If Notre Dame Played the 2024 Season in the Big 12...

With Big 12 Media Days in full swing, an exercise regarding Notre Dame football this coming fall

Jan 1, 2022; Glendale, Arizona, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish running back Chris Tyree (25) scores a touchdown against the Oklahoma State Cowboys in the first half of the PlayStation Fiesta Bowl at State Farm Stadium. / Rob Schumacher/The Republic / USA TODAY

When you look at Notre Dame's football history against the now big four college football conferences, its least amount of history comes against the current Big 12.

No current Big 12 team has ever been considered a rival of Notre Dame's. Sure, there were three major bowl game dates with Colorado from the 1989 to 1994 seasons, but the two have only met twice besides that.

With Big 12 Media Days underway, I thought about what life would look like for Notre Dame if it spent the 2024 college football season in the conference.

What would a schedule look like?

What would their chances at the College Football Playoff be compared to how they are as an independent?

For argument sake, I changed Notre Dame's conference schedule with what Arizona State faces this season. The Sun Devils are widely seen as one of the weakest conference teams entering the fall and play pretty much every Big 12 contender aside from Utah away from their home field.

This makes it as difficult as possible for Notre Dame and even downright absurd, honestly. With that all in mind, let's see how Notre Dame's 2024 season in the Big 12 goes.

Week 1: Notre Dame at Texas A&M

Hey, this game is already on the schedule and it's a heck of a lot more marquee than Arizona State's season opener against Wyoming (even though the Cowboys do have excellent threads). This game is essentially a tossup as it stands now with the bookmakers saying as much. I trust Notre Dame's defense the most of any unit in the game two months out. It makes one more play than Texas A&M's in a memorable 1-0 start for the Irish.

Nick's Game Prediction: Notre Dame 21-20 (1-0, 0-0)

Week 2: Notre Dame vs. Navy (MetLife Stadium - East Rutherford, NJ)

With this game being played annually, in this make believe land it still gets scheduled. Navy is one of the two or three worst teams on Notre Dame's schedule this season and the final score again indicates as much.

Nick's Game Prediction: Notre Dame 42-7. (2-0, 0-0)

Week 3: Notre Dame at USC

With the Big 12 playing all of their conference games in succession, Notre Dame has to move USC up in the schedule to fit them in. It's the second game played in an especially warm September venue in three games. Notre Dame's defense is gassed and struggles but the good news is that USC's defense still can't stop a nose bleed. Bet the over in this fantasy land!

Nick's Game Prediction: Notre Dame 41-38 (3-0, 0-0)

Week 4: Notre Dame at Texas Tech

Notre Dame is on the road for the fourth time in four games (that would never happen but again - this is a fantasy world made to fit Arizona State's conference slate). Again playing the southern heat in September is too much as the upstart Red Raiders get a big night from five-star freshman Micah Hudson and welcome the Irish to the Big 12 with a loss.

Nick's Game Prediction: Texas Tech 27-24 (3-1, 0-1)

Week 5: Bye Week No. 1

...because that would totally happen the first week of October before Notre Dame played a down in their home venue.

Week 6: Notre Dame vs. Kansas

The last time Notre Dame played Kansas was the 1999 season opener in the old Eddie Robinson Classic. The week off before does Notre Dame a major favor as it gets its first-ever Big 12 conference win.

Nick's Game Prediction: Notre Dame 31-14 (4-1, 1-1)

Week 7: Notre Dame vs. Utah (Friday Night)

No home games until October and now the season's biggest on a Friday night? Two similar styles of football meet in what would be known as the Andy Ludwig Bowl. Notre Dame gets a huge win with conference championship game implications as they're extremely similar to Utah but a little better at more spots.

Nick's Game Prediction: Notre Dame 24-20 (5-1, 2-1)

Week 8: Notre Dame at Cincinnati

Notre Dame's first trip to Nippert Stadium doesn't feature Brian Kelly in anyway but instead features a pair of now Big 12 rivals. Cincinnati is a far cry from the team that won in South Bend in 2021 - the Bearcats won just one conference game last year and won't be much, if any, better this fall. The Irish roll in the Queen City.

Nick's Game Prediction: Notre Dame 45-10 (6-1, 3-1)

Week 9: Bye Week No. 2

The second bye week of the year comes at a great time as Notre Dame faces one of their toughest road tests of the year a week later.

