Jake Crain: ‘Notre Dame deciding to join the SEC as well would be epic on so many levels’

Conference realignment got wild last summer when Texas and Oklahoma joined the SEC, the Big 12 gained UCF, Cincinnati, Houston, and BYU, Marshall, Southern Mississippi, and Old Dominion brokered a deal to leave Conference USA, and C-USA responded by nabbing Liberty, New Mexico State, Jacksonville State, and Sam Houston State. This summer, things are being ratcheted up even further with the slow death of the Pac-12. 

UCLA and USC joining the Big Ten was the first sign that the west coast-based conference was on its last legs, and the Big 12 poaching Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado, Oregon, Utah, and Washington was its stopping point.

There have been notable power moves made by the SEC, Big Ten, and Big 12, but the biggest move left for any conference to make would be corralling Notre Dame. Fighting Irish football has long been one of network television’s most coveted assets with NBC exclusively broadcasting their games. CBS and ESPN will be bidding hard for the SEC, while Fox will be bidding hard on behalf of the Big Ten to land one of college football’s most storied programs.

Jake Crain of Crain & Company weighed in on the matter, saying that  ‘Notre Dame deciding to join the SEC would be epic on so many levels’:

Notre Dame would have ready-made rivalries in the SEC

While South Bend, Indiana is by no stretch the southeast, Notre Dame is still a glove fit for the conference. The Fighting Irish have a 5-3 all-time edge vs. Alabama, 0-3 winless drought to fix against Georgia, a 7-5 advantage over LSU, a 3-2 advantage over Texas A&M, and an all-time tie with Tennessee, Missouri, and Ole Miss. Not to mention a 9-3 series lead on Texas and an 8-2 lead on Oklahoma.

When a casual fan thinks of college football, Notre Dame is one of the names that comes to mind. The SEC is undoubtedly the first conference that does. Put the two together and it’d be raining money everywhere.