"A source familiar with the school’s thinking told Sports Illustrated that 'independence remains the preference and the leader in the clubhouse.'"


Bad news is, that does mean everyone else is waiting on ND's (and, presumably, NBC's) timetable.

Silver lining: When Notre Dame finally does decide what they're doing, that decision will tell us a lot about what the B1G/SEC plan is.

Lead lining to the silver lining: If ND does join, that probably isn't good news for anybody not in B1G/SEC.

Good news: IF Notre Dame stays independent, the Big12 remains relevant, at least as far as theoretical access to the national championship, for at least the near future.

Wildcard in all of this: People are saying the money would be too good for ND to turn down. I don't know. I would bet NBC is more than willing to renegotiate ND's contract so they make comparable money to any new B1G contract, which would make it more likely ND stayed indy. I can't imagine the B1G would allow network exclusivities for a member school if ND joined since they hang their hat on equal payout kumbaya, but at this point who the heck knows.

What's also unknown though, since everyone's waiting on ND, when the B1G gets its answer from them, how long before they let everyone know they're inviting more schools from the Pac or standing pat at 16?

We'd know they were standing pat if UO and UW announced they were joining the Big12 obviously.

If the B1G offered Stanford and Washington tomorrow, we'd "know" they weren't coming after Oregon any time soon, same that'd make the Big12's job a lot easier too.

So by my reasoning, if the B1G's contingency plan for a ND "no" is two Pac teams, it seems they'd want to hurry ND's decision along so those two teams aren't in limbo while the Big12 raids two or four lesser Pac schools. If the B1G isn't inviting anybody else from the Pac, at least in the foreseeable future, they can take as bloody long as they want and not care if the Big12 and the Pac sweat.

And that looks ugly, because it's a good bet the Big12 deals a death blow to the Pac soon. What does that choreography look like if a UW or UO doesn't know whether they should hold out? My fear is that the Big12 invites 4 teams to force UO and UW's hands, when honestly, it'd probably best serve the Big12's interests not to take more than 4 Pac teams total.