re: Did Notre Dame always know the Big 10 was trouble?

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If you look at the big 10 champions history, Michigan's has one it about 70%, OSU 27%, and others receiving votes about 3%.

Its even more lopsided than bamas reign over the sec.

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Same principle applies, as far as Notre Dame is concerned.

When Florida State joined the ACC, there was no competition (Clemson and Georgia Tech were down, and about the best they had). They joined in 91, and won every football title until 2001. Then won 2002, 03, and 05.
So, 12 out of 14, coming in.

Notre Dame wasn't going to do that in the Big 10, not with Michigan, Ohio State and then Penn State in the mix. And then Wisconsin climbed up, as did Michigan State, which made it even tougher.

We knew Nebraska had declined after Osbourne retired, but we didn't know how badly. They were still good for 8-10 wins in the Big 12. Plenty of room to retool and get right again, as Oklahoma has done a few times.
But they jumped into the Big 10, and it became clear- they weren't anywhere near Ohio State level, they weren't even a guaranteed win vs someone like Purdue or Northwestern.

Notre Dame knows deep down, they aren't sure if they can hang with a legit conference schedule year-to-year. They can get up for big games, and then sleepwalk through probably half their opponents.
The ACC is the exception now, as it was then. Clemson beats you, but you should be able to handle everyone else. Even Fla State and Miami are down right now, so those are teams in name only.

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The ACC was the only conference that would take it.

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I seriously doubt it happen like that, the ACC is a very strong conference and they don't need Notre Dame for anything