College Football Expansion: Could Notre Dame Join the SEC? Potential SEC Targets

Could Notre Dame be a fit for the SEC? If not, who else should the SEC target? We try to answer this in the ND on SI Noon Question.

Notre Dame Fighting Irish defensive lineman Rylie Mills (99) defensive lineman Howard Cross III (56) and defensive lineman Justin Ademilola (9) can't stop a field goal from South Carolina Gamecocks place kicker Mitch Jeter (98) during the second quarter of the TaxSlayer Gator Bowl of an NCAA college football game Friday, Dec. 30, 2022 at TIAA Bank Field in Jacksonville. / Corey Perrine/Florida Times-Unio / USA

The SEC needs more expansion answers.

It started the latest exapnsion earthquake by grabbing Texas and Oklahoma, but it didn't do much after that. Meanwhile, the Big Ten took its business game up another level, and the ACC and Big 12 quietly did a nice job of increasing their respective footprints.

Could Notre Dame leaving the independent life for the SEC even be possible? If not, who should the SEC go after now? We try to answer it in the latest Notre Dame Fighting Irish on SI Noon Question.

Notre Dame Football to the SEC? Never, ever, ever ...

Rich Cirminiello
@RichCirminiello

You join college football’s premier conference because ...

1) Your current league is unstable, 2) to improve your bottom line, or 3) to get on a bigger stage.

The Irish are independent, filthy rich, and STILL the biggest brand in college football.

Plus, joining the SEC cauldron means a much tougher path to a playoff berth and national title run. ND to the SEC is great for headlines, but awful for the Irish.

If the SEC insists on further expansion, Florida State and Clemson make the most sense. Better yet, the league should stop expanding to avoid further splitting the financial pie with schools that don’t bring equal value.

Notre Dame Football to the SEC? It's not TOTALLY crazy

Pete Fiutak
@PeteFiutak

Look, if and when Notre Dame goes to a conference, it's going to be the Big Ten. Maybe the ACC, but it would be the Big Ten.

As much as everyone likes to talk about the "Big 2 and everyone else," business-wise it's the Big Ten, then about 50 miles - more like about $15-30ish million a school - and then the SEC, and then the Big 12 and ACC, and then everyone else.

With that said, Notre Dame loves the spotlight, it loves being a big deal, and most importantly in all of this, the SEC has pretty much run out of other realistic options.

The Big 12 is wrapped up tight, the ACC schools continue to be somewhere between locked down triple-hard and not interesting enough for the SEC - unless it can get North Carolina - and any Big Ten school worth its salt wouldn't even answer a call.

If the SEC could put together a whopper of a deal - and if the SEC powerhouses saw the value in getting less of a deal for the greatest overall good - it wouldn't be totally insane.

More realistically, the SEC is sort of hosed - for the moment.

It blew it by not getting Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado, and/or Utah, but okay - it likes its regional aspect, at least that's the party line. With the ACC and Big 12 grant of rights deals locked in hard - at least for now - there aren't any realistic options left, which is why Notre Dame is the one big whale that might be worth breaking the bank for.

Notre Dame Football to the SEC? No, and it's not about football

Nick Shepkowski
@NickShepkowski

As interesting as it would be for Notre Dame to join the SEC and all of the college football culture clashes that would come with it, this is an easy no and it really has nothing to do with football as to why.

Personally I don’t care for rankings of colleges, but plenty of people do. 

By US News and World Report measures, 17 of the current 18 ACC members rank in the top-100 of the latest best colleges rankings.  The SEC sees just six of its 18 schools rank that high with six checking in 150th or lower. 

Notre Dame is never going to sacrifice its academics that much for football gains.

Seeing the SEC expand west would make the most sense and adding Arizona and Arizona State would have been genius.  It’s seemingly too late for that however, as it is too late for USC or Oregon. 

How does taking from the ACC and adding the already southeast strangle hold with Clemson and Florida State sound?

More ND on SI Noon Questions

Will Notre Dame football ever fully join the ACC?

Where Would Notre Dame Football Finish in the ACC?

Where would Notre Dame finish in the Big 12?

Notre Dame's best case scenario this season

Notre Dame's worst case scenario this season

Should the Irish open with Texas A&M, or a tune-up?