Steve and I went though an exercise related to what an ND schedule could look like without the B10 schools.
USC
Boston College
Army
Navy
Air Force (unfortunately the Marines and Coast Guard do not field teams)
Stanford
There is six...
Miami now back in the mix...MAC team from the state of Ohio...directional state of Michigan MAC team...Oklahoma or Texas possibly...BYU would be an interesting clash...
They could put together a decent schedule is what we arrived at...but totally outside of the Midwest other than the MAC schools...
HOWEVER...one must take into consideration that not only the Big Ten will be changing, but so will several leagues...and they may not want to schedule an out of conference powerhouse, especially if the superleagues look to potentially schedule more in conference games.
Jon:
I tried to suck you in by starting the other Notre Dame thread, but no luck... You and Steve were the motivation for the post. I love the radio show, but think both of you are "seeing what you want to see" when it comes to Notre Dame.
I don't particularly care for the "starting premise is flawed" approach that Steve likes, but let me indulge. When he speaks of the Big Ten schools blackballing Notre Dame, it doesn't make sense. While HE may feel (or, he starts with the "premise") that Michigan is better off without a game against ND, he is obviously in the minority around Ann Arbor. The rivalry is very popular as evidenced by the renewal of the contract through 2031 and the (re-?) introduction of night games to Michigan Stadium against ND. This is to say nothing of Purdue and MSU, both of whom would be devastated to lose the ND game to play someone else.
I believe the moment the Big Ten blackballs Notre Dame, a PR nightmare will exist. Fans of the SEC, Pac 10, and whatever other conference(s) exist will scream at the soft non-conference schedules of the Big Ten (rightly or wrongly). They will not blame ND for the lack of games, but rather the Big Ten schools.
To combat this, the Big Ten schools will have to schedule quality non-conference schools. But guess who the Big Ten schools are competing against to secure these contracts? Notre Dame will, in most cases, have first pick of these games. People (eg, CAArHawk) on this board suggest ND will find it tougher playing out of region as opposed to games in Big Ten territory. Big Ten teams will find themselves in the same situation if they blackball ND.
Furthermore, unless the Big Ten goes to a 10 game schedule (which seems VERY unlikely), I don't accept the idea that fans will be satisfied with only cupcakes in the non-conference portion of the schedule. In a 9-game conference schedule, every other year schools like Purdue would have only four conference home games. PU fans won't accept 4 non-conference "directional" schools. In the end, some schools like Purdue will gladly schedule ND home-and-home, or be faced with out of region games as described above.
I just don't see things as black and white regarding the ND situation. From the Big Ten standpoint, I think it is true that the negotiation with ND is coming from a stronger place than in 1998. The Big Ten Network has resulted in Big Ten schools receiving as much, if not more, television money than ND. However, ND's desire to remain independent is worth many millions of dollars left on the table. Furthermore, ND has to know that even in the event of four 16-team superconferences, it can call up at the last minute and be joined in any one of them. This puts less urgency in today's negotiations, as we are a long way from four 16-team conferences.
