A move that has been discussed for years has finally come to be: Notre Dame is joining the ACC.

The one caveat: they will not be joining for football.

With the additions of Syracuse and Pittsburgh from the Big East, following last decades’ expansion with Boston College, Miami and Virginia Tech, Notre Dame will join with 5 former Big East members.

While Notre Dame football will not be joining the ACC, the move of it’s other sports does open the door for future membership should the changes in the college football postseason hinder Notre

Dame as an independent. That said, the Big East for years thought Notre Dame would eventually join, only to be rebuffed over the past 2 decades they were a member. But Notre Dame is clearly aligning itself with a conference with some of the top academic institutions such as Duke, UNC and Wake Forest. If the school ever does opt to join for football, they will have the benefit of participating against schools in a talent rich recruiting region.

The loss of Notre Dame brings the Big East non-football membership to 7. While non-football schools like Xavier, St. Louis, Richmond, Butler and others might be considered as replacements for Notre Dame in the Big East, it would not be shocking to see the conference wait at 17 members until they see how things play out with their new football side of the conference.

For Uconn and Rutgers, two schools hoping to join the ACC, the addition of Notre Dame for non-football sports will darken their hopes even more. It would seem unlikely that the ACC would expand to 15 football schools, 16 for non-football sports with Notre Dame in the fold.