<p>^ Well, if they added Notre Dame AND Rutgers, they could be the Big Thirteen. </p>
<p>Notre Dame will never do it, though. They get too much money from their exclusive national network TV football contract, and they don’t want to share. Besides, they have traditional football rivalries with Boston College and USC that would be tough to keep on their schedule, not only for tradition’s sake but because it gives them big market exposure on the East and West Coasts. Joining the Big Ten would, in their view, diminish their stature from the only “truly national” college football team (apart from the service academies) to just another football-crazy Midwest school and a likely perennial also-ran in their conference. Too much downside.</p>