Jack Swarbrick had advance notice. As the long-heralded 2020 Irish schedule was set to implode, the Notre Dame director of athletics already knew there would be no trip to Lambeau Field or to Los Angeles.
Contrary to the narrative the SEC put out about being completely and universally blindsided by the Big Ten’s initial decision to play only conference games, Wisconsin athletic director Barry Alvarez had already reached out to Swarbrick, as had their counterparts at USC and Stanford in anticipation of the Pac-12 quickly making the same decision.
“We had a pretty good sense that that’s where it was headed,” Swarbrick said to Jac Collinsworth on NBC Sports’ new ND on NBC Podcast.