Just wanted to have the first poll ...

[E.T.]

It will be interesting if ND loses to Navy, which is a very strong possibility. Navy hasn't won since Roger Staubach (1963 I BULLieve) and with the new NBC contract coming up ....

Penn State hasn't done anything in the Big Ten (plus 1) and may want to come "home" with closer opponents for rivalries ... Penn St vs Pitt each year   ... would love that!

Go BULLS !!!

[BULLO12]

I refuse to participate in any further polls.  It is my right as an AMERICAN to deny you people my opinion.  I cannot be coerced, bullied, conjoled, intimidated or pushed into participating in a poll.

I think it should be Notre Dame....I have a fierce dislike for Notre Dame then again Peen State would be good....I have a fierce dislike for Penn State also.   Another angle could be leave both of them out that would be great too.

Just an opinion.  I have to stop drinking such strong coffee in the morning.

[BullOnly]

Why would Penn State leave the Big 10 for the Big East?

If Notre Dame wants a conference, why would they choose the Big East over the Big 10?

Let's hope that the first poll is the dumbest poll - because they can't get much worse than that.

With CFU going to CUSA, we don't have many option for a 9th - basically Army, Navy & Temple... Woohoo!

[E.T.]

Your telling me that ND and PSU wouldn't come here?

What has the Lions done in the big 10 ? NOTHING !! They would atleast be more competitive in the Big East and have a better chance of landing a bcs Bowl.

... and ND SUCKS and may get dropd from nbc ...

[GarySJ]

There will be no 9th member.

[Markeymark]

Why would Penn State leave the Big 10 for the Big East?

If Notre Dame wants a conference, why would they choose the Big East over the Big 10?

I agree, neither one of the two choices in this poll are good bets to move to the Big East. ET, do you have som e opinion/commentary from a media source that states either one of these schools would consider such a move? If so, please provide.

This poll is irrelevant to me because I don't think either one of those teams would want to go BE for football.

[E.T.]

Notre Dame ponders Big East role as league meeting looms

From Associated Press and Bonesville.net staff reports

SOUTH BEND, Ind.  Notre Dame likes being an independent in football, and being a member of the Big East in just about every other sport.

The comfortable arrangement may soon change for the Fighting Irish, however. The Atlantic Coast Conference let it be known Friday it wants to add three Big East schools, including football power Miami.

With the Big East's annual spring meeting convening today, the league is expected to formulate an aggressive response to the ACC's volley, and the path of attack could include anything from a counter-raid on the ACC to a cherry-picking expedition into Conference USA resulting in a wholesale renovation of the Big East's structure.

The weighty possibilities pose a dilemma for one of the most storied programs in college athletics.

``I don't know what this would do to Notre Dame,'' said Gene Corrigan, who served as athletic director at Notre Dame from 1981-87. ``Notre Dame has had a great situation in the Big East, being in with all those schools and not having to put in its football. They've been able to retain their independence.''

Kevin White, Notre Dame's current athletic director, has declined to comment on what might happen, other than releasing a statement earlier this week saying the school is happy with its present situation. He said several conferences have approached Notre Dame in recent years to inquire whether the school was interested in joining, and Notre Dame declined.

``We're very happy with the way things are right now,'' he said.

That's because Notre Dame has the best of both worlds. It belongs to a major conference for basketball and its non-revenue sports, while continuing a 115-year history of being independent in football. During that time, the Irish have won a record eight national football championships and produced seven Heisman Trophy winners.

As a football independent, Notre Dame doesn't have to share its gate receipts, bowl payouts or an estimated $8 million to $9 million a year from its television contract with NBC.

As a Big East member since 1995, the Irish basketball team has been to three straight NCAA tournaments, the women's basketball team won the national championship in 2001, and last year the men's baseball team went to the College World Series for the first time in 45 years.

``It's been a pretty good home for us for 23 other sports, as far as an entree to the NCAA championships,'' said John Heisler, sports information director.

