by Jeff Ross

Penn State coach Joe Paterno answers reporters questions at annual Big Ten conference.

This year, the Big Ten conference has decided to add a team to their, somewhat prestigious football conference. The possible teams are Missouri, Rutgers, Notre Dame, and Nebraska. Even though Notre Dame enjoys its own independent status and many chances to play some of the best teams across the country, they are willing to sacrifice it all to be a part of the Big Ten. This is most likely an effort to beat Penn State on an annual basis. Joe Eveland stated, “Notre Dame, I believe will be the best fit out of all those teams to fill in the big ten vacancy.”

Notre Dame will have to turn down their NBC television contract if they are to join the Big Ten and sacrifice a lot of money they’d receive via corporate contracts. Rutgers and Missouri don’t even offer the type of style that a majority of the Big Ten uses, running the ball and playing defense. Missouri is known for running a spread-style offense dominated by a high-powered, passing game. They have had a majority of good quarterbacks in the past, the most famous being Chase Daniels.

Rutgers has had a strong running game in the past, but they’ve never really had a powerful defense. Brian Leonard is the most known running back from Rutgers. He was a first round draft pick and has been very successful in St. Louis with the Rams. The other team up for the expansion, the Nebraska Cornhuskers, is right up the Big Ten’s ally with a decent run game and a sub par defense. Nebraska would be right in the middle of a few Big Ten teams making for some exciting rivalry games.

In my expert opinion, I believe that Notre Dame has no business joining a prestigious football conference, because they have yet to live up to their highly set expectations. So I say, get Nebraska in and absolutely not let Notre Dame in.