SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- Notre Dame is considering three options of what to do if three schools leave the Big East for the Atlantic Coast Conference, including possibly joining the ACC as a partial member.

If Miami, Syracuse and Boston College accept an offer to join the ACC, Notre Dame will first look to remain a member of the Big East and align with the remaining schools that play football and basketball, a source inside the athletic department, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told the South Bend Tribune for a story published Friday.

The school is considering staying in the Big East with Connecticut, Pittsburgh, Rutgers, Virginia Tech and West Virginia, even though it may require an agreement to play a partial schedule of conference football games, the source said.

The league would then add three schools through expansion.

Notre Dame also will consider becoming a member of the ACC, but only with the promise that it could play a limited number of conference football games, the source said.

ACC Commissioner John Swofford said Friday in Florida that the ACC has had several talks with Notre Dame in the past about joining the conference, none of those discussions were recent.

"And all of our talks have been about them joining the conference as a full-time member. That's a basic premise we have built our league around -- being in all the way or not at all," he said. "So for them to be a member and play only a limited number of football games, I don't think that would even be feasible."

The last option is a last resort -- join the Big Ten, the source said. Notre Dame considered joining the Big Ten in 1999 before an official invitation was rejected.

"Some tough decisions may have to be made," the source said. "Whatever happens, it's going to happen fast."

There are no plans to consider sacrificing football independence, the source told the newspaper.

John Heisler, sports information director for Notre Dame, said athletic director Kevin White is not talking publicly about what the school might do.

"He is not interested in getting into the details or specifics of this at this point," Heisler said Friday. "It's just not appropriate because the Big East is an institution of which we are a member, and at this point nothing has happened. He doesn't think it's appropriate for anybody here to be speculating on future events."

White released a statement last week that said: "The intercollegiate athletic landscape is fluid, to say the least. Consequently, we are monitoring this environment carefully and will continue to ponder the respective opportunities and/or options."

As for talk about joining the ACC, all Heisler would say is that several conferences have approached Notre Dame about the school's interest in discussing a move to another conference.

"We've chosen not to," he said.