When Notre Dame considered ending its football independence four years ago and joining the Big Ten, students and alumni rallied against the proposal. At Irish basketball games fans would chant, ``No Big Ten!'' Some argued that by joining that conference, the school would damage its status as a national Catholic institution.

The school's pride in its football independence dates to Knute Rockne, noted Heisler.

``We were a small Midwestern school; we travel to Army in 1913 and win,'' Heisler said. ``That put us on the map a little bit. Then Rockne, being the marketer that he was, decided he'd play a more wide-ranging schedule, so we go to the East Coast. Then he started a series with USC. Pretty soon we're playing a national schedule. Fortunately, we have some success over a lot of years, so that's just been the tradition.''

Corrigan, who also was ACC commissioner from 1987-97, thinks Notre Dame made the right decision when it decided in 1999 not to join the Big Ten, saying it wasn't the right fit. He said it's impossible to predict what Notre Dame should do now.

``It's one of those things Notre Dame will have to look at and see what the landscape looks like and try to decide what's best for them,'' he said. ``I think Notre Dame can do what it wants. I don't think there's anybody around who would turn Notre Dame down if Notre Dame came and said, 'We'd like to be in your conference.' I think it has its own choices to make.''

The Big East annual meetings, perhaps the most important gathering of conference and school representatives in league history, commence today in Ponte Vedra, Fla.  Notre Dame officials arrive on Monday.

Granted, this is old news ... but the nbc contact may not be renewed and they won't be bowling this year ... in a conference, they'd be sharing Big East moneys.

I think some of you guys are taking things a little too serious. This is a poll, not a vote. These two teams are the best possibilities of a major team. Who else should be on it? Take it easy Frances  :

[E.T.]

Nov. 6, 2003

Why not Big East for Irish football?

COMMENTARY

By JASON KELLY

Tribune Sports Columnist

 

C-USA schools join the Big East

The Big East added five teams making it one of the most powerful basketball conferences after football powerhouses Boston College, Miami and Virginia Tech defected to the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC).

Notre Dame football looks out of its league, and not only during repeated defeats of historic proportions.

It belongs in the Big East.

This sacrilegious suggestion that decades of independence should be sacrificed reflects more than an overreaction to a 2-6 record.

It represents the modern reality of conference dominance in college football and the need to relinquish one cherished tradition (independence) to restore another (championships).

Trying to do both has mired the Irish in a morass familiar to followers of the men's basketball program.

Stubborn belief that an independent could thrive despite increasing conference power relegated Notre Dame to the NIT, or nowhere, for the better part of a decade.

That diminished the men's basketball program more than conference affiliation ever could.

Notre Dame football now stands at a similar philosophical intersection with more to lure it in a new direction than its caretakers might admit.

Continuing on its solitary path limits championship potential. Getting there from here requires rigorous scheduling and offers no room for error.

Notre Dame has received only one Bowl Championship Series invitation in six years despite meeting the criteria three times.

That's a triumph of competitive fairness over commercial interests, a sign of progress in college football, if not much of a benefit to Notre Dame's bottom line.

Despite pressing their noses against the glass, the Irish have remained steadfast in their commitment to football independence and the perceived stature the status quo affords them.

With tradition no longer enough to merit bowl bids over teams with higher rankings and better records, they cannot afford it anymore.

Even its best seasons in recent years -- 9-2 in 1998 and 10-2 in 2002 against schedules considered among the toughest in the nation -- failed to impress enough voters and computers to be BCS-worthy.

That's a sudden and seismic change in the college football landscape.

As recently as 1994, a 6-4-1 Notre Dame team received a Fiesta Bowl payday.

To say the Irish played in that Fiesta Bowl would be an exaggeration. Like a faded old TV star, they dressed in costume, made an appearance and received a check.

Since then, Notre Dame has been about the money at the expense of football success, holding out for increasingly rare windfalls instead of positioning itself for a steady stream of revenue and results.

