A solution for half of the Pac-4 teams that remain after the Pac-12 had Colorado, Utah, Arizona, and ASU poached from the Big 12, and USC, UCLA, Oregon, and Washington taken away by the Big Ten, has been offered by The Athletic’s Andy Staples: several of college football’s current independents and two military academies currently in a conference forming a football-only conference with Cal and Stanford.
This would be ND joining a conference in football on its own terms, not being forced into one by someone else.
Notre Dame plays Navy every year because Notre Dame might have had to close without the Navy.