Aug. 01--Notre Dame enjoys its independence as a football independent.
But the Irish's lack of a conference clearly has bothered some coaches, who recently have said that no team not in a league should be eligible for the College Football Playoff.
Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany didn't broach that subject Friday during his conference's media day. In fact, while discussing future scheduling criteria for Big Ten schools that includes the elimination of Football Championship Subdivision teams, Delany said independents Brigham Young and Notre Dame would be welcomed as Big Ten opponents.
"BYU and Notre Dame would satisfy the scheduling criteria," he said.
Notre Dame won't play a Big Ten team this season but has Michigan State on its schedule in 2016. BYU will play Nebraska and Michigan this season.
"I'd call it a (Big Ten) athletic directors' agreement," Delany said. "I'm not sure that there's penalties. We haven't really talked about that. But everybody has agreed we have the nine conference games. We have a commitment to schedule an intersectional game. We have a conference championship, and we have a commitment to play only FBS opponents."
