Notre Dame Football: Reasons for and against Irish finally joining a conference

Should Notre Dame football finally join a conference? Here are three reasons why they should and three reasons why they should not.

Notre Dame joining a conference is one of the hot button topics in all of college football. The Fighting Irish are the last of the football powerhouses to remain independent. The last powerhouse programs all joined conferences in the 1990s.

Miami joined the now basketball-only Big East in 1990 — moving to the ACC in 2004, Penn State joined the B1G in 1993, and Florida State joined the ACC in 1992. That leaves only the Irish as the only national-championship level contender as a football independent.

With the COVID-19 pandemic raging and spiking in the US, conferences have canceled all of their non-conference games, only playing in-conference. Where does that leave the Irish? Should they join a conference?

If they joined a conference, which conference should they join? It makes the most geographic sense to join the Big Ten. They are in the heart of Big Ten East country, just a three-hour car ride up I-94 to Ann Arbor, Mich.

Notre Dame plays most of its other sports in the ACC already, so that could be a more seamless transition. If the Irish ever decided to join a conference, they would have no shortage of suitors. There are many good reasons for the Irish to join a conference.

However, there are many good reasons for the Irish to remain independent — in football anyway.

Here are three reasons the Irish should stay independent and three reasons they should finally join a conference.