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DeLoss Dodds Admits Texas Is Courting Notre Dame To Join Big 12, According To Report

By Steven Godfrey

Texas is still thinking big - really big - in terms of rebuilding "their" conference. As CBS' Brett McMurphy is reporting, the conference - through Texas A.D. DeLoss Dodds - is courting Notre Dame to join the Big 12 Conference:

"Notre Dame has options," Dodds said. "I think they love their position. I certainly think they can continue to do what they're doing and do it well and be a major player. But they have options.

"We've talked to Notre Dame about the Big 12 ... They could put some football here [by playing a few non-conference games against Big 12 opponents]."

This is news and it isn't: Dodds' official acknowledgement is a big, public statement that the Big 12 isn't sitting pat after its revamping over the last few seasons, and likely won't sit at its current number of ten members. In the eyes of Dodds at least, the loss of Nebraska, Colorado, Texas A&M and Missouri aren't offset by the addition of TCU and West Virginia alone.

However, as McMurphy reports, the Irish have been courted by the Big 12 and most other conferences since 2010, at least for its non-football "Olympic sports" (basically everything but football). This news cycle is being refreshed in the wake of the Big East's security, where the Irish have been an Olympic sports member since 1995.

For more on Texas, check out Barking Carnival and Burnt Orange Nation. Notre Dame news and info can be found at One Foot Down, and all your realignment news is at SB Nation's college football page.

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