This latest rule made an already inconsequential rule look pretty stupid. Thankfully, there's a better way.
Back in July at Big Ten Media Days, conference commissioner Jim Delany unveiled new football scheduling guidelines that will take effect next season, as the conference switches to a nine-game conference schedule. Moving forward, Big Ten teams won't be allowed to schedule FCS teams, and must play at least one team from a Power 5 conference (Delany called them "Autonomy 5" in the presser) each season.
It went without saying that Notre Dame would be considered a Power 5 team for the sake of this scheduling rule.