SOUTH BEND — Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick put all rumors of the independent school joining the Big Ten to rest today. “Notre Dame is not interested in joining the Big Ten,” said Swarbrick. “We are, however, in talks with the Mid-American Conference and Divison I-AA Big Sky.” If Notre Dame decides to join a conference, the Big Ten was thought to be the leader with its geographic proximity and large fan bases. However, Notre Dame has a different outlook on the future of college football. “The Big Ten hasn’t been good for years. Ohio State is like the third-best OSU school in the nation,” Swarbrick said. “Sure we haven’t been great the last few decades, but we want to be in a conference that’s going to give us some real competition.” Swarbrick also added that the first team he thinks of at the mention of PSU is Portland State, and that Michigan sucks worse than Detroit real estate values.