Source: Independence is leader in the clubhouse for ND

[Sean Miller Fan]

Notre Dame will play the realignment waiting game—because it can - Sports Illustrated

The school has long had academic prestige, football and financial success and the autonomy of FBS independence, but will college sports’ instability affect that?

www.si.com

I think for the ACC, its survival basically comes down to how hard the GOR is to get out of and ND's decision but I'm not saying anything that you don't already know.

If hypothetically the ACC stays in tact, I definitely think it needs to gobble up the best of what's left of the Big 12 and Pac 12.

How would you rank the schools on what their value to the ACC? Mine would be:

1. Oregon
2. Washington
3. Stanford
4. Colorado
5. Arizona State
6. Oklahoma State
7. Cal
8. Arizona
9. TCU
10. Kansas

 

[Dointhatrag]

Really? TCU ahead of wvu is a better fit? I’m no hoopie fan but this just wasn’t a well thought out opinion.

 

[TheSpecialSauce]

Really? TCU ahead of wvu is a better fit? I’m no hoodie fan but this just wasn’t a well thought out opinion.

They are located in Fort Worth/Dallas market, they’ve had a lot of success in sports over the last 10-15 years, and the school has a large endowment.

 

[HailToPitt725]

If the ACC is going on a westward expansion and wants Sparky, they better hurry up. It sounds as if the Arizona schools, Colorado, and Utah are meeting with the Big 12 this week.

I’d say go after five PAC schools and six total: Arizona State, Colorado, Oregon, Stanford, Washington, and West Virginia.

 

[HailToPitt725]

I read that article and this tidbit stood out to me: an “industry insider” isn’t so sure that there will be a playoff at all after the CFP’s current contract expires after the 2025 season. They suggested the Big Ten and SEC could hold their own semi-finals and then the conference champions would meet for the national championship. That, they said, could be enough to force Notre Dame into a conference (the Big Ten).

 

[singregardless]

Oregon (Nike $ + bonus big time Olympic sports + potentially keeps Clemson/FSU/Miami),

Stanford (big $ alums for NIL competitiveness when warranted + bonus of elite Olympic programs + bonus elite academics)

Oklahoma State (big $ boosters to keep them competitive + iconic wrestling program)

Washington (they have potential, but I’m not wild about them beyond personally thinking Seattle is pretty and good academics)

Cal (big $ alums for NIL competiveness when warranted + bonus solid Olympic programs + bonus elite academics)

Arizona, Colorado, Utah, WVU, Kansas (I’d take these schools only if it plays out in such a way that it curbs the Big/SEC power bloc or leverages one or both of those conferences to eventually go beyond 20 to maintain their dominance (possibly through a non-fox, non-espn entity entering the fray (Apple? Amazon prime? Other streaming platform to gain traction?)

I’d have to be sold on schools beyond that.

 

[Phillypanther2]

Oregon, Stanford, and Washington won’t be moving to the ACC, unless the B10 and SEC don’t want them. And if the big two don’t want them, they still won’t move to the ACC, unless they are convinced Clemson, FSU, Miami, and NC aren’t leaving.

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

Oregon, Stanford, and Washington won’t be moving to the ACC, unless the B10 and SEC don’t want them. And if the big two don’t want them, they still won’t move to the ACC, unless they are convinced Clemson, FSU, Miami, and NC aren’t leaving.

They would move to the ACC if they are assured the GOR is ironclad and that those schools cant move until 2036.

 

[Den of Hacks]

I read that article and this tidbit stood out to me: an “industry insider” isn’t so sure that there will be a playoff at all after the CFP’s current contract expires after the 2025 season. They suggested the Big Ten and SEC could hold their own semi-finals and then the conference champions would meet for the national championship. That, they said, could be enough to force Notre Dame into a conference (the Big Ten).

ND runs the big risk of being on the outside looking in by not joining a conference. They‘ll no longer have any leverage as an independent. ND to the B10…soon.

