The two Big Ten schools that have been the friendliest towards ND are Sparty and Purdue.
Yes, I'm sure they'd like having Notre Dame and vice versa, but they might not be thrilled to lose Ohio State, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois in exchange for UConn, Rutgers, PSU, Maryland. Purdue is located a mere 89 miles from the Univ of Illinois and 113 miles from Indiana University. They are 760 miles from Rutgers, 893 miles from UConn, and 635 miles from Maryland.
I think a pod format rather than a divisional format might be more likely:
- UConn, Rutgers, Maryland, Penn State
- Ohio State, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois
- Michigan State, Notre Dame, Purdue, Northwestern
- Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska
This keeps ND with Purdue and Mich State, keeps Ohio State and Michigan together, and has more regional contiguity.