Week 10: Notre Dame at Oklahoma State

Very few if any teams nationally bring back as much as Oklahoma State does from a team that overcame a slow start to go 7-2 in the Big 12 last fall. It'll be strength on strength as Notre Dame's run defense figures to be elite and Ollie Gordon is as good as any back in the country and head coach Mike Gundy has made it clear that his star running back will be available to play regardless of what happens off the field. The bye week before does Notre Dame a big favor as Oklahoma State is coming off a trip to pesky Baylor.

Nick's Game Prediction: Notre Dame 21-17 (7-1, 4-1)

Week 11: Notre Dame at UCF

If the Cincinnati game was the Brian Kelly Bowl then the UCF game has to be the George O'Leary Bowl, right? I mean, who wouldn't want to celebrate the only Notre Dame head coach to never lose a game? Arkansas transfer quarterback KJ Jefferson won't make life as for Notre Dame as its away from home for the seventh time in nine games but the Knights defense can't slow Riley Leonard and company.

Nick's Game Prediction: Notre Dame 38-20 (8-1, 5-1)

Week 12: Notre Dame at Kansas State

Arguably the toughest conference game of the year for Notre Dame happens as it makes its first-ever trip to Manhattan. The wear and tear of three-straight road games catches up as former Notre Dame commitment Dylan Edwards has a big night for the Wildcats offense.

Nick's Game Prediction: Kansas State 24-20 (8-2, 5-2)

Week 13: Notre Dame vs. BYU

Senior day in South Bend happens to come on just the third home weekend of the season (remember we were intentionally making this as difficult as possible for Notre Dame). It's too bad Riley Leonard had some lumps early in the year because against a defense that allowed more than six yards per play last season, he'll feast in the late-November matchup.

Nick's Game Prediction: Notre Dame 45-17 (9-2, 6-2)

Week 14: Notre Dame at Arizona

What a way to close the regular season. Notre Dame brings perhaps the nation's best secondaries to Arizona to take on one of the best air attacks in quarterback Noah Fifita and wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan, who combined to put up over 1,400 yards and 10 touchdowns together last year. Arizona's defense is no slouch either as its a powerhouse fight to end the regular season. Notre Dame sneaks by on a last second field goal to save its College Football Playoff hopes.

Nick's Game Prediction: Notre Dame 24-22 (10-2, 7-2)

Week 15: Big 12 Championship vs. Kansas State (Arlington, Tex.)

Three weeks before Notre Dame had been out of gas before traveling to Manhattan. Although the travel from South Bend to Arizona, back to South Bend, and then to Texas isn't a sinch, the Irish do get the pleasure of not having to play in Manhattan. Al Golden has a better solution for Kansas State's run game this time as Notre Dame rallies to win the Big 12 in its first go-round with the conference.

Nick's Game Prediction: Notre Dame 28-20 (11-2, 7-2)

College Football Playoff Semi-Final: No. 4 Notre Dame vs. No. 5 Oregon

Notre Dame rallied to get into the playoff with two losses, avenging their loss to Kansas State in the Big 12 championship game. Oregon splits with Ohio State, winning in the regular season but falling in the Big Ten championship. After winning easily over Liberty at Autzen Stadium, Oregon is too much for Notre Dame despite the rest for the Irish as the Ducks move onto the semi-final where they meet No. 1 Georgia for a spot in the national championship game.

Nick's Game Prediction: Oregon 31-20 (11-3, 7-2)

Overall Thoughts on Notre Dame and the 2024 Big 12

I intentionally found the toughest schedule for Notre Dame to play with this in order to show how much life in a conference can be the luck of the draw. I made it as hard as possible for Notre Dame to win the conference and came up with a realistic scenario that they go 7-2 in the league and still earn a berth into the championship game.

It's clear that that Notre Dame wouldn't walk into the Big 12 and push the league around. The ridiculous travel of the league where one week you could be playing in Orlando, Fla. while the next you're in Manhattan, Kan. is no joke. Again, the schedule Notre Dame would face would be different the first three weeks which would perhaps lead to different outcomes, but the point remains.

What is even more crystal clear after going through this exercise is that although the Big 12 doesn't seem to have a team that will be able to make a realistic run at the national championship game, the week-to-week drama in this conference will be tremendous this fall - especially if you're looking at the drama of only one team making the College Football Playoff.