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

I read that article and this tidbit stood out to me: an “industry insider” isn’t so sure that there will be a playoff at all after the CFP’s current contract expires after the 2025 season. They suggested the Big Ten and SEC could hold their own semi-finals and then the conference champions would meet for the national championship. That, they said, could be enough to force Notre Dame into a conference (the Big Ten).

I think that's the endgame. Each conference would have a 4, 6, or 8 team tournament and then the tournament championships would play each other for the "national championship."

I see Pitt, WVU, etc in something like a D1B. Then like the current G5 in a D1C. Then you have FCS.

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

ND runs the big risk of being on the outside looking in by not joining a conference. They‘ll no longer have any leverage as an independent. ND to the B10…soon.

ND can call any conference they want whenever they want and say we're joining. They are the biggest brand and will always have leverage. However, if the B10 and SEC break away, then they'd obviously join one.

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

Really? TCU ahead of wvu is a better fit? I’m no hoodie fan but this just wasn’t a well thought out opinion.

DFW way better than the WV market. Texas recruiting for the Western teams. And TCU has been as good or better than WVU for heck, 15 years.

 

[Den of Hacks]

ND can call any conference they want whenever they want and say we're joining. They are the biggest brand and will always have leverage. However, if the B10 and SEC break away, then they'd obviously join one.

The second sentence is where this is all headed.

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

Oregon (Nike $ + bonus big time Olympic sports + potentially keeps Clemson/FSU/Miami),

Stanford (big $ alums for NIL competitiveness when warranted + bonus of elite Olympic programs + bonus elite academics)

Oklahoma State (big $ boosters to keep them competitive + iconic wrestling program)

Washington (they have potential, but I’m not wild about them beyond personally thinking Seattle is pretty and good academics)

Cal (big $ alums for NIL competiveness when warranted + bonus solid Olympic programs + bonus elite academics)

Arizona, Colorado, Utah, WVU, Kansas (I’d take these schools only if it plays out in such a way that it curbs the Big/SEC power bloc or leverages one or both of those conferences to eventually go beyond 20 to maintain their dominance (possibly through a non-fox, non-espn entity entering the fray (Apple? Amazon prime? Other streaming platform to gain traction?)

I’d have to be sold on schools beyond that.

Take Olympic sports out of your consideration. Its 90% football, 10% men's basketball and 0% Olympic Sports. They mean absolutely nothing when it comes to expansion. Heck, these programs may even drop them if they leave the NCAA. Just have football, men's basketball and the minimum women's sports to keep compliant with Title IX. If they're going to pay the football and bball players eventually, they wont want to pay more female athletes than they have to

 

[singregardless]

Take Olympic sports out of your consideration. Its 90% football, 10% men's basketball and 0% Olympic Sports. They mean absolutely nothing when it comes to expansion. Heck, these programs may even drop them if they leave the NCAA. Just have football, men's basketball and the minimum women's sports to keep compliant with Title IX. If they're going to pay the football and bball players eventually, they wont want to pay more female athletes than they have to

I did! The Olympic sports (& other factors) were merely bonuses that reinforced my positioning of those programs.

My primary consideration was what those schools could bring to bear in keeping their programs solvent & competive in the NIL/arms race/possible employee era.

I prioritized schools with the capacity/wherewithal to pay their way to talent which subsequently could lead to high viewership/marquee matchups, especially if breaking off from the NCAA means players becoming employees. No dead weight.

 

[TheWerewolfFromTwilight]

Oregon, Stanford, and Washington won’t be moving to the ACC, unless the B10 and SEC don’t want them. And if the big two don’t want them, they still won’t move to the ACC, unless they are convinced Clemson, FSU, Miami, and NC aren’t leaving.

The Big Ten does want Oregon. I've heard USC and UCLA don't want Oregon to join. But they'll be in eventually. I would be shocked if it works out in such a way that they end up in the ACC.

 

[9nationalchampionships]

Notre Dame will play the realignment waiting game—because it can - Sports Illustrated

The school has long had academic prestige, football and financial success and the autonomy of FBS independence, but will college sports’ instability affect that?

www.si.com

I think for the ACC, its survival basically comes down to how hard the GOR is to get out of and ND's decision but I'm not saying anything that you don't already know.

