B1G has courted Notre Dame to join for the past 20 years or so, but Notre Dame has declined the invitation. Given the obvious geographic connection (and prior rivalry games with Michigan, Michigan State, and Purdue), it's too bad Notre Dame does not want to join. Yes, they have the football TV contract with NBC, but the B1G is the richest of the conferences and the addition of Notre Dame would give the B1G 5 of the top 10 programs with the most wins (Notre Dame would join Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State, and Nebraska). It appears Notre Dame does not want to lose its identity as a national university affiliated with the Catholic Church and it would be the smallest of the B1G schools. Northwestern has a smaller undergrad student population but has 3 times the number of grad students. From an academic and national/international reputation, only the PAC 12 comes close to the B1G.
Ironically, Knute Rockne wanted Notre Dame to join and the school applied to join the B1G back in 1926 but Michigan was dead set against it. When the University of Chicago left the conference in 1946, Notre Dame again petitioned to join, but was again rejected and Michigan State was allowed to join the conference (over the objection of Michigan). Most of the problems in college football should be laid at the feet of the skunk weasels.
