge said of Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti. “You think about what he stepped into and some of the decisions he’s made/ I think everybody in there, in that league, is happy right now with where they are. 

“When you start talking about expanding now again you’re recalculating the math that each school is expecting, so I think he will have an eye towards everything. But I think they have to feel pretty good about where they are right now.”