While the rest of the college football world would like the Notre Dame football program to join a conference, the Fighting Irish continue to pride themselves on their independence. That continues to be the case, even as the ACC continues to try to pull the Blue and Gold in closer. One potential move is to make ND an unofficial member of the conference, whether they want it or not.
The SEC's announcement that it will play 9 conference games starting next year could start a domino effect. The ACC is said to be looking at moving to 9 conference games as well, but things are more difficult because of the number of teams.