Is the Big 12 Suddenly Becoming Notre Dame Football's Ally?

Although the history between Notre Dame and the Big 12 isn't particularly deep, the conference has extended an arm in the way of the Fighting Irish recently

Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman during the Blue-Gold spring game at Notre Dame Stadium on Saturday, April 25, 2026, in South Bend. | MICHAEL CLUBB/SOUTH BEND TRIBUNE / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Notre Dame football's history against the Big 12 is as thin as its history with just about anything.

Especially the current makeup of the Big 12.

The last time Notre Dame played a regular-season game against a Big 12 opponent was back on Labor Day weekend of 2016, when it lost in overtime at Texas.

Texas, of course, moved onto the SEC since. To find the last time Notre Dame played a regular season game against a current member of the Big 12 (who was also a conference member at the time of the game) is all the way back in 1999 when the Irish opened the season against Kansas.

Despite that, Notre Dame seems to be making a relatively new friendship with the reworked conference.

Notre Dame Replaced USC with BYU

While USC head coach Lincoln Riley made it known to anyone who would listen for over a year that the Notre Dame rivalry game was in serious jeopardy, the Fighting Irish were busy looking for a respectable replacement.

That's why Notre Dame was able to announce a home-and-home series with BYU, not long after the USC pause, was made official.

BYU has been on Notre Dame's schedule before, most recently in 2022, but it only joined the Big 12 starting in 2023.

Oct 8, 2022; Paradise, Nevada, USA; Notre Dame Fighting running back Audric Estime (7) runs with the ball against the Brigham Young Cougars during the first half at Allegiant Stadium. | Lucas Peltier-Imagn Images

The series matches up two teams that each thought they should have been in the College Football Playoff last season and it isn't normal when it comes to scheduling big-time games in the sport.

Now, another blueblood on Notre Dame's future schedule is being wishy-washy, and another Big 12 team is offering to step up.

Notre Dame-Texas Series In Jeopardy

Speaking last week at the SEC Spring Meetings, University of Texas Athletic Director Chris Del Conte made clear that the scheduled games between Notre Dame and Texas for the 2028 and 2029 seasons are nothing more than "tentative".

Sep 5, 2015; South Bend, IN, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish quarterback Malik Zaire (8) leaps over Texas Longhorns defensive end Bryce Cottrell (91) in the third quarter at Notre Dame Stadium. Notre Dame won 38-3. | Matt Cashore-Imagn Images

Del Conte might not have called off the games, but he certainly didn't sound too excited about the chances of them being played, either.

As a result, an old Big 12 rival of the Longhorns tried to jump in to get a series with Notre Dame, and it wasn't someone who hasn't traditionally had much good to say about the Fighting Irish.

Texas Tech Offers to Take on Notre Dame

Texas Tech head coach Joey McGuire took aim at Texas last week.

He offered to rearrange Texas Tech's schedule in order to get Texas on it Week 1 (which is absurd seeing as Texas hosts Ohio State in Week 2), and then made mention of the Texas threat to back out of the Notre Dame deal.

"I saw a comment by [Del Conte] that he's not sure if Texas is going to play Notre Dame in '28 and '29. We need a '28 and '29 game too because Mississippi State back out on us, so we'll take that game if they want to get out of it. If Texas doesn't want to play Notre Dame, we would love to play Notre Dame in '28, '29."

Nick Shepkowski's Quick Thoughts

Obviously, if you can pick just one, few teams historically draw the national interest that comes with playing a home-and-home series with Texas. If you can choose, I'm choosing to play Texas every time.

However, if Texas is going to go the route of some others and begin putting up a joke of a non-conference slate, then adding Texas Tech is rather impressive addition.

The Red Raiders made the College Football Playoff for the first time last season, and with how they have handled NIL to date, one would expect the program to have staying power towards the top of the college football world.

With BYU bending to do what it did for Notre Dame, and with Texas Tech being vocal about wanting the Irish on the schedule, suddenly I find myself hoping for a Notre Dame vs. Texas Tech series down the road, whether Texas ends up cancelling the home-and-home or not.