Nine: Combined Big Ten, ACC and Pac-12 teams — including Notre Dame, which caucuses with the ACC — ranked in the Associated Press Top 25 at the end of last season. And that was in a year when Group of Five programs, choosing not to wring their hands the way the Big Ten and Pac-12 did, enjoyed good years in the polls.
If The Athletic’s report about an alliance between the ACC, Pac-12 and Big Ten turns out to be something, then that’s quite a powerful scheduling setup.