It is inconceivable to me that the Big Ten would allow a football scheduling agreement, or to be a home for all non-football sports. If Notre Dame is picking up the phone, it means they want out of the ACC and that means no leverage.
For me it just gets back to the type of schedule that Notre Dame wants to see. The ACC deal and the steady diet of Wake Forests, Dukes, and Pittsburghs is exciting to exactly no one. The ACC *should* be a damn good conference, with Miami, Florida State, and Clemson as top 15 teams and Louisvillle, North Carolina and Virginia Tech providing real depth. They have been waiting for that since 2004, my first experience with conference expansion. It's not happening.
If USC decides that it needs to "pause" the rivalry, which I am sure the Big Ten would love to see, what matchups are we playing for? What is the actual point of independence other than some odd pride that Notre Dame was the last one standing after Miami, Penn State, etc joined conferences 30+ years ago?
Just join the Big Ten already and let the ACC burn to the ground.