Note: This is part of a new daily series. Every weekday between about noon and 1, check the Footblog for the daily "Afternoon Kickoff" for updates from Penn State football and the national scene, opinions, links, etc.

Joe Paterno thinks Notre Dame's had its chance to join the Big Ten and wants to go a different way if the Big Ten ever decides to expand, but I still think the Fighting Irish belong in the league.

AOL FanHouse's Clay Travis offers his take on Notre Dame's situation as an independent and the ever-growing amounts of cash flowing to the Big Ten and the SEC through their TV deals.

A lot of interesting points made in Clay's post, most notably:

"... Notre Dame's television and shared Big East conference revenue in 2009 will be, at best, $11.35 million.

Why's that number important? Because in 2008, every school in the Big Ten will clear north of $15 million from the conference, a number that will only increase in years to come. Every school in the SEC will bank, conservatively, $17 million. "

Notre Dame has its fancy NBC TV contract, which comes with nationally televised home games and no revenue sharing with fellow conference members, given that it has none in football. In addition, the NBC deal gets them exposure through things like the U.S. Army All-American Game, which is more or less a three-hour Notre Dame infomercial with "objective" recruiting analyst Tom Lemming providing color commentary and helping pick who plays in the yearly showcase of high school seniors. And by objective, I mean obvious Notre Dame homer.

Notre Dame is on national TV every week and that's a huge plus, but it really isn't that much different for Penn State now. Every Penn State game gets televised, and while some are regional -- and a few are regional on the regional Big Ten Network -- many are nationally televised on ESPN/ESPN2 (yes, it's cable, but just about everyone has access to ESPN at this point). And if a game is regional on ABC, it's now usually shown on ESPN or ESPN2 to the rest of the country.

Notre Dame doesn't need the Big Ten at the moment, and the Big Ten doesn't need Notre Dame. Sure, the Big Ten's going through an identity crisis (not that Notre Dame's football program would help much in terms of conference strength), but financially, Notre Dame's very strong and is still a big draw.

But its the 21st century, and its time to a join a conference. The arguments have been made for years -- its a perfect geographic fit, the Irish have plenty of rivals already in the conference (Michigan, Michigan State, Purdue, an on and off rivalry with Penn State), etc.

There is no better fit for the Big Ten's 12th team than Notre Dame, and I'd love to see it happen in the near future.

Just no special treatment, please.

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Quick hits:
-To follow up on yesterday's post about Florida State, the NCAA has responded by allowing the university to release a portion of its response to the academic fraud scandal.

-I also mentioned Minnesota's potential alcohol ban at the new TCF Bank Stadium on Monday. Here are some photos from the new stadium as it readies for its opening. Too bad Penn State doesn't player there this year, its looking pretty impressive.

-If you missed it, here's video of yesterday's Joe Paterno appearance on "College Football Live."

-College Football News writers like Penn State as a sleeper national title pick.

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Link/Video of the day:
A CBS compilation of some of the most memorable college football plays of all-time:

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Just 80 days left until Penn State opens its season.

-Matt Brown