Sam McKewon is a sportswriter for the Omaha World-Herald covering Nebraska football. I think he is spot on. I'd be curious if Irish Boy and BRick and Dr. Ken and Hawkeye Vince and the other B1G fans agree.



By Sam McKewon



You first noticed her as she walked by the lake, kicking through leaves as she wore a blue pea coat and gold scarf. A short brunette with full red cheeks, she smiled at you, and you joined her, and it was the start of it. Walks. Hands held. You had so much in common with her. She was serious about her studies. She could talk on nearly any subject. Sports.
Poetry. Art. She favored earth tones ? blue, green, brown, gold and dressed impeccably. Classy beyond her years. You lost track of her each summer, but come fall, that lake, she was your autumn girl.

You gave her a ring. She demurred. She smiled. She told you to keep it, for one day, when she might say yes. She bounced around other social circles, more than she was around you, in fact, but she didn't seem completely tied to them. She was seemingly with everyone, but alone with herself. It drove you nuts. Why couldn't she see?

Time passed, and she seemed further away. She still enjoyed your company, in the autumn, and yet she seemed to use your company to get her fill of the things she couldn't get elsewhere. She wouldn't meet your gaze. She pledged herself to another. Her friendship was more like an outstretched hand, waiting for a quarter to plug into a machine. Her
motives now clear, the courtship had been for her benefit, not yours. You didn't hold it against her; she never begged for your attention. She always said she was content alone. She just used the attention you gave her.

You know: You have to quit this girl.

Notre Dame is the girl the Big Ten wanted, can't have, won't have and now must quit entirely. With the Irish aligning itself with the ACC for most sports and staying independent in football, it's time for the Big Ten to direct its schools, especially Michigan, to create new scheduling relationships, especially in football, that don't give Notre Dame the benefit of chomping into the Big Ten's TV rights.

This fall, the Irish, which ABC/ESPN treats like a de facto member of the Big Ten in September, even though ND cheerfully rebuffs the league, plays in two of the Big Ten primetime games. ABC/ESPN has an option to select any Notre Dame road game (with the exception of Army and Navy), and it always does, and it always puts that game in primetime. If I were ABC/ESPN, I would, too. ND draws good ratings, and ND tends to play good teams away from home.

But a Notre Dame at Purdue game, which will be an embarrassing blowout for the Big Ten, should not get primetime billing, if you're the Big Ten, over Nebraska-UCLA, a game between two top 25 teams that was highly entertaining last year. It will, though. That should bug the Big Ten. It should bug the Big Ten, too, that Notre Dame will appear as many
times in the Big Ten primetime schedule as any other team in the Big Ten. That may have been fine before ND hitched its wagon to a expanded football scheduling contract with the ACC. It's not anymore.

When Big Ten poobahs talk of improving the league's non-conference slate, part of that involves severing the relationship with the Irish. Notre Dame, to its credit ? the girl is only being the girl she is, after all ? will end the series with Michigan after 2014. ND claims, somewhat laughably, that Stanford and Navy are more important modern rivals than Michigan and Purdue. ND claims that for now, anyway. But the girl is the girl, and she'll want more walks by the lake. Especially when the Big Ten signs a massive TV contract in 2016. Especially if Ohio State zooms to the top. The girl figures she can always work her way back into the relationship.

Not this time. The Big Ten needs to say no and walk away. Michigan State, slated to play ND in 2016 and 2017 along with Alabama, needs to walk away. Purdue needs to walk away. Penn State needs to say no thanks. Wisconsin needs to stop pursuing the rivalry. Nebraska has real rivals, old rivals surrounding them who'd love a two-game set.

The Irish have strongly stood their ground when it came to joining to the Big Ten. ND wants its freedom. Fine. ND can have it.

Let the girl find the arms of the Big 12 and SEC if it wants more non-conference opponents.

The Purdue-Notre Dame game was highly entertaining last year too. There have of course been games that aren't competitive, but that happens in any rivalry.

Basically, the answer is no. We're going to play Notre Dame until it doesn't work out well scheduling-wise which may happen with the 9 game conference schedule. The other teams can do as they want. Notre Dame had the right to not want to enter the conference. They took a better offer. No reason to be mad at them.

_________________
You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

This, is, a, good, scentence.

With all due respect to the author, I think he doesn't quite understand the "rivalry" between Purdue and Notre Dame, but he has a strong point. I don't see any reason why the B1G needs to play games with ND anymore. And I like Notre Dame... I grew up watching Lou Holtz teams battle with Michigan. But I say screw 'em... they are the ultimate dick tease.

Tell wisconsin and northwestern to schedule some team worthy of prime time in pre conference and maybe they could knock ND out of the spotlight games.

The analogy is incorrect. ND is like a model quality fuckbuddy to the Big Ten's well hung nerd. Sure the Big Ten may be getting used but it looks a hell of a lot better in the public's eye because of the association.

_________________
O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

Why would they ever do that? If the SEC and PAC-188 aren't doing it, why the hell should the B1G???



Completely disagree. ND was in a downward spiral until last year when they made the national championship game by the skin of their teeth. I don't see how anyone could confuse ND with a model... B1G is doing just fine without them. Once the B1G could look up to their NBC TV contract with an engorged member, but now she is a mildly attractive 6.5 due to the $$$ each B1G school gets from the B1G Network.

I fear that the long-term financial fundamentals of the Big Ten are not good. I'd expand and maybe I will later but I'm on my way to dinner.

_________________
Fire Phil Emery

I look forward to Irish Boy's expansion of his idea there.


As for ND, I've never really cared because my school doesn't play them. I get the pros and cons of why they should be in the Big 10 and why they never came. As time goes on and teams move to 9 games conference schedules, you are going to see the number of BIG non conference games going down. For instance at Iowa, there is talk of stopping the Iowa - Iowa State series. Not big nationally, but both school profit from those games. Iowa is talking about dropping it and just selling out Kinnick with another MAC opponent.