Proceeds from its NBC contract and one BCS appearance after the 2000 season may have paid some bills, but it has created no apparent competitive advantage.

A renovated Big East built for basketball needs football credibility and so do the Irish.

Notre Dame could be the league's lifeboat, and vice versa.

Recent refusals at the velvet rope separating them from the prestigious and lucrative postseason where they once were the VIPs make the Irish ripe for the right offer.

Conferences with football strength and stability like the Big Ten and the ACC might be reluctant to entertain extravagant demands from Notre Dame.

Desperate to protect its BCS status, the Big East probably would be willing to make financial guarantees to entice the Irish in the same way it tried to keep Miami.

Limiting the conference schedule to six games or even partial membership -- say, four games with access to the Big East BCS bid if Notre Dame finishes ranked higher than the champion -- could ease the transition for the squeamish.

Nowhere else will a weakened Irish program have such a strong negotiating position.

As a further incentive, the Big East representative in the BCS receives a larger share of the revenue than the rest of the league members.

Given the football weakness of the realigned league, Notre Dame would become the dominant member immediately.

One decision -- albeit a controversial one -- could ease its schedule and increase access to the BCS without ending annual rivalries like USC, Navy and Michigan.

It would not diminish the Irish to be associated with programs like Louisville, Cincinnati and South Florida. It would only reduce the hurdles separating them from national championships.

Ask Miami how much Big East membership hurt its football reputation with only Virginia Tech in its competitive solar system.

Notre Dame's non-conference schedule would more than make up the difference.

Under uncertain circumstances with college football's postseason facing renegotiation and restructuring, advocating conference affiliation might seem like a rash reaction to the worst season in four decades.

Only in a playoff system -- the one scenario major-conference presidents promised to avoid -- would independence be in Notre Dame's best interest.

Otherwise conferences will continue to consolidate their power, the one certainty in an otherwise cloudy forecast for college football.

"Who knows what the next generation of the BCS is going to be?" Notre Dame athletic director Kevin White said Wednesday in the New York Times. "Right now, it is like painting by numbers in the dark."

Joining the Big East could help Notre Dame see the light.

[E.T.]

... and since I give equal time to the "arguement" ...

Notre Dame courted but relishes football independence

By Kelly Whiteside, USA TODAY

In Big East Commissioner Mike Tranghese's fantasy world, Notre Dame athletics director Kevin White would call today and say, "How 'bout we make your life a little bit easier and join the Big East in football?" Poof! All of the Big East's woes would disappear. Its Bowl Championship Series future would be secure, and the league could thumb its noses at the Atlantic Coast Conference, which just gained the Big East's best football schools, Miami and Virginia Tech.

But there is little chance of that. "I've talked to Notre Dame so much that if you gave me a dollar for every time I've had a conversation with them about being a part of our (football) league, I could probably retire," Tranghese said. "But Notre Dame has said consistently that they put a high degree of importance on being a football independent."

In basketball and most other sports, Notre Dame has been in the Big East since 1995. As a football independent, it doesn't have to share TV or bowl money. Plus, the Irish are eligible for a BCS game if they have at least nine wins and are sixth or better in the final BCS standings. Through a deal with the Big East, Notre Dame also can be picked by the Gator, Insight, Continental Tire or San Francisco bowls.

Though Tranghese has been criticized for such an alignment with Notre Dame, he said that the arrangement "has helped us get better bowls."

Notre Dame's trustees nixed a football-and-all-other-sports move to the Big Ten in 1999. Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany has said his league "would not be proactive" in approaching Notre Dame again.

There is speculation the ACC will go after Notre Dame as a 12th member. Said ACC Commissioner John Swofford last week, "Everybody talks with Notre Dame periodically, but we haven't talked with them about this recently, not for months."

Notre Dame associate athletics director John Heisler told the South Bend (Ind.) Tribune on Monday that there is no push in the department to explore relinquishing its status as a football independent.