If hypothetically the ACC stays in tact, I definitely think it needs to gobble up the best of what's left of the Big 12 and Pac 12.

How would you rank the schools on what their value to the ACC? Mine would be:

1. Oregon
2. Washington
3. Stanford
4. Colorado
5. Arizona State
6. Oklahoma State
7. Cal
8. Arizona
9. TCU
10. Kansas

The only issue with these schools is the distance to get to for events.

 

[recruitsreadtheseboards]

As I posted on the freeboard. When Pitt/Syracuse left the Big East to go to the ACC. When Oklahoma and Texas left to go to the SEC. When the Escape from LA happened to the Big 10. They all were BOOM! They happened without weeks of speculation.

My point, these are truly done behind closed doors. And all of these writers are no different than us, of course they may have sources, but mostly any of this is conjecture and clickbait.

 

[TheWerewolfFromTwilight]

As I posted on the freeboard. When Pitt/Syracuse left the Big East to go to the ACC. When Oklahoma and Texas left to go to the SEC. When the Escape from LA happened to the Big 10. They all were BOOM! They happened without weeks of speculation.

My point, these are truly done behind closed doors. And all of these writers are no different than us, of course they may have sources, but mostly any of this is conjecture and clickbait.

Yeah, I've already seen so many of these guys completely contradict each other. Nobody knows what the hell is going on. We're all mostly just throwing stuff at the wall to ease our anxieties.

 

[HailToPitt1985]

As I posted on the freeboard. When Pitt/Syracuse left the Big East to go to the ACC. When Oklahoma and Texas left to go to the SEC. When the Escape from LA happened to the Big 10. They all were BOOM! They happened without weeks of speculation.

My point, these are truly done behind closed doors. And all of these writers are no different than us, of course they may have sources, but mostly any of this is conjecture and clickbait.

True. None of the writers or any of us can say what will happen or even speculate with any kind of accuracy. None of what is said here or anywhere will probably come to pass. More will happen. We just don't know when and what it will be.

 

[happjack]

DFW way better than the WV market. Texas recruiting for the Western teams. And TCU has been as good or better than WVU for heck, 15 years.

Sure TCU is in the DFW market, but they're a small private school who's football program can easily revert to doormat status. Does anyone think Sonny Dykes can keep the Horned Frogs at the level they were under Gary Patterson.

With the exception of Duke, Stanford, Syracuse and Miami(who I think the SEC will take over FSU), any conference Pitt ends up in needs ditch the smaller private schools like TCU, Baylor, Wake Forest, and BC.

 

[PITT 76]

The U of Miami is a private school with 11,000 undergraduates. While they have a storied history, I'm uncertain that mega-conferences will have them as a major target.

 

[Burgh15]

If the Big 12 is actually moving to add schools from the Pac 12, wouldn't that rule out any Big 12 teams going to the ACC? Also, whatever remains in the Pac 12 would be scrambling to get into a conference.

 

[anon_d97v9o3a8b6xr]

can’t wait for a serious football rivalry with a team from Washington. We will bring at least 20,000 fans every away game on decorated buses for a cross country trip. Epic I tell ya. Love realignment. Worth every penny that will go towards our new on campus stadium.

 

[HailToPitt725]

If the Big 12 is actually moving to add schools from the Pac 12, wouldn't that rule out any Big 12 teams going to the ACC? Also, whatever remains in the Pac 12 would be scrambling to get into a conference.

I think the possibility still remains that the Big XII, soon at 16 members with the addition of four PAC-12 schools, comes back around to get to 20 after the Big Ten and SEC raid the ACC.

For example, say the Big Ten invites Notre Dame plus three PAC-12 schools and the SEC invites Clemson, Florida State, Miami, and North Carolina. In that scenario, I’d imagine the Big XII looks to invite four ACC schools to match the other two conference’s move. I’d guess four from a group of Georgia Tech, Louisville NC State, Pitt, Virginia, and Virginia Tech. That way, they can give off the facade that they’re an “equal” power conference to the other two.

