Drew Thurman (9:29 am)

In December when the Big Ten announced that they were pursuing adding more teams, Notre Dame and AD Jack Swarbrick made it clear that they wanted no part of it. Just four months later though, the Irish may be more interested due to trying to stay relevant. The Pac-10 has also announced that they want to add teams as well, which means a massive power shift could be about to happen in college football. So, though Notre Dame wants to stay independent, they could be forced to get over their preference.

“I believe we’re at a point right now where the changes could be relatively small or they could be seismic,” Swarbrick said. “The landscape could look completely different."

Swarbrick and the Irish are worried about the possibilities of seismic changes. This would have huge implications, the biggest being the economics of being part of a power conference. The Big Ten, for instance, may be too lucrative of a deal for the Irish to pass up (not that they aren't now).

"I think seismic is a possibility,” he said. “I don’t know where the spectrum falls out. You have such an interesting media environment here. It’s having such an impact on people. You have two conferences who have separated themselves economically. And you have all the other conferences lined up in successive years for broadcast negotiations. That’s a tough situation for everyone in that position. The bar has been set so high, and the media market is so tepid, that it creates tension.” 

The Big Ten could be totally changing the landscape of college football, will Notre Dame jump on board? Well, it appears things could be slowly heading in that direction.

Source: http://espn.go.com/blog/bigten/post/_/id/10740/bt-expansion-push-could-force-nds-hand