All the talk last week about college football expansion yielded very little action.

The Big Ten, the Big 12, the PAC-10 all were the talk of sports shows on both radio and television.

They had teams moving everywhere as early as the weekend.

But the weekend came and went and there is no expansion and none seems to be coming anytime soon.

I continue to keep an eye toward South Bend and an ear to the ground because I am still not convinced that Notre Dame will remain an independent.

If indeed the Big 12 and PAC-10 shuffle their line-ups and the Big Ten ends up with a couple of the leftovers, the Fighting Irish could be left out in the cold with very few quality opponents left to play.

I don’t think it will sit to well with Notre Dame fans if they can no longer play some of those big-time schools they are used to having on their schedule.

Season ticket prices are too high to have a schedule full of cupcakes.

The other reason I think that something could be in the works between the Big Ten and Notre Dame is the fact that the Irish brass keep pronouncing that they are going to stay independent.

We have all heard the line ‘thou does protest too much!’

Beating your drum, or in this case, your chest proclaiming there is no way it is going to happen sometimes means that it’s about to happen.

Time after time people deny their actions just prior to taking them.

Now I have no inside information that Notre Dame will join the Big Ten of any other conference, but the movement around the country to form these ‘mega’ conferences may force their hand.

The Big Ten is the logical place for Notre Dame to land.

And don’t worry Irish fans, you will still make plenty of money and you will still be on television every week.

Remember, the Big Ten has its own television station and it gets plenty of action on ABC and ESPN.

And back to the money thing, you will actually make more money being a part of the Big Ten than you do individually from NBC.

The next few weeks should tell the tale.

I believe that if the dominoes begin to fall out west, we will find out quickly just what the game plan is for Notre Dame and the Big Ten Conference.

Scott Novak is sports editor for Leader Publications. He can be reached at scott.novak@leaderpub.com