Going it alone is never easy.

So it’s hard to blame Notre Dame for making another round of inquiries about tying its future to this conference or that. Given the shifting alliances and cutthroat deals being cut in college football, the people in charge at South Bend would be irresponsible not to take a long look.

The security that a move to the ACC or Big Ten would bring is tempting. There is strength in numbers — a valuable commodity when it’s time to sit across the bargaining table from the TV networks. The money would still be good and the headaches considerably fewer.

But here’s the catch: It would also drain most of the magic out of one of the few remaining magical programs in sports.

Independence is what made the Irish. At the start of the last century, Notre Dame became the focal point for a country fast filling up with immigrants and just beginning to fall in love with sports.

The Irish rode the trains to both coasts and stopped off at any point in between. They might be in Yankee Stadium one weekend, Soldier Field the next, and the Coliseum the weekend after. In the days before television, a cheap ticket and a subway ride — hence “subway alumni” — was usually all it took to cheer, or boo, the Irish in person.

And for all the things that are different at the start of this century, it would be a shame if Notre Dame lowered its profile now.

In 1999, when talk of joining the Big Ten actually was put to a vote of the university’s board of trustees, the late Dan Devine was asked how he’d cast his ballot if he had one.

Devine had coached the Irish for five seasons, winning the national championship in 1977. Nobody knew better what made Notre Dame special, or how tough it was to keep it that way.

“When you grow up playing sports, you love the idea that a team would go any place and play anybody at any time. That was what Notre Dame always stood for,” he said. “I don’t think it should change now.”