Morgantown, West Virginia – Earlier today, news that Notre Dame rejected the Big Ten’s offer to join their conference started to trickle out. Before today, it was expected that Notre Dame would join newcomers USC and UCLA in the league, and that they would likely bring PAC-12 teams Stanford, Oregon or Washington (or all three) with them.
However, everything changed today. With Notre Dame saying “no thanks” to the Big Ten, the Fighting Irish joining the ACC now seems like a very real possibility. And if Notre Dame joins the ACC, they will need one other team to come with them, and right now, West Virginia is considered the most likely team to make the jump to the ACC with Notre Dame.
YouTube personality The Gold and Blue Dude has said that his sources have told him that this would ultimately happen for the past year and he was the very first person to break this news.
Essentially, Notre Dame and West Virginia jumping to the ACC would likely be enough to keep Florida State, Clemson and Miami in the conference. Those three schools were rumored to possibly be headed to the SEC.
This, of course, would be a huge for West Virginia. The Mountaineers would not only regain their geographical and historical rivals in Pitt, Virginia Tech, Syracuse, Louisville and Miami, they would also greatly benefit from the reduced travel in the new conference.
Although this is far from a certainty at this point, Notre Dame rejecting the Big Ten leaves the Irish with few other options. Eventually, Notre Dame will have to join a conference and the ACC appears to be the only logical choice left now that the Big Ten is out of the conversation.
There are many moving parts and anything could change, but if Notre Dame ultimately decides to move to the ACC, look for West Virginia to make the move with them. If Notre Dame stays put, West Virginia will likely remain in the Big 12 Conference, which is expected to add several current PAC-12 teams, including Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado, Utah, and perhaps Oregon and Washington.
The New ACC?