 

[Dointhatrag]

The noisiest folks during these conference changes seem to inherently be the big 12 and WVU types because they know they are i the most precarious spot of being poached or left out. Geographically any of the decent schools from that conference have always been close enough to others for poaching (Colorado, Missouri, Nebraska, Texas, Oklahoma, Texas A&M). what's left is a drastically reduced product of depreciating value. Adding the like of UCF, Houston, Cincy is a diluted incoherent group of schools and has become a big East, AAC level of athletic conference. It is far more likely that the Pac 12 takes a few last remnants of the B12 than the other way around. Like an OK ST and Texas Tech.

All the talk of the demise of the ACC is greatly exaggerated.

 

[Zeldas Open Roof]

notre dame needs to stay as an independent. it's the last bastion of what college football should be.

 

[JS School]

All the talk of the demise of the ACC is greatly exaggerated.

I'm not particularly worried about what is going to eventually happen to Pitt. I find it hard to believe that only 40 or 50 teams are going to be in and 80 or 90 are going to be out. Those 80 or 90 never really have a chance at a national championship anyhow, but they like to play the big schools, pull an upset once in a while, be a part of the whole thing. Telling the fans of those schools that they are being excluded will cause a significant loss of interest in college football around the country.

 

[JD1976]

Sure TCU is in the DFW market, but they're a small private school who's football program can easily revert to doormat status. Does anyone think Sonny Dykes can keep the Horned Frogs at the level they were under Gary Patterson.

With the exception of Duke, Stanford, Syracuse and Miami(who I think the SEC will take over FSU), any conference Pitt ends up in needs ditch the smaller private schools like TCU, Baylor, Wake Forest, and BC.

I lived in the DFW market. TCU brings less of that market than even Rutgers brings from NYC.

They are well behind UT, Oklahoma, A&M, Baylor, Texas Tech and SMU in terms of alumni and overall interest.

 

[The Ole Six-Fiver]

Telling the fans of those schools that they are being excluded will cause a significant loss of interest in college football around the country.

And at every school that gets left out and decides to drop football, it will mean that the non-revenue sports of that school will be in danger of being dropped, since football was delivering the funds for those sports. This will especially impact women’s sports and scholarships. The prospect of this should sufficiently alarm the leaderships of the schools that are considered collateral damage in these moves.

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

The noisiest folks during these conference changes seem to inherently be the big 12 and WVU types because they know they are i the most precarious spot of being poached or left out. Geographically any of the decent schools from that conference have always been close enough to others for poaching (Colorado, Missouri, Nebraska, Texas, Oklahoma, Texas A&M). what's left is a drastically reduced product of depreciating value. Adding the like of UCF, Houston, Cincy is a diluted incoherent group of schools and has become a big East, AAC level of athletic conference. It is far more likely that the Pac 12 takes a few last remnants of the B12 than the other way around. Like an OK ST and Texas Tech.

All the talk of the demise of the ACC is greatly exaggerated.

For sure. Its usually the WVU and Baylor "insiders." They always say how great the Big 12 will end up being. Im sure they are saying the Big 12 is going to raid the ACC and Pac 12 to be the 3rd superconference when in reality they are basically the Big East whose days are numbered

 

[HailToPitt1985]

notre dame needs to stay as an independent. it's the last bastion of what college football should be.

I'd like to see Pitt become independent again so they can get above the fray and garbage of what college football has now become. But I know financially it won't happen. So I think we'll be stuck in the college football muck after the dust settles.

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

I'd like to see Pitt become independent again so they can get above the fray and garbage of what college football has now become. But I know financially it won't happen. So I think we'll be stuck in the college football muck after the dust settles.

I would almost be ok going the UConn route and joining the Big East

 

[RaleighPittFan]

I would almost be ok going the UConn route and joining the Big East

Reason number 4,387 why it's good that you're not in charge of anything.

 

[HailToPitt725]

I would almost be ok going the UConn route and joining the Big East

Have them ditch the midwestern schools and add Boston College & Syracuse also and I’d be down. I’d love it if we were a basketball-first school, but that’s also because I was a Pitt basketball fan before I was a Pitt football fan. That’s going to be an unpopular opinion, but oh well!