What's wrong with hoping for the best for our new conference ?

[E.T.]

Why Penn State Should Join the Big East

Posted by: Brian Lonergan on Tuesday, July 8 2003

It turns out that the protracted Big East-ACC soap opera hasn’t really ended, just changed story lines. The fat cats of the ACC, with Miami in their pockets and their greedy little hands ready to grab the extra money they coveted so lustily, will now surrender center stage to the Big East. The jilted northeastern alliance now looks to raid other conferences, but the pickings are slim. How can one adequately replace a behemoth like Miami? Louisville is a nice up-and-coming program, but helps a lot more in basketball than football. And despite the trial balloons floating around in the media, Notre Dame will stand pat with their NBC megabucks, thank you very much. So what’s a football conference on life support to do?

The perfect solution is so simple, it can be summarized in four words: WE ARE…PENN STATE.

I know, the conventional wisdom is that the Nittany Lions would be crazy to leave the legitimacy and security of the Big Ten for the great unknown. But there are a number of reasons why it would be a great union for both parties.

The Chance to be a Lead Dog Again

Yeah, the Big Ten affiliation is nice, but is it really a place Penn State can call home? The undeniable fact of the matter is that the Big Ten belongs to Michigan and Ohio State and always will. Penn State has been an unwieldy add-on for the last 12 years, and will continue to play the role of adopted little brother to the Wolverines and the Buckeyes. The Big East, by contrast, would treat Penn State like a savior and a leader. Conference boss Mike Tranghese would surely give Penn State the sweetheart deal he offered Miami before they bolted. Part of that deal would include being the leading voice in all future conference additions and other decisions. In short, PSU would be the lead dog, or cat, in this case.  

Easier Route to a National Title

Take away the glorious (yet poll-snubbed) Rose Bowl season of 1994, and what exactly has Penn State won in the Big Ten? They haven’t come within a whiff of a national title since. This is a program that used to challenge for the national championship on a regular basis as an independent in the 1980s. Getting out of the Big Ten schedule with less than two losses has been a tall order for the Lions. In the Big East, they would have a lot more 10-1 seasons, maybe even some 11-0 seasons. That means New Year’s Day bowl games, events that PSU alumni haven’t been to in a while. Sure, the strength of schedule rating won’t be as high, but the whole formula for bowl selection is likely changing anyway. The BCS contract is up in two years, and some sort of playoff is still gathering support.

 

A Return to Geographic Sanity

Any way you spin it, Penn State is still an Eastern school playing in a Midwestern conference. Its traditional rivals are Syracuse, West Virginia, Boston College and Pittsburgh. The best part is, Penn State used to beat those "rivals" like a drum. For some reason, the idea of Penn State playing Northwestern, Minnesota and Purdue just doesn’t get most people excited. PSU started all this geographic insanity by jumping to the Big Ten in the first place. They can restore some sanity by playing the schools its alumni want them to play, and save a fortune in travel costs to boot.

The Myth of Instability

The biggest reason critics of a move give is that the Big East is unstable. But the reality is that the Big East becomes incredibly stable the instant Penn State signs on. All of a sudden, the questions about losing a BCS bid go away, as does the talk about scaling down the conference’s TV contract. Tranghese will first have to clarify the league problematic arrangement with its basketball-only schools, but that's certain to happen anyway.

Is going to the Big East a risk? Sure. But you know the old saying about risk and reward. Joe Paterno was clamoring for an Eastern football conference for years, but got tired of waiting and approved the jump to the Big Ten. Now he has the perfect opportunity to see his dream realized before he retires. Penn State deserves to be in a place where it can play its natural rivals, be the dominant voice, and be in a position to contend for a national championship on a regular basis. It can’t do any of those things in the Big Ten. For all these reasons, Penn State owes it to itself to at least listen to the Big East’s pitch.  

http://www.philaphans.com/news/combined/1